Huskies notes: UW offense still has a ‘chance to write our own story,’ John Donovan says
The last time John Donovan took the podium before Tuesday was in late August, four days before Washington opened its season against visiting Montana.
He answered questions about the progress this Huskies offense made in camp, and the level of comfortability this group has running his offense for a second season now, having had a full offseason in this system.
When the season began, it seemed this Huskies offense — anchored by a veteran offensive line, a second-year quarterback and some proven playmakers in its running backs, wide receivers and tight ends rooms — was on the path to early-season success.
It didn’t play out that way, though. UW was stunned in its season-opener against Montana, a trip to Ann Arbor resulted in another deflating defeat against Michigan, and the Huskies had scored only two touchdowns in as many weeks.
The offense did bounce back with a more convincing six-touchdown performance against Arkansas State two weeks ago, and did enough last weekend to top Cal in overtime in the Pac-12 opener.
Still, when Donovan took the podium again Tuesday, the perception of this offense was different than it was four weeks ago. The shortcomings have been widely questioned since the 0-2 start.
How did this offense, which seemed to have so much potential to when fall camp wrapped up, falter so much through the first two games? What changed in the next two that led to more productive drives? And will the adjustments made help the Huskies to stay consistent as the bulk of their Pac-12 schedule begins?
“We try to put our guys in the best position to be successful, and they bought in over a tough stretch, and they just keep working,” Donovan said. “It’s not how you start, it’s how you finish, and if we can keep improving then we still have a chance to write our own story.”
The story of this season didn’t begin as planned, though. The Huskies scored on their first drive, on Dylan Morris’ 1-yard keeper less than two minutes into the Montana game, but didn’t find the end zone again until the fourth quarter the following week, when Morris connected with Terrell Bynum for a 22-yard score against Michigan.
When that game in Ann Arbor ended, UW was staring down some troubling statistics. The offense had managed only 17 points in two games, and their scoring average ranked 129th among FBS programs, with only Navy averaging fewer points per game. UW’s 317 yards per game ranked 112th at that point. Skepticism about the offense grew, as did criticisms of Donovan.
“I understand the narrative,” he said. “I’m a New York Mets fan, so I read that stuff, you know what I mean? They have 162 games, and they’re either going to go to the World Series one day and then fire everybody the next day. So, I get the narrative. I probably could assume what’s being said. But, you definitely don’t want to go read that, I mean, geez. I understand the nature of it all. But, you just avoid it. You don’t have to go searching for it, you kind of know already, you know?
“I’m sure we won the last two games and not many people are happy. So, I get that’s the nature of it, but you’ve just got to believe in what you’re doing and believe in the guys you’ve got and try to move on to the next game, to move on to the next play during the game, and the next quarter, next overtime, whatever it is — you move on if something’s good or bad.”
When asked about what the Huskies were doing strategically in the first two games that needed adjustment after evaluation, Donovan didn’t offer many specifics, but said, “Each play you try to design it to be successful based off of who’s touching the ball and whatnot. And sometimes when you have plans that get disrupted on the fly, you’ve got to adjust and adapt, and I don’t know if I did that well enough at the time.
“But, the last couple weeks I thought we’ve done a good job as a staff trying to get the guys that can make plays for us the ball, and that’s been the biggest thing, and they’ve made those plays.”
Donovan noted the Huskies “had some late scratches that kind of threw us for a loop” in the first two games — surely referring to missing three starters at wide receiver in Bynum, Jalen McMillan and Rome Odunze in the opener, and then only having Bynum available to play more than a handful of snaps against Michigan — which clearly disrupted some of the offensive plans.
“We had guys that made plays, that came in there, and there’s no excuses, we’ve got to get it done with the guys we’ve got,” Donovan said. “I thought the guys that came in did a good job for not getting the amount of reps, because you can watch the tape and learn from somebody else only so much, you learn by doing.
“But, when you have certain guys that are going to play and they get most of the reps, the guys behind them have got to do a great job of knowing what they’re supposed to do, and they might have limited reps, and then all the sudden they’ve got to play, and sometimes there’s a learning curve to it. But, you’ve got to get it done right?”
Beyond missing three of their top wideouts, the Huskies — who were projected preseason to have a robust rushing attack behind four veteran starters on their offensive line, the rest of that room returning, and four returning options in their backfield in Richard Newton, Cameron Davis and sixth-year tailbacks Sean McGrew and Kamari Pleasant all back — struggled to move the ball on the ground, too, averaging 57.5 yards per game the first two weeks.
Even now, UW is averaging the fewest yards per game rushing (101.8) among conference teams, though they also rank second in yards per game passing (287.8), trailing only USC.
“I think you do what the defense allows you to do, and I think that was some of it,” Donovan said when asked if the Huskies have purposefully thrown the ball more earlier in games in recent weeks. “If they’re going to get up in there and play the run like crazy, then you’ve got to be able to throw the ball, and if they’re going to play back and play soft then you’ve got to be able to run it. And so that’s the cat and mouse game you play, and I think that the last two weeks that was something that we thought we could take advantage of, and we did.”
As noted, there is still time for improvement, with the second week of Pac-12 play coming up this Saturday when the Huskies travel to Oregon State.
The Huskies still rank 96th among FBS programs in scoring offense (25 points per game), but the offense has been more productive the past two weeks. UW’s offense has tallied 76 points in that span, while posting a season-high 598 yards against Arkansas State, and then adding another 326 in the win over Cal — even if most of that was tallied in the three-touchdown first half before Cal closed the gap late.
“You never really expect to not do well,” he said. “You practice and prepare to win, so whenever you’re not successful, it’s not fun. You’ve just got to get back to work, and find out why, or move on to the next opponent and see what you can do against them.
“I just think it’s a long season, and we’ve got a couple in a row here, we’ve got some good juice and the second half of the second game we started getting it a little bit, and hopefully we stay in that rhythm here going forward.”
EXTRA POINTS
▪ Morris has completed 89-of-154 passes for 1,120 yards and six touchdowns in four games this season, and both his passing yards and yards per game (280) currently lead the Pac-12.
Here is what Donovan said when asked about what Morris has improved on most so far this season: “I think he’s settled down,” he said. “Even in the second game he was in a good place. You’re a quarterback, you practice all spring and summer, you’re never getting hit and you never know when it’s a real sack or not or whatnot, so you’ve kind of got to learn that as it goes, right from the get go. So, I just think that … it was good for him to get the live reps.
“And now I think he’s settled in and understanding what he’s getting into each every week, and I think that helps. And he’s been around a while and kind of knows what we’re trying to do on each play and he’s smart and he works hard at it, so I think that’s the biggest thing, is preparation just helps him believe that he’s going to be alright.”
▪ Donovan noted redshirt freshman wide receiver Taj Davis is “probably our most improved player from last year” this season.
“From spring to now, the guy is just locked in,” Donovan said. “ … He has just hit the ground running and it’s hard to get him off the field. We’ve got a few good guys there (at wide receiver) now like you guys know, and he’s earned the right to stay in the lineup someway, somehow.
“I am so impressed with the way he’s improved since I first got here to now. It’s unbelievable. So it’s a credit to him.”
Davis did not play as a true freshman in 2019, and opted out of the 2020 season, but made his first career start against Montana, and has been steady in each of the Huskies’ four games this season.
He leads UW in both catches (19) and receiving yards (257), and scored his first career touchdown against Cal on a 20-yard pass from Morris.
This story was originally published September 29, 2021 at 7:00 AM.
