The penalty issues for the Huskies have persisted through their entire nonconference schedule.
SEATTLE ā The Washington Huskies football team was able to get through its nonconference schedule 3-0 after a 48-16 win against the Eastern Washington Eagles on Saturday at Husky Stadium.
The Huskies will begin their Big Ten slate against the Minnesota Golden Gophers at 8 p.m. PT on Sept. 26 at Husky Stadium. Before UW takes the field against the Gophers, it will have some problems on defense it will have to sort out beginning conference play.
Specifically, how to find the balance between being aggressive and being disciplined.
Washington's defense has been the undisputed strength of the team through the first three weeks of the season. Opposing offenses have allowed 13.3 points per game and the defense has forced seven turnovers during that stretch. The defensive line has one of the best pressure rates in the country.
Despite the defense's success, the unit has not been the most disciplined when it comes to penalties.
In the first three games of the season, UW has averaged 8.7 penalties a game totaling 91.7 yards. On Saturday, the Huskies committed eight penalties for 101 yards. The first six were all on the defense and were comprised of three pass interferences, one delay of game, one targeting and one unnecessary roughness. The targeting and unnecessary roughness resulted in the ejections of fourth-year linebacker Xe'ree Alexander and fourth-year edge rusher Jacob Lane, respectively, and resulted in both players' ejections and happened on the same play.
Washington head coach Jedd Fisch said after the game he was "very disappointed" in the penalties. Fifth-year linebacker Jacob Manu expanded on the defense's lack of discipline following the game.
"Coach Fisch hit on it after the game," Manu said in a postgame interview Saturday at Husky Stadium. "There's being aggressive (but) then we got to be disciplined. Those penalties will hurt us, kind of kept (Eastern Washington's) drives alive. ... This week, we got to work on discipline."
As Manu alluded to, many of the Huskies' defensive penalties resulted in drives being extended for the Eagles.
Against Eastern Washington, which plays in the Football Championship Subdivision (FCS), and Pac-12 schools Washington State and Utah State, Washington's penalties didn't end up effecting the final outcome of the game.
However, it's unlikely the Huskies will be able to find the same kind of luck against their Big Ten opposition, especially considering the quality of opponents they're set to face in their early conference matchups.
After Washington's game against Minnesota, it will have two back-to-back games against ranked opponents: No. 12 Southern California (USC) on Oct. 3 and No. 17 Iowa on Oct. 9.
