Over the last two seasons, the Washington Huskies have come to be known for their explosive passing offense. Under coach Kalen DeBoer, with quarterback Michael Penix Jr. throwing to a talented trio of receivers led by Rome Odunze, the Huskies had the nation’s No. 1 aerial attack in 2022, and No. 2 in 2023.
Last season, Jedd Fisch’s offense at Arizona wasn’t too far behind them. Led by quarterback Noah Fifita and wide receiver Tetairoa McMillan, the Wildcats held the nation’s No. 8 passing offense, a trend that should be expected to continue with Fisch in Seattle.
Statsbomb Football’s Yahia Hassan created a chart to display how explosive each of the 134 passing offenses in the FBS were last year by adding two metrics, catch separation plus yards after catch per reception.
Arizona’s offense was better than Washington’s last season by these metrics, mainly due to the fact that Penix trusted his receivers like no other quarterback in the country in contested catch situations. The Wildcats generated 4.5 yards of separation downfield and averaged over 7 yards after the catch, while the Huskies were just under 4.4 yards of separation and garnered under 6 YAC yards on average.
While that doesn’t mean that Fisch’s offense was better than the group that led the Huskies to the national championship game, it is a very good sign of the success his scheme could have in Seattle. Quarterback Will Rogers has a talented group of pass catchers around him, headlined by receivers Denzel Boston and Jeremiah Hunter, which could lead to a similarly explosive offense in the Big Ten, if Washington’s offensive line can hold up.
[lawrence-related id=3201]
It's Saturday so how about a chart.
Catch Separation and YAC per reception, by team
Plus, the label shows what percentage of each team's targets were short passes (< 5 air yards).Separating on longer routes + YAC is one signal of a dangerous passing game. pic.twitter.com/YSXU0mNY5U
— yahia hassan 🏈💻®️ (@yhassan00) May 25, 2024