Here I compare the 2018 defense to the 2016 defense. Football Outsiders’ metric which emphasizes scoring more than per play stats, had UW’s 2016 D at #3 and UW’s 2017 D at #10. The bold shows who I think is better. DL-Elijah Qualls / Levi Onwuzerike (Qualls was drafted and first team all Pac-12)
We looked at the stats for in-conference games during Petersen’s tenure to quantify where UW needs improvement in 2018. The numbers are for 2014, 2016, 2017, 2017. The number in parenthesees is the rank in conference. We bolded 2016 and 2017. Let’s start with the offense… Sack Yards Allowed- 160, 180, 79, 127 Explosive Plays-
ESPN’s Pac-12 Blog has a post up about the league’s best secondary heading into 2016. Chantel Jennings says it’s UW: However, my pick is Washington. The Huskies only lose one player (Brian Clay) out of their two-deep that finished as the fourth-best pass defense in the conference last year. Budda Baker is the obvious star, but
Percy Allen of the Times has a good piece on Jojo Mathis and his personal evolution in recent years. He was loyal to Sark, thought about transferring but stuck it out and is poised for a breakthrough season in 2016. Last season he started 7 games and played in 11. He was tied for 5th
