Washington Football: 3 takeaways from road duel with BYU in Week 4

2. The Washington run game struggled early but warmed up late

Washington’s running game has looked fairly decent in the first few weeks of the season, averaging 192 yards per game. Against BYU, however, the Huskies struggled to move the ball on the ground as the offense depended heavily on Eason’s arm to do the heavy lifting.

In the first half, the Huskies finished with just 48 yards on 16 carries. Sean McGrew’s 12-yard run was the longest play on the ground for Washington before halftime, as the defense outgained them on one play with a 69-yard fumble return for a touchdown.

As the offense pulled away in the second half, the running game started to heat up a little more. Washington finished the day with 180 net rushing yards, as the team ended up averaging 4.5 yards per carry. On one hand it was a testament to BYU’s front seven, but it also masked some major issues.

A big part of the struggle was the absence of Salvon Ahmed due to health issues. Entering the game as the team’s top rusher, Ahmed did not make the trip to Provo. Washington will need him to make a speedy recovery from whatever ails him if they are going to continue their charge toward a third Pac-12 title in three years.