Congratulation to the Washington State Cougars for winning the 116th edition of the Apple Cup after beating the Washington Huskies 24-19 at Lumen Field. Their quarterback John Mateer was very, very good throwing for 245 yards on 17/32 pass attempts, including 1 touchdown and 1 interception. He skill really shone through when using his athleticism to get outside the pocket running at/through the Husky defense at will. He accounted for 62 rushing yards on 16 carries, most importantly scoring twice for a total of 3 TD’s. The rest of the skill positions played OK, chipping in where they could and making some timely catches. Wide receiver Josh Meredith was the one guy who was reliable all game for WSU, ending with 7 receptions for 111 yards and 1 TD. The offensive line should also get a large amount of credit for keeping their QB clean and blocking downfield when he broke the pocket and ran. On the other hand, their defense was excellent. Limiting the Husky offense to just a handful of explosive plays, keeping running back Jonah Coleman in check, harassing Will Rodgers in the pocket and coming up with a major stop on 4th down late in the fourth quarter that will go down in Cougars lore.

If we pivot to the Husky perspective this was about the most undisciplined, uninspired Apple Cup effort ever. Firstly, 16 penalties for 165 yards just reeks of bad coaching. No staff who holds themselves to a high standard would ever allow that to happen in the biggest rivalry game of the season! It’s like head coach Jedd Fisch wasn’t aware this was a heated rivalry matchup and thought his guys would roll, no questions asked. He was sadly mistaken, and possibly underprepared. Either he underrated the Cougars or overrated the Huskies. The offense and defense both need to take accountability for the stupid, easily avoidable penalties across the board and game. Let’s take a look at some of the most impactful penalties.

In the first quarter there was a defensive pass interference on Elijah Jackson for 15-yards, followed by John Mateer breaking the Husky containment and scoring a TD off a 23-yard scramble.

In the second quarter, John Mateer was sacked for a 10-yard loss that was instantly wiped away after a facemask penalty on Isaiah Ward. Later in the quarter, after the 2-minute timeout (lol), Mateer threw an incompletion but Thaddeus Dixon was flagged for holding on the play, giving WSU a fresh first down. On 3rd-and-20, after an Alphonzo Tuputala sack, the Cougars called a designed QB run where Mateer evaded the whole Husky defense, including some of the worst tackling attempts ever by UW, and scored from 25 yards out. It was simply a back-breaking play for the Dawgs defense, right before halftime too.

After such an undisciplined half, you would think Jedd Fisch and his staff would talk to the guys and try to get it cleaned up in the 2nd half. NOPE, that was surprisingly not the case!

On the Cougars first drive of the 2nd half, after 2 consecutive WSU penalties, the Huskies came up with a huge sack (Tuputala) on 3rd down only for it to be negated by Jordan Shaw holding on a receiver who ended up being inconsequential to the play. One of the many unnecessary UW penalties. The next play, after the automatic first down, was a 37-yard run by RB Wayshawn Parker, and then two plays later John Mateer found Josh Meredith for a 16-yard TD reception.

For the most part, Steve Belichick’s defense was disastrous. The secondary, which looked good over the first two weeks, was shredded. Early on, they were playing way off the WSU receivers letting them get whatever underneath route they wanted, with crossing routes being very effective throughout the game. It also put a ton of onus on the Huskies tackling in space, something that did not go well. Later, when the DB’s started playing closer to the line of scrimmage, the Washington State receivers had space to get in behind the Washington secondary. Big plays downfield were there for the Cougars if they wanted to stretch the field.

The Husky defensive line, which was very impactful getting in the QB’s face last week, was flummoxed by John Mateer and his ability to maneuver inside the pocket and evade the pressure. He slipped through their hands numerous times. Star defensive end Zach Durfee had a quiet game with 5 tackles and 1 TFL. Even when Steve Belichick brought a blitz, Mateer was able to run away from the pressure or make a quick throw forcing the secondary or linebackers to come up and make the tackle. He will need to re-think how this defense handles athletic, running QB’s going forward.

