Washington Football: 3 takeaways from shocking loss at Stanford

2. Washington struggles when Hunter Bryant has a quiet night

Jacob Eason relied heavily on Aaron Fuller in the passing game, as the receiver hauled in nine of his 17 targets for 171 yards. It was Fuller’s first triple-digit night of the season (and his first since racking up 100 yards against UCLA on the first weekend of October last season). So the top receiver certainly did his job when Eason looked his way, though things trailed off later in the contest.

Hunter Bryant, on the other hand, was ice-cold against Stanford. Entering the showdown against the Cardinal, Bryant was averaging five catches and 67 yards per game. The Cardinal did a good job of taking the tight end out of the contest, allowing Bryant to haul in just one catch for eight yards.

Part of that was Bryant not getting separation, part of that was great defense by the Cardinal secondary, and part of that was missing on four straight targets in the second quarter before hauling in his only catch of the game before halftime. It seemed as though Eason lost confidence in his big target after that second-quarter stretch, rarely looking his way and never throwing his direction again.

Without their top tight end getting mismatches against opposing pass defenses, the Huskies have a hard time getting their passing attack going. Teams are able to cheat more often over to Fuller and the other Washington receivers, and it causes the rest of the offense to break down in the process.