Bruins Took Full Advantage of Depleted and Youthful UW Secondary
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When UCLA ran out the clock to secure a 40-32 victory on Friday night, Davon Banks and Jaivion Green were the University of Washington cornerbacks who came off the field.
A year ago, Trent McDuffie and Kyler Gordon were those guys, providing lockdown defenders and All-Pac-12 selections for the Huskies, and later high draft picks and immediate NFL starters.
Those UW corners when the game ended at the Rose Bowl were a redshirt freshman and a true freshman, a most risky proposition.
Using that sort of youth is a surefire invitation to have people throw the football at you, thinking it's open season on the rookies. And, in the case of UCLA's Dorian Thompson-Robinson, it was. After starting slow, the veteran quarterback connected on 24 of 33 passes for 315 yards and 3 touchdowns, with no interceptions.
Except in this case, the entire UW defensive backfield didn't play especially well against the now 5-0 Bruins, not the old guys or the young ones. Everyone either missed a bunch of tackles or played way off the UCLA wide receivers and gave up all those yards.
"There's no way we're going to put it on them," UW coach Kalen DeBoer said of his coverage guys. "There were some other things that happened, too. There were some tough match-ups against a quarterback who could sling it and wide receivers who make big plays."
Dom Hampton misses a tackle on UCLA's Zach Charbonnet.
Jayne Kamin-Oncea/USA TODAY Sports
Either way, cornerback and even safety are position areas where DeBoer and his staff haven't been able to stock properly with healthy or veteran talent.
Sophomore Mishael Powell and sixth-year senior Jordan Perryman were designated as the Husky cornerback starters when the season began, but they didn't last long at all, with injuries greatly affecting their seasons and putting them on the sideline.
Powell missed his second consecutive game with an unspecified injury. Perryman sat three games before starting against UCLA, but he didn't last long, apparently still not fully recovered from his leg injury, possibly a hamstring that could bother him all season.
"That's obviously something the [opposing] offense sees is the injuries," senior safety Alex Cook said. "They're definitely going to attack the young guys."
UCLA went after everybody. Junior Julius Irvin, who made an in-game switch from safety to cornerback to help replace Perryman, came off the bench but didn't have a strong outing against the Bruins. Neither did junior Hybrid Husky Dominque Hampton, who wasn't his normal sure tackler self.
Sophomore Kam Fabiculanan, who moved from Husky hybrid to safety, often was out of position. Junior safety Asa Turner didn't make the trip to Pasadena.
Even Cook gave up an easy touchdown to UCLA's Jake Bobo in the second quarter that covered 12 yards, something he owned up to.
During the coaching transition in the offseason, the Huskies stocked up on linebackers, running backs and a marquee quarterback, but they didn't find a lot of secondary help.
The one newcomer, Perryman the UC Davis transfer, probably has played only parts of three quarters for the Huskies tops in two outings, not even a full game.
The UW is left to get people healthy, continue to do a rush job in getting the youngsters more reliable under fire, not a preferable solution, and demand that the older guys step it up.
"We just need to make more plays with out best players — that's all it comes down to," Cook said. "I didn't make the plays I need to make. I take full responsibility."
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