Kalen DeBoer explains why Washington scored so quick late against Oregon

Washington‘s 36-33 come-from-behind win over Oregon marked one of the most exciting and impressive performances of the college football season, bumping the Huskies up to a No. 5 ranking in the most recent AP Top 25 Poll.

The Huskies had their backs against the wall down by four points before their defense got a huge fourth-down stop that gave their offense the ball back with 2:11 left in the ballgame on their own 47-yard line. Instead of attempting to score while methodically letting time run off the clock, Washington’s offense scored quickly in just two plays, a decision that head coach Kalen DeBoer discussed in a recent press conference.

“Yeah, you knew you needed a touchdown right? And so being down by four, and as Ryan [Grubb] said, you get down there closer it gets harder, and we’d come up short the drive before,” DeBoer said. “You’d love to take some time off the clock, but you just don’t know when you’re gonna get that same coverage.”

On their previous offensive possession Washington was stopped on the Oregon one-yard line in an attempt to take the lead, and they were not going to make the same mistake twice.

Instead of getting close to the goal line yet again, the Huskies put their foot on the gas, with quarterback Michael Penix finding Ja’Lynn Polk on a 35-yard pass and ending the drive on the very next play with a 18-yard touchdown pass to Rome Odunze.

“If it’s 2nd & long, 3rd & long and there’s less time on the clock the defense’s coverages are gonna play little differently more than likely,” Deboer said. “Might be a little more zone-ish, each situation could be different. So that was the moment, that was the time. We got the one-on-one with Rome and those guys were all over it.”

Scoring a touchdown was priority number one over leaving the Ducks’ offense with less time on the clock, and Washington liked what they saw from Oregon’s defense and capitalized. Something that Penix has been proficient at for quite some time according to DeBoer.

“Mike has got just a great recognition [of] coverages and all that, but he sees matchups. And it’s not just Rome, it’s other matchups that happen. Receivers on linebackers and safeties and that happens throughout the course of the game, he’s just so sharp when it comes to that. Knowing their personnel, that’s happened ever since I’ve known him,” DeBoer concluded.

Washington may have given Oregon the ball back with 1:38 left in the game, but their defense came through in the clutch, forcing the Ducks to attempt a 43-yard field goal to tie the game in front of their ruckus home crowd that was missed.

The Huskies remain undefeated and extend their win streak to 13 games, which they’ll look to keep going this weekend as they host Arizona State.