Washington football to face elite third down defense at Nebraska

Coming off a bye week, the Washington Huskies offense is looking to carry its momentum from its victory two weeks ago against Purdue, where Jedd Fisch's offense put up 38 points and rushed for a season-high 186 yards. Now with some success to build on, the Huskies will have their hands full as they head to Nebraska to take on one of the better defenses in the Big Ten.As Washington hits the road on Halloween night for the Cornhuskers' blackout game, the Huskies' offense will face off against the best third-down defense in the nation. First-year defensive coordinator Rob Aurich has his unit atop the FBS in opposing third-down conversion percentages, allowing a conversion rate of just 21.05 percent.On the flip side, Fisch's squad has been one of the worst in the country on third down. Through seven games, Washington's offense ranks No. 121 in third-down conversion percentage, moving the chains just 30.26 percent of the time. During his Monday press conference, Fisch discussed how the Huskies can avoid trouble against an aggressive Huskers' group."The key against a team like Nebraska, or any team that's got really good third-down defense, is to get the third-and-ones, twos, and threes," the head coach said. "So that means you have to be super efficient on second-down, and do the best we can to have really good first-down plays, and we've been able to do that. We certainly did it last week; we only had seven third downs in the game, one of which I think was a kneel-down, so six third downs in the game against Purdue. So obviously that's how you defeat a good third-down defense, is not have a lot of third downs."In their last outing in West Lafayette, the Huskies were 4-for-7 on third down, well above their season average. However, their average distance to the sticks on those downs was over 8 yards, putting them in obvious passing situations that they happened to find a way out of. So, while the success rate was higher, the third-year head coach wants to prioritize creating a much more manageable distance to keep his offense on the field.With no starting quarterback announced and center Landen Hatchett now ruled out for the remainder of the season, Washington has its work cut out against the Blackshirts come Saturday night. Fortunately, the Huskies have already proved that they are capable of coming away victorious in enemy territory in spite of various obstacles on the offensive side.This article originally appeared on Huskies Wire: Washington football to face elite third down defense at Nebraska