Washington (4-3) comes to Memorial Stadium Saturday night for the Halloween Blackout, 7 PM CT on BTN. Nebraska is 5-2. I went through Washington's film snap by snap, 314 of 442 defensive snaps and all 448 offensive snaps, to figure out what they want to do and where they crack.
What Washington's defense does
They line up in a 4-down front on 96% of snaps. On half the snaps I could read, they kept two safeties deep, and they sat in a 6-man box 62% of the time. They almost never blitz: they rushed four on all but 2 of 122 dropbacks.
That 6-man box is the door. Runs into it averaged 5.9 yards a carry on film. When they bring a 7th guy down, that drops to 2.4.
How to attack them (suggested, from the numbers)
- Get the 6-man box, then run. Spread them out with 3 receivers and make them choose.
- Hit play-action when they add the 7th man. Washington has given up 9.6 yards per dropback against a 7-man box.
- Go left. Opponents have averaged 5.4 YPC running left, 4.6 up the middle, and 3.2 to the right.
- Iowa wrote the blueprint. In their 41-24 win, they went 11 of 12 on play-action for 166 yards and 2 TDs.
- Finish drives. Opponents have scored on 22 of Washington's 24 red-zone trips against them, so field goals leave points out there.
What Washington's offense wants to do
Mostly shotgun, with lots of quick game. They lean pass between the 20s and get run-heavy close in: 54% run in the red zone and 61% at the goal line. On 3rd & 5-9 they throw 81% of the time, and they've given up 22 sacks.
3 keys to the Blackout (suggested)
- Run at six.
- Heat with four. Get home on 3rd down. Nebraska's defense is No. 1 in the country on 3rd down at 19.3%.
- Finish with seven.
I built a full game-plan call sheet off the film too. Those are suggested calls, since I'm not on staff. Just a former coach who can't stop watching tape.
Want to play coordinator? Tap any field zone and down & distance on the interactive Week 9 field at Husker Film Room: https://husker-film-room.pages.dev/weeks/2026-wk09-washington/
Wear black. Be loud. What's your score? #GBR
Sources: Week 9 scouting report (Husker Film Room charting of UW snaps; ESPN play-by-play; cfbstats through 10/24). Iowa play-action figure: PFF via the Seattle Times.