Washington Football: 3 takeaways from upset loss at Arizona State

2. Jake Browning is as inconsistent as ever for the Huskies

Last year, it seemed like Jake Browning was poised to lead Washington to the Promised Land. Then he came up flat in big games against Colorado and Alabama. Inconsistency plagued the play of the talented passer, and it became reasonable to wonder whether Browning was beginning to regress back to the mean.

Those questions had already been answered this season despite the 6-0 start for the Huskies. Browning had not topped 300 passing yards once yet in 2017, and it often seems like Washington has been winning despite its talented if inconsistent quarterback.

On a day when nothing seemed to be going right offensively for Washington, Browning’s ineffectiveness passing the ball was glaring. The quarterback finished 17-of-30 for 139 yards. Browning managed to avoid throwing an interception, but he also failed to find the endzone in the air on Saturday night.

Browning did punch in Washington’s only score of the game on the ground. But that was hardly going to cut it on a day when the defense gave the Huskies plenty of opportunity to stay undefeated. Though the receiving corps has been thinned by the departure of John Ross and the injury to Chico McClatcher, Browning’s failure to step up at quarterback is a major reason why the Huskies have fallen behind in the College Football Playoff discussion.