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3 Takeaways From Washington Huskies Win vs. Purdue Boilermakers
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- 3 Takeaways From Washington Huskies Win vs. Purdue Boilermakers
(Marc Lebryk/Imagn Images)
The Washington Huskies football team is coming off perhaps its best game of the season, albeit not the cleanest victory in the Jedd Fisch era.
The Huskies beat the Purdue Boilermakers 38-26 on Friday. It was the first time this season Washington scored more than 24 points against a Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) and the first time the team has beaten a Big Ten opponent this season.
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It was also the strongest rushing performance for Washington, which totaled 186 yards on the ground. Its previous high was 148 yards against the Eastern Washingon Eagles of the Football Championship Subdivision (FCS) on Sept. 19.
Here's three takeaways from the Huskies' win against the Boilermakers:
Run game shows signs of life
Washington's offense has been rendered one-dimensional for the majority of the season due to injuries and lack of performance from the running game.
The top two running backs on the Huskies' depth chart, first-year Brian Bonner Jr. and sixth-year Trey Cooley, were able to provide necessary spark for an offense that lost the turnover battle to Purdue five-to-two.
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Cooley finished the game with 113 rushing yards on eight carries, including a 53-yard touchdown run. It was his first game with over 100 yards rushing since Oct. 2021 when he was with Louisville.
Bonner finished his day with 15 total touches for 89 yards (64 rushing, 25 receiving) and two touchdowns (one rushing, one receiving).
Washington had had five running backs miss games this season and that number could go to six depending on the pending x-rays for Cooley, who exited the game with a shoulder injury.
However, if Cooley is healthy, this game against Purdue could be the spark plug both players need
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Elijah Brown shows mixed bag in first start
Third-year quarterback Elijah Brown made his first start for the Huskies following his stellar second half against the Iowa Hawkeyes on Oct. 9. Brown started in place of injured fellow third-year QB Demond Williams Jr., who exited the game against Iowa with a rib injury .
Brown showed his rust as a starter while also proving a capable guiding hand for an offense that has looked like one of the worst in the Power Four this season.
The former Stanford Cardinal finished the game 21-for-27 for 302 yards, three touchdowns and three interceptions.
Two of the interceptions from Brown were bad decisions and could be chalked up to being too anticipatory in how his target's route would be ran. The first interception was a poorly-executed call on the first offensive play for the Huskies. The team attempted to catch the Boilermakers off guard with a team throw on first-and-10, which was underthrown by Brown and picked off.
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Aside from the three interceptions, the offense looked as smooth as it has throughout the entire season. Everything UW tried, which included using second-year slot receiver Dezmen Roebuck as a running back, worked.
Fisch was noncommittal after the game whether Williams or Brown would start when the former's healthy. The team will have a bye week next week before being back in action against the Nebraska Cornhuskers on Oct. 31 in Lincoln, Neb. If Williams is healthy, it might be wise to get a look at both quarterbacks with the first team and let either one earn the start in the lead-up to the Nebraska game.
Defensive backs show teeth
UW's 41-24 loss to Iowa was a gut-punch for the defense, which surrendered three passing touchdowns and over 200 yards rushing to the Hawkeyes.
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The defense bounced back against the Boilermakers on Friday. It wasn't a perfect showing for the Huskies, who surrendered 271 passing yards. However, those yards came on a 21-for-41 mark for Purdue quarterback Ryan Browne, who threw one touchdown to two interceptions. Second-year safety Rylon Dillard-Allen and first-year cornerback Jeron Jones accounted for the two picks.
The UW defensive front also showed up and held the Boilermakers to 98 yards rushing.
The defense has been the strength of the team for the majority of this season and Friday's bounceback following the loss against the Hawkeyes was affirmation it can remain that way.