The offense was a massive disappointment, only scoring 1 TD, and getting stopped on 4th-and-goal from the 1 late in the 4th quarter. QB Will Rodgers played OK, throwing for 314 yards on 23/31 passing attempts and 1 TD. When he looks back at the tape, there will be a couple of throws he’ll want back, both in the redzone; one to TE Keleki Latu and one to WR Audric Harris. If the Huskies had scored a TD, instead of settling for field goal’s, then this game could’ve gone much differently. Oh well, those are the breaks of the game.

Washington State made a tremendous effort to limit RB Jonah Coleman, and did just that. His impact was limited to 75 rushing yards on 14 carries and 2 receptions for 17 yards, no TD’s either. More than a couple of times he was stopped at or behind the line of scrimmage too. One noticeable thing was how poorly Washington ran out of traditional pro sets like singleback or I-formation. The Huskies need to do a lot better job getting positive runs out of those sets. The runs out of the pistol/shotgun formations weren’t much better.

As for the receivers, only Giles Jackson was consistently making plays. He finished with 8 receptions for 162 yards and 1 TD, he also threw a couple nice blocks in the run game. The other starting receivers, Denzel Boston (8 receptions for 58 yards) & Jeremiah Hunter (2 receptions for 21 yards) were held in check by the WSU secondary. The tight end group, Keleki Latu (2 receptions for 32 yards) and Decker DeGraf (1 reception for 21 yards) were also quiet.

One of the weirder decisions by Jedd Fisch was how much he split the snaps between Will Rodgers and Demond Williams Jr. The latter had gotten into the game in the previous two 4th quarters, seeing a little bit of action. He was solid in those moments. It was very surprising how often he saw the field against Washington State and how much he was asked to do for the offense. Near the end of the first half he was in for most of the drive. There is no way the subbing in and out did not affect starting QB Will Rodgers. Hopefully Coach Fisch will pull those two aside and explain his through process about how he wants to use them both going forward. It makes sense to get Williams Jr. some action, but he’s still only a freshman and has a whole career to look forward to. Rodgers is the much more experience player and should be given most of the first team action so he can settle into the game and build trust/chemistry with his receivers. A hotly contested rivalry game isn’t the time to break out the two QB system.

Alright, it’s finally time to talk about the last offensive drive/play for the Huskies.

To set the scene, Washington forced a Washington State punt with 2:23 left and started on their own 31 yard line down 24-19, so only a TD would do. On the first play, Will Rodgers found Giles Jackson for a 45 yard gain, flipping the field quickly and knocking the Cougars defense back on their heels. Demond Williams Jr. subbed in and ran for 5 yards, followed by a Jonah Coleman run that saw the Dawgs move down to the 9. Once inside the 10 the play sequence went: Coleman 1st down run stopped for a 1-yard loss, then a 2nd down incompletion to Denzel Boston (a good pass breakup by WSU), finally a 9-yard reception to Boston on third down. Setting up an incredibly important 4th down play from the 1. From such a short distance, and having a physical RB like Jonah Coleman, you would think he would get the carry, even after not being super effective for most of the game. Another option would’ve been to insert Demond Williams Jr. back in at QB and try to run a misdirection and have him use his athleticism to get around the edge into the endzone. Instead, Washington offensive coordinator Brennan Carroll and Jedd Fisch settled on running a QB option, to the short side of the field, with the less athletic Rodgers. Predictably, it got blown up by Washington State for a 2-yard loss and a turnover on downs. Shutting the door on a 3rd consecutive Apple Cup victory for the Huskies. Not much else to say other than what a shit play to run from the 1 with the game on the line. Everyone on Washington’s staff, frankly, got too cute and thought they could be sneaky on 4th down. Just put your hand in the dirt and out-physical the other team! Hopefully, this will spark the coaching staff into action and the players use the hurt of the rivalry loss as fuel for the upcoming gauntlet that is the Big Ten schedule.

Next up for the Washington Huskies is a home game against the Northwestern Wildcats in Week 4 (I’ll be there!). Maybe, by then, some of the procedural and penalty issues will be ironed out. Either way, Jedd Fisch needs to rebound quickly as conference play will be relentless and extremely unforgiving. Time to lock in, fellas!

GO DAWGS!