There isn’t a single fan who will look back on John Donovan’s brief tenure as the Washington Huskies‘ offensive coordinator fondly. With several future NFL players throughout his group, Washington’s offense averaged just 21.5 points per game, and through 10 games in 2024, the Huskies are mustering 21.8 under coach Jedd Fisch.
After piecing together a largely inexperienced offensive line through the spring transfer window, some growing pains were to be expected in Fisch’s first season. Those growing pains have been more severe than most have expected, as the Huskies have been overpowered up front on several occasions, leading to their 5-5 record.
The biggest difference between the two play callers is that Fisch’s offense has been more effective, averaging 405.5 yards per game compared to 323.4 under Donovan, making the lack of effectiveness in the red zone frustrating.
“We were able to quantify and look at some of the series that kept us from scoring in certain spots down in the red area or getting close to there, some of the penalties that occurred or some of the missed assignments or some of the things we would call differently,” Fisch said after Washington’s bye week. “We looked at the end of the half stuff on defense and looked at some of the run game over the last couple of games. We really almost looked at everything. I watched all of our games; our staff looked at all the games.”
But in the Huskies’ three games since the break, they’ve totaled 17, 26, and 6 points in their three games and haven’t surpassed 30 points in a game since September 7 against Eastern Michigan. Fisch’s offense has a chance to take advantage of a poor UCLA secondary on Friday night but will need to execute on the offensive line in order to keep out of Donovan territory in the scoring column.
Moving forward, the Huskies should show much-needed improvements in the scoring column thanks to a revamped offensive line.