Huskies’ defense piles up sacks without blitzing

SEATTLE – The Huskies sacked California quarterbacks eight times Saturday night, matching the most sacks in a game for the Washington defense over the past 15 years.

Remarkably, six of those eight sacks came when the Huskies rushed just three defenders.

The Huskies didn’t blitz one time in their 38-7 rout of California – that is, they didn’t send more than four defenders into the backfield on passing plays.

The sack party helped Washington hold California to a net total of minus-40 yards rushing, the fewest by a conference opponent against UW. (Cal’s 93 yards of total offense, on 52 plays, were the fewest gained by any UW opponent since 1991.)

Entering Saturday’s game at Arizona State (2-3, 1-1 Pac-12), the No. 5 Huskies (6-0, 3-0) rank fourth nationally in sacks with 21 (tied with Washington State).

“I think sacks – they aren’t probably as significant as turnovers, but they’re one of the next-most important things,” UW coach Chris Petersen said Monday. “I know from our side when it happens to (UW’s offense), how it puts us in such a hole. Not that you can’t get out of it, but it’s really, really significant.

“And then if you can get a bunch of them? I just think it changes the mentality on both sides of the ball.”

What’s unique about Washington is the way it manufactures pressure on the quarterbacks. Defensive coordinator Pete Kwiatkowski almost never calls for a blitz. On Cal’s 39 dropbacks Saturday, the Huskies rushed three defenders nearly half the time – on 18 snaps.

On the other 21 snaps, UW rushed the standard four defenders. It’s where the fourth pass-rusher comes from that Kwiatkowski tries to hide before the snap. Often, he will have a middle linebacker rush up the middle. Other times, it could be the nickelback or a safety coming from the edge.

Six UW players had at least one sack against Cal. Tevis Bartlett had two sacks, and Ryan Bowman and Jaylen Johnson were credited with 1.5 sacks each. Vita Vea, Benning Potoa’e and Amandre Williams also had one each.

“It’s team defense,” Kwiatkowski said Saturday. “You want all those guys understanding their role and playing at a high level. Some nights it’s going to be one guy. Some nights it may be another. … That’s the beauty of football. You’ve got 11 guys out there at one time and any one of them can make a play. If they just do their job, and not try to do too much, you’re going to make some plays through the course of a game.”

A massive advantage the Huskies have is the presence of their two star defensive tackles, Vea and Greg Gaines. It has to be the best D-line tandem in the Pac-12, and on nearly every snap offensive lines have to double-team both Vea and Gaines – which leaves a one-on-one situation for UW’s defensive end, usually Bartlett or Potoa’e, against an offensive tackle.

Even while being double-teamed, Vea and Gaines have been able to provide a fairly consistent pass-rush. Kwiatkowski said those two have learned “when to pass rush and just having another gear, like, ‘No, you’re not going to block me.’ I’d like to say it’s coaching. I guess it’s getting them to the mindset that, ‘If I bring my ‘A’ game, you’re not going to be able to block me.’ ”

Saturday’s sack performance had a similar feeling to what Washington did to Stanford last year at Husky Stadium. The Huskies also had eight sacks in the win over Stanford, and did so without a single blitz that night.

“When you blitz, you’re just giving them more windows to throw the ball in there,” Kwiatkowski said. “If you can get a rush without (blitzing), why would you?”