Huskies Defense Will Start Two Walk-On’s

Oklahoma’s offense is moving the ball at a sickening pace. Through two games they are averaging almost 540 yards and 54.5 points per game. Cincinnati put to All-Conference type cornerbacks on the field against the Sooners and the end result was a career day for Sam Bradford.

Now they play on the road for the first time this season and face a Washington Huskies defense that…well…doesn’t appear to be very good. While you could argue that Washington has played a tougher schedule than OU with games at #21 Oregon and home against #15 BYU you could also make the point that the Huskies haven’t faced a team like Oklahoma either. As it is Washington’s defense is giving up an average of 36 points and 416.5 yards of offense per game.

I had a chance to ask John from UW Dawg Pound what Oklahoma was up against with this Huskies’ defense.

What kind of depth do the Huskies have on defense? Are they young? Experienced? Somewhere in between?

UW is extremely young on defense. The entire Husky team only averages 2.12 years in overall experience. Washington has two true freshmen that are starting on the defensive line. Alameda Ta’amu, and Senio Kelemente are HS All Americans but are over matched as freshman. The defensive backfield sports two converted safeties at cornerback. RS Quinton Richardson has played well so far and he is flanked by senior Mesphin Forrester. Nate Williams is a true sophomore that will start at safety alongside walk-on Tripper Johnson who is a 26 year old sophomore playing football for the first time since HS. The best LB is true sophomore Mason Foster. Junior Donald Butler backs up the middle and they have another walk on by the name of Josh Gage mans the outside. The Huskies have some good young talent but they are missing some key pieces and experience.

Two true freshmen and two walk-on’s could be just what Oklahoma needs to build confidence on the road. After the struggles the Sooners faced on the road last season they need some things to right early on Saturday. With a walk-on in the secondary and two freshmen on the defensive line you have to expect the pieces to be in place for another outstanding offensive performance. That would raise some serious concerns for me if I were a Huskies fan so I went back to John to see how he felt.  

Two walk-on’s starting on defense! How concerned are you facing this OU offense? 

I think Oklahoma is capable of putting 45-55 points on Washington. The key for Washington on defense is going to be turnovers. If they can make the Sooners beat themselves a few times it will help.

On offense it will be the ability to keep pace with the Oklahoma and stay within striking range.

Communication and poise will be the key to Oklahoma’s offensive success Saturday. If they can overcome the crowd noise to get the play calls and snap counts right then they should do well. Road crowds can be loud and intimidating. Against UT-Chattanooga scored OU scored touchdowns on their first seven possessions. Against Cincinnati they scored touchdowns on their first two possessions. Similar success against Washington could quickly take away the crowd factor.