Ohio State Wears Down Washington Defense, Ending Win Streak

The top-ranked Ohio State Buckeyes kept Washington out of the end zone with a 24-6 victory inside Husky Stadium. It ended a 22-game home winning streak for Washington. Penalties hindered some of the Huskies’ better drives, and they failed to capitalize on opportunities inside the Buckeye 30-yard line. Ohio State was able to find its passing game in the second half and take what the Husky defense gave it. 

Ohio State Defeats Washington

Buckeye Passing Game Spark

After Ohio State’s false start forced third and 11, the Husky defense decided to send pressure. “Coach Walt [Ryan Walters] felt that we were going to be able to get one or two guys free on that pressure based on what we expected for them to do protection-wise on third down.” Makell Esteen brought pressure from the near side of the field and jumped up in an effort to deflect the pass from Julian Sayin. Esteen was a step too late on the pressure, and Sayin completed the throw to Jeremiah Smith.”I think I could have done better on that play. I have to keep running,” Esteen said afterwards.

Fisch said that within zero coverage in that situation, the goal is to have the back-end defenders able to crash towards the receiver after the completion. “We weren’t in position to do that and that was an unfortunate turn of events in that game.” Smith’s speed allowed him to accelerate past the linebacker and weave through the defense into the end zone. It was Ohio State’s first touchdown, and it led to the Buckeyes finding a second-half rhythm in the passing game. 

Ohio State had 129 total yards in the third quarter, and 104 of them came through the air. The Buckeyes found the end zone to cap off a 14-play, 75-yard drive, and were driving towards the goal line again as the third quarter came to a close. But the Husky defense held its ground the second time around, keeping the Buckeyes to a field goal.

Husky Goals Defensively

“What we talked about is we wanted to keep everything in front of us. We didn’t want them to be able to throw the deep one. We wanted to make [Sayin] throw completions, and he did a nice job of doing that,” Fisch said after the game. Sayin completed 22 of 28 for 208 yards and two touchdowns. The Husky defense did not allow a single pass of 20-plus yards. Ohio State had just three big play passes on the day. Two for 18 yards (one was the Smith touchdown), and another for 19 yards. Smith finished the day as Ohio State’s leading receiver with eight catches for 81 yards and a score.

The defensive goals, according to Esteen were, “To have a roof on the defense and play the run. I feel like we did a good job.” Ohio State averaged less than five yards per rush on the day. But the pass game was successful in what it did. It didn’t take the top off Washington’s defense. Instead, it found success underneath, wearing the Husky defense down throughout the course of the game. 

“Our defense I thought tackled well,” Fisch said afterwards. “Which allowed them to have long drives. The key is you gotta try and get off the field. You gotta create a takeaway.” Washington had one fumble recovery on the Ohio State punt return in the first quarter. Ryan Walters’ defense also earned a fourth-down stop with its back to the end zone in the first quarter. It halted a nine-play drive and kept the Buckeyes out of the end zone. “We had a fourth down stop which was huge, we had a takeaway on a punt which was great.” 

Failing To Capitalize

But it was what the Huskies failed to do after generating those stops that kept them out of the end zone. Washington had three drives go inside the Ohio State 30-yard line, but it came away with just six points. The first was a 10-play, 69-yard drive that was hindered by two false start penalties. A 34-yard run by Jonah Coleman and a couple of deep passes to Denzel Boston and Dezmen Roebuck had the offense feeling rhythm. It was the second false start penalty on that drive that backed the offense up from the Ohio State three to the eight, stifling the momentum. It had to settle for a field goal.

On the very next possession, Washington took it inside the Buckeye 30 when it was faced with a fourth and 14 on the right hash. That’s when Fisch tried to catch the Buckeyes off guard with a fake field goal pass attempt. “We thought we had a look all week of how they were going to play, how they were going to rush when we were on the right hash. And it didn’t get executed well.” It appeared that the intended receiver did not look for the football, indicating a miscommunication. 

The Huskies moved the ball well again on their next drive, finding passing plays of 18 yards and 23 yards. But on third and short, Demond Williams took a seven-yard sack. “I gotta help Demond understand that an incompletion is OK sometimes,” Fisch said after the game. Williams was sacked six times in the game for 46 total yards. “Demond is exceptionally accurate, he’s really good with the ball, he makes extremely good decisions, he protects the ball at all costs.” Williams completed 18 of 22 for 173 yards, but held onto the football too long in some instances. 

Optimism Going Forward

But looking ahead, Fisch is optimistic about the state of his team. “I think we’re a really good team. I think that we have a great opportunity to continue on and have a really good season.” The scoreboard doesn’t necessarily reflect how hard-fought the game was. The Huskies were within a touchdown until the fourth quarter. “I just told the team, ‘It’s [game] four guys, we’re 3-1’. We played the number one team in the country and we played them really well.”

“[That’s] the number one team, they played pretty good,” Esteen said afterwards. “I think we lost but we learned.” Washington heads East to the nation’s capital next weekend to play Maryland. The Terrapins are unbeaten thus far on the season.