Saturday evening will be four weeks to the day since Washington’s last home football game. October 5th was Jedd Fisch’s first signature win as the head coach at Washington. The Huskies defeated then-10th-ranked Michigan 27-17 to move to 4-2 on the season. But since then, the Huskies have suffered two losses on the road, each separated with a bye week. At home, Washington is a perfect 4-0. But outside of Husky Stadium, the Huskies are 0-4. That includes a loss at Lumen Field to Washington State.
Jedd Fisch on Washington’s Struggles
“Road games are tough for a lot of reasons,” Fisch said on Monday. “It’s all new travel logistics, all new schemes, all new personnel that you’re going against.” Fisch pointed to the veteran nature of the teams that they’ve faced on the road as a factor in their struggles. Iowa and Rutgers returned the most production in the Big Ten Conference this season with 79% and 72% of their rosters returning, respectively. The new staff at Indiana was able to bring 13 starting players from its roster at James Madison. That’s in addition to a handful of other starting-caliber players it added this offseason.
Despite not winning a game outside of its home stadium, Washington has outgained its opponent in each of those contests. The most extreme of which was at Rutgers, where Washington’s 18 points were created by 521 total yards, 222 yards more than the Scarlet Knights. At Indiana, Washington had the ball inside the Hoosier 37-yard line seven times but scored just 17 points. “When you move the ball to that degree… You should feel good about the outcome. And we didn’t.”
Washington has not struggled to move the ball on the road this season. Its 318 yards against Indiana were the fewest in a road loss this season, and that’s not a bad number. The Huskies gained 398 yards at Iowa and 521 at Rutgers. At the neutral site against Washington State, the Huskies gained 452 yards.
Penalties and Missed Opportunities
Against the Cougars, the problem was penalties: 16 for 135 yards to be exact. The road test at Rutgers was similar. Situational penalties handed opportunities to the Scarlet Knights. We began to see the Huskies really struggle to convert on scoring opportunities in Piscataway. That continued into Iowa City. In the first three quarters, five drives ended inside the Hawkeye 40-yard line but resulted in just 10 points.
Penalties have become less of an issue as the season has progressed. There were just three penalties in the first three quarters before the game got out of hand against Iowa. At Indiana, Washington was flagged for five penalties for just 33 yards. But like Fisch mentioned to his team and reiterated on Monday, finishing drives continued to be a problem for Washington. Seven drives with scoring opportunities, but just 17 points.
Early-Kickoff Adjustments
Each of Washington’s last two games were 9:00 am PT kickoffs. But the approach to the two games was different. Against Iowa, Fisch discussed how the staff adjusted their normal Thursday lift up to Wednesday. In an effort to adjust the body clocks that week, the staff woke the team up early. A 6:00 am wake-up call for the three days leading up to the Thursday travel day.
For Indiana, Fisch said that he made adjustments to the week leading up to another 9:00 am PT kickoff. Fisch felt like he and his staff “over-lifted” the team during the Wednesday lift prior to Iowa. For Indiana, they gave the team a few extra hours of sleep on Wednesday and avoided a heavy lift.
Fisch made changes on Friday as well. He gave the team a longer break between meetings the day before the game. It was a five-and-a-half-hour break rather than a typical three-hour break. Curfew was also moved up a little earlier in Bloomington than in Iowa. “I felt our guys were ready to go,” Fisch concluded. He said the team was fresh coming off of the bye. In both games, Washington started strong. Back-to-back 14-play drives for 73-plus yards were promising at Iowa. But the defense couldn’t slow down the run game. In Bloomington, the defense forced three Indiana three-and-outs on its first five possessions. An early Will Rogers interception forced Washington into a negative game script.
Home Field Advantage
Adjusting the players’ internal clock seems to be something Fisch and staff need to continue to fine-tune. It’s easy to see how the biggest benefit at home is routine. Fisch said, “Your Thursday and your Friday routine specifically” are instrumental in what creates an advantage at home. The 48 hours leading up to the game were tweaked at Iowa and Indiana. But at home, there’s rhythm. “The benefit at home is an incredible fan base…[and] an awesome student section.” Fisch added, “And we’re at Husky Stadium, which is a phenomenal place to play ball.”
Washington currently holds the nation’s second-longest home-winning streak. The last home loss came on November 26th, 2021 to Washington State. It has won 18 straight games inside Husky Stadium since. Georgia owns the nation’s longest, with 28 straight home victories. But Fisch said that’s not something he talks about with his team.
Instead, he said, “We talk about how excited we are to play at home.” Fisch did tell his team that, within the Big Ten, home teams have a 76% win percentage right now. “There’s a legitimate home-field advantage across the country in the Big Ten,” Fisch said. Washington’s home-field advantage has been among the best in the nation. It has an opportunity to show that once again on Saturday against USC. A win would put Washington within one of reaching bowl eligibility in year one of the Fisch tenure.
