The Washington Huskies haven’t had trouble moving the ball in their first year under coach Jedd Fisch, averaging 435.9 yards per game, good for No. 32 in the nation. However, they’ve had a significant amount of struggles on third down, moving the chains at a meager 36.96 percent, which ranks No. 99 out of 134 FBS teams.
That could be due to a variety of issues, including offensive line struggles, players running routes, and play-calling. With the USC Trojans coming to town, who have been one of the country’s best third-down defenses, allowing a 30.48 percent conversion rate, Fisch and quarterback Will Rogers have to find a way to make some fixes to the offense quickly after managing just 4 conversions on 14 attempts across third and fourth down against Indiana.
“You’ve got to be better on third and one, I’d start there,” Fisch said on Monday. “If you’re better on third and one that gets you to 4-of-11, which then gets you a little closer, and then you have to convert one other play to get to 5-of-11. You want to be as close to 50 percent on third down as you can possibly be. If you’re 50 percent on third down, you’re in the top 25 of the country.”
The Huskies have only reached a 50 percent conversion rate on third down twice this season, against Weber State in the season opener and again in the first game of Big Ten play against Northwestern. In each of Washington’s four losses this season, Fisch’s offense has failed to reach a 35 percent conversion rate.
So, how does the head coach fix that?
“It’s all 11 plus the sideline,” Fisch continued. “What plays are we calling to put them in the best possible position to succeed? How are we blocking, are we picking up protections? Are we winning on the routes, and can we make a couple more plays after we catch the ball? Rather than get to a situation where it’s a third and eight, and we hit Denzel [Boston] for five yards, and now it’s fourth and three, can we knife it and get the first down?”