Secondary fights back
Beleaguered by injuries and bombarded by the Pacific-10 Conference’s high-flying offenses, Washington’s secondary has been picked on all season. But with back-to-back games in which the defensive backs held their own, the improvement is obvious.
“We’ve been making strides. We played a good game against Oregon State, another pass-oriented offense,” cornerback Matt Fountaine said. “Last week, we go to the desert and we were able to step up to the challenge, and it wasn’t by any miracle happening.”
In Saturday’s 38-14 win over Arizona, the Huskies secondary was credited with two of the team’s three touchdowns and six pass break-ups. Fountaine had three of them.
Still, defensive coordinator Kent Baer doesn’t believe the unit has turned a corner.
“No, I never think that. I still think we’re getting better. I look back at a couple of games we didn’t play real well. I look at it how we’ve put things together the last two games and I think we’re getting better. But we certainly haven’t turned any corner,” he said.
The Huskies came into this season with little experience at the cornerback.
Injuries made it worse. Roy Lewis and Josh Okoebor both missed time. Fountaine was suspended for a game. Durrell Moss was the latest injury victim.
Five different combinations have been used at corner. It seems the coaching staff has settled on the Fountaine-Lewis duo with Okoebor mixing in regularly.
Washington still has the second-worst pass defense in the Pac-10, having given up 295.2 yards and 25 touchdowns.
“We started off and took our lumps. We’ve been starting to realize we can really do this out there. It’s just up to us to do the little things right and get our fundamentals down,” Okoebor said. “The corners have really been accepting the challenge and stepping it up, really trying to do the little things right.”
Experience and confidence are key factors for improvement, Fountaine said.
“We had to go throw ourselves into our play. Once we did, we stopped being so robotic on the field. There’s a lot more communication going on in secondary, between secondary and linebackers. It’s a lot more fun now,” he said.
The Huskies need to continue improving, as Washington State and its 276.6 passing yards per game fly into town this Saturday.
“I don’t think we’re out of the woods yet. … We got to close it out,” Okoebor said.
Notes
Coach Tyrone Willingham said the status of safeties Dashon Goldson (quad) and Darin Harris (concussion) remains unclear as both have been limited in practice. Louis Rankin (turf toe) is doubtful. … Willingham said there is no decision yet on offensive tackle Robin Meadow, who was suspended last week for violating an undisclosed team rule.