The Washington Huskies have had a problem scoring in the red zone. Coach Jedd Fisch’s team ranks No. 117 in the country in efficiency inside the 20-yard line, converting on 13 of 18 trips, a 72 percent rate.
Sitting at 3-2, turning two of those five empty possessions into touchdowns could have completely changed the early outlook of Washington’s season, and if the Huskies converted on a few field goal attempts, the numbers would look vastly different, as Fisch said on Monday.
“That doesn’t necessarily change that we’re not focused on continuing to get better down there,” he said. “I’d love for us to complete the corner route to Giles [Jackson against Rutgers]. I would have loved to call a different play on fourth and one, but that’s kind of what’s happened.”
“I talked to the team about that candidly. As we continue to evolve and continue to develop, we’re one basketball hoop away from 5-0. We’re three yards away. We’ve got to convert on fourth and one on the one and fourth and two on the two, and we have two different outcomes. Then we’re the best story in college football because we have a team with 21 new starters and 21 new coaches, and we’re 5-0.”
“We’ve got to find a way to continue to get better and make those plays…if we do that, I think we’ll have a chance to be really good, but this is a process. Mistakes are going to occur, and we’re going to try to limit them when we get closer to the red zone.”
The Huskies could have a good chance to get right in the red zone against Michigan, as the Wolverines rank No. 66 in red zone conversions allowed, with opponents scoring at 82.3 percent inside the 20-yard line.
Fisch on red zone issues and more pic.twitter.com/MGFpeqnsQo
— Dave “Softy” Mahler (@Softykjr) September 30, 2024