Washington football: Huskies face stingy BYU squad in Week 5

Washington football has yet another test this week, against, somehow, another team with a great defense and absolutely no intentions to play offense.

Looking for a deeply confusing football game with little to no offense, several absolutely baffling turnovers, and ultimately, a seven-point win? Well, I’ve got just the thing for you, because for some reason, Washington decided it would be a good idea to play BYU, and both teams can shut down just about any offense in the country.

That’s the good news. The bad news is that outside of a few players, like BYU’s Squally Canada, these offenses are just not any good. Washington’s offense should be good. They have plenty of talent, and while they lost a lot of good receivers over the past two years, there’s still no reason for them to be so plain on offense. It certainly doesn’t help that Jake Browning is super limited as a player, and they lost offensive coordinator Jonathan Smith in the offseason.

BYU’s offense is bad because they don’t care about scoring, and are pretty content with just playing defense and, for some reason, starting Tanner Mangum after a decade of him not being a good quarterback. To each their own, I guess. With that in mind, it’s important to remember the limitations of this game. It’ll probably be pretty fun! These defenses are good and interesting, and these are two pretty intriguing teams!

It’s not going to be high scoring though. It’s going to be a slow-paced, battle for possession time, and it’ll probably be close late, but that doesn’t mean it’s going to be objectively good or fun to watch. It’ll be interesting! If that’s what you’re looking for, this is a great option. We’ll probably learn about both teams! If that sounds interesting to you, I’ve got just the thing for you! It’s uh, it’s this preview that you already clicked on.

Date: Saturday, Sept. 29
Time: 8:30 p.m. ET
Location: Seattle, Wash.
Venue: Husky Stadium
TV: FOX
Live Stream: FSGo Video

Washington keys to the game

I’ve written a preview for almost every Washington game this year, because despite living in Ohio and having absolutely no connection to the Pac-12, I like writing about these late games because they’re away from everything else and it feels like a special little part of college football that shouldn’t exist.

With that said, the point is that every Washington preview is pretty much the same. They’re more talented than their opponent. This will be true in roughly 12 games this season, as they are the class of the Pac-12 right now. Their defense will make things easy for their offense, which means that they need to score about 24 points to win. That’s true here too. They’ll win as long as they don’t screw up.

BYU keys to the game

BYU is ranked as the 38th best defense in the country according to Bill Connelly’s S&P+ profiles. Their offense is 90th. You don’t have to be a math genius like Bill is to know that that’s not great. BYU is a flawed team, at its core. When a team is flawed, they have to do weird things, especially when they play good teams. That means BYU has to get weird this Saturday.

It also means they need to play to strengths, and BYU’s greatest defensive strength is their ability to limit big plays. Force Washington to try to make big plays. Send heavy rush packages. Get pressure on Jake Browning. Throw some weird coverage schemes at him. When he makes a mistake, which he will, go for an interception, not a deflection. Force Jake Browning to beat you.

Betting Odds

Courtesy of OddsShark

Point Spread: Washington -17
Over/Under: 45.5

Prediction

Washington should win this game, and they’re probably going to. BYU isn’t going to be able to move the ball on this defense, and unless Squally Canada has a really good game, they may not hit double digits on the scoreboard. I think BYU’s defense can keep it pretty close, but this feels a lot like last week’s Washington-Arizona State game. Washington won’t run away with it, but their opponent simply isn’t competent enough to take advantage.

Final score: Washington 20, BYU 14