The Washington plan for slowing down Bama’s offense

The Huskies offense is fantastic. They have an effective run game with an explosive slasher, Myles Gaskin, and a power back, Lavon Coleman. The passing game with Jake Browning (42-7 TD/INT ratio) and leading receiver John Ross (1,172 yards) is excellent at using the space created by the threat of the run and creating space with clever formations and route running.

But this same offense got shut down by USC playing in its own building, and this week gets Alabama, which seems to annually contribute another “greatest defense of the decade” consideration. Alabama is a 14.5-point favorite for a reason, and if Washington wants to beat that margin, it’s going to need to get after Alabama’s weaker link: offense.

Every good spread offense needs to be great in one area and dangerous when attacking one or two other areas, so it can prevent opponents from overloading that favorite part of the field.

Alabama is great in the trenches, happy to whip you on the perimeter if that’s what you prefer, and inconsistent at attacking opponents deep.

Damien Harris is the leading rusher, with 983 rushing yards at 7.4 per carry, followed by QB Jalen Hurts (935, 6.4) and power back Bo Scarborough (539, 6.0). Their skill talent out wide is wildly fast and led by ArDarius Stewart (816 receiving yards, 11.2 per target) and Calvin Ridley (763, 7.4). Ridley led the team in receptions, and you can tell from his per-target numbers that he was doing most of his work on quick perimeter throws, helping to prevent teams from overloading the Alabama run game.

The biggest challenge with Alabama is handling its OL, particularly against the run game or tunnel screens. The left side includes returning starters at LT (future first-rounder Cam Robinson), LG (Ross Pierschbacher), and center (big Bradley Bozeman).

If a defense doesn’t have sturdy linemen, discipline in team concepts against spread-option tactics, and athletes, it won’t stand a chance against Alabama. The Tide’s ability to execute inside zone a dozen different ways with a dozen different constraints, all involving excellent athletes, will destroy a defense that can’t get into position and work as a team.

But Washington has 300-pound defensive tackles, good outside linebackers, and a secondary that picked off 19 passes and allowed the Huskies to finish first in the nation in turnover margin.

They also have a defensive scheme that is somewhat comparable to what the Seattle Seahawks employ (Saban agrees) and might allow them to use the obvious strategy against the Tide. That strategy is to load up in the trenches and on the perimeter and dare Alabama to beat them deep. Here’s how they tend to line up against sets like what the Tide tend to use:

It’s a similar defense to what Wisconsin employed this year and would usually use outside linebackers at the jack (“J”) and sam (“S”) DE/OLB spots flanking either defensive tackle.

The goal would be the same as it was against everyone else this year: cancel out the space outside the hash marks with press coverage by cornerbacks, have a safety helping out close to the line, and bring creative four-man pressures that get sacks or force the QB to make hurried throws.

It’s the right strategy for taking down Alabama. The question is whether UW can actually pull it off.

The Huskies prefer to account for this area with three players (or however many it takes to match up with the number of WRs on the field in that area), and the guys who get the call are CB Sidney Jones (6’0, 181, three INTs, six breakups), CB Kevin King (6’3, 192, two INTs, 13 breakups), and nickel/safety Budda Baker (5’10, 192, two INTs, five breakups).

King might be the most special player of the bunch, thanks to his shocking quickness at 6’3. He can cover ground and help support the run or to lock down receivers in press-man coverage. Baker is feisty against WR screen blocks or when forcing the edge. Jones is a great athlete who can cover a lot of ground in zone and whom you shouldn’t throw lobs toward.

Alabama’s receivers should terrify any team in the country, but Hurts is not yet able to beat great press coverage consistently, particularly if he’s also trying to account for the creative blitz packages.

This is hard, even with fronts as good as what Washington’s. It may be that defensive coordinator Pete Kwiatkowski decides to push his chips in and roll with 3-4 fronts, playing Baker as the strong safety rather than the nickel and getting an extra DL on the field.

That way, they hopefully set the edges close to the action, so Hurts or Harris can’t get loose on the perimeter.

Here’s how that could look against Alabama’s inverted zone read play:

This set would allow the S linebacker to keep the ball between the tackles and prevent double-team blocks. In this instance, the play would probably be determined by how well the blocks went against the Husky nose, end, and jack outside linebacker, with a lot at stake if Hurts were to win a crease or the edge and W linebacker Keishawn Victor had to track him down before he did too much damage.

Playing Alabama’s runs like this could swing things wildly either way, with perhaps a DL making a tackle for loss one snap and then Robinson caving in the outside linebacker and springing Hurts for a big gain the next. Washington might instead play it more conservatively with its 2-4 nickel package, trading a few four-yard gains for the peace of mind, with speed helping to keep any defeats up front from turning into disasters.

With another DB on the field, it’s easier to chase plays down and set up the deep safety to perform his cleanup role.

Washington should be able to hold its own on the edges, with outside linebackers like Psalm Wooching, but sustained a serious loss when middle linebacker and leading tackler Azeem Victor went out in November with a broken leg. They’ll probably decide they don’t want to pack too many defenders across the line of scrimmage, which would raise the stakes if young inside linebackers don’t fit the run properly.

If they can get big-hitting safety Jojo McIntosh in the box to help cover mistakes ($ below) instead of helping deep, they may find that’s a worthy trade.

This will depend partly on whether or not Washington’s own offense is doing anything on the scoreboard. Alabama won’t call many passing plays down the field if it can get away with QB draws or WR screens on third-and-long. Washington can defend those well enough, but would prefer to force Hurts to look through multiple receivers while facing blitzes.

The Huskies’ 2-4 alignment makes for a wide array of blitzes. They have four players up front who can either drop into coverage or blitz. Kwiatkowski is at his best mixing stunts and twists with inside linebacker blitzes, such as on this play:

Washington effectively won the Pac-12 Championship on that play, rendering QB Sefo Liufau less effective for the rest of the game. With five DBs on the field and seven guys in coverage, Washington is good at forcing QBs to second or third options. That’s often enough time for those path-crossing pass-rushers to hit home.

Even with extra time and bowl practices, these schemes are difficult for a freshman QB to get his head around. The Huskies’ secondary often plays coverages tight. Hurts’ ability to scramble could throw a monkey wrench into the plan, but these conservative pressures are less vulnerable to the long scramble than man blitzes. Washington will trade a scramble or two for turnovers, if it comes down to it.

If the Huskies can score just enough points, take away the perimeter, and hold their own inside, they can make the game come down to how well Alabama executes against UW’s passing-downs defense. Don’t count out the Huskies pulling off an upset if that’s the case.