The Washington Huskies find themselves tied for last in the Big 10 with two conference losses against Minnesota and USC to start their season. Washington will try to get their first conference win on their home field this weekend when they welcome in the Iowa Hawkeyes. Iowa will be looking to bounce back from their first loss of the season, a 31-14 defeat against Ohio State. Iowa already has a big road conference win this season when they defeated Michigan 20-19 in Ann Arbor. Michigan was ranked-18th in the nation at that time. Iowa's quarterback, Hank Brown is currently listed as questionable after leaving the game early against Ohio State. Even if Brown is unavailable, Iowa's identity has never been about their quarterback play. It has always been about controlling possession and playing great defense. In this matchup, we will be looking at Washington's offense versus Iowa's defense,
The marquee matchup in this game will be Washington offense versus Iowa's defense. Washington is led by senior quarterback and future NFL-hopeful, Demond Williams Jr. In five games this season, Williams has thrown for 1327 yards, 8 touchdowns, and 3 interceptions. As a full unit, Washington averages 31.1 points per game and averages 392.8 yards. They rank 24th in college football in scoring offense, and Williams ranks 6th in completion percentage at 69.4%. The issues that Washington has faced offensively has been with their running game. The Huskies only average 109 rushing yards per game this season, ranking them 126th in college football. This poor running game has resulted in long third down attempts for Washington. They are only converting on third down 29% of the time this season. That ranks 130th in college football. These numbers will be difficult to improve against Iowa. The Hawkeyes are strong defensively against the run and on third down. Iowa's front seven is only allowing a minuscule 2.9 yards per carry this season. They rank 32nd in college football with only 102 rushing yards allowed per game this year. When put into third down situations, opponents are only converting 32% of the time. If Washington wants to win this game, they will need to lean on the arm of their quarterback, but Williams day against Iowa's secondary will not be easy. Iowa's defense does not let up against the pass, only allowing 186 passing yards per game and holding opponents to 12.6 points per game. If Washington cannot establish the run, Williams may be put into numerous third and longs where he will need to generate a big play to convert. To add more wood to the fire, Washington has been one of the most penalized teams in college football with 77.8 penalty yards per game, while Iowa is much more disciplined at only 39.8 penalty yards per game. If we are reviewing just Washington offense vs Iowa's defense, Iowa's defense seems to have an advantage based on these numbers as the more discipline, consistent unit. Defense travels, and I trust head coach Kirk Ferentz and his team to have a good showing this weekend against the Huskies.
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