Washington's Defense Needs to Create More Turnovers in 2023

When Kalen DeBoer first came to Washington, he preached an "aggressive" and "attacking" play style on both sides of the ball. And in his first season as head coach, his team lived up to every bit of that. On the offensive side

On the defensive side, the Huskies were third in the Pac-12 in sacks, but also allowed more big plays than seemingly the entire Chris Petersen era. Now, that's going to happen when defenders are told to go after the ball, but in 2023, they need to capitalize more often.

In 2022, the Huskies managed only 12 takeaways, which tied them for 118th in the country, ahead of just six teams. Defense creates offense, and while they got stops when needed time and time again, nothing is better for an offense than a short field.

The Husky offense was one of the best in the country in 2022, and proved that it could basically score at will, averaging just a shade under 40 points per game. The offense scored points off seven of the 12 turnovers, a rate of 58 percent.

With not only returning talent, but the added firepower the team has added on offense, if the defense can create a few more, it could help lead to a berth in the Pac-12 championship game. Short fields lead to points more often than not, and if the defense can create five or six more turnovers, the Huskies will be a force to be reckoned with on both sides of the ball.

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