When Washington has the ball ...
Getting pressure on Penix is difficult. Washington’s offensive line won the Joe Moore Award as the best group in the country and tackles Troy Fautanu and Roger Rosengarten provide excellent edge protection.
When teams do pressure Penix, he is often unfazed. In the Sugar Bowl, Texas didn’t sack him once in 38 pass attempts and while it might have looked like the Longhorns got almost no push, they actually registered 16 pressures, according to Pro Football Focus. When pressured Penix was incredible, completing 60% of his passes at 10 yards per attempt.
“Can Michigan strike up enough interior pressure and edge pressure to actually get to Penix, not just make him uncomfortable? And then can the safeties and cornerbacks find those layers of wide receivers and force Penix to make the impossible throw ... and not give (the Huskies) any gimmes,” college football data analyst Parker Fleming said on The AP Top 25 College Football Podcast.
Texas got most if its pressure from the interior with powerful tackles T’Vondre Sweat and Byron Murphy II. Michigan is deeper up front and better off the edges. Defensive coordinator Jesse Minter gave Alabama fits in the Rose Bowl by making it difficult to identify what was coming from where. Minter succeeded Mike Macdonald, who left Michigan and coach Jim Harbaugh to work for Ravens coach John Harbaugh.
Huard, who played quarterback at Washington, said Michigan’s defense will test Penix and Huskies offensive coordinator Ryan Grubb as problem-solvers.
“It’s an NFL-type defense, which is a matchup mindset, which is change the picture pre- and post-snap, which is make it very difficult on the quarterback to read and react,” Huard said.
Washington’s veteran offensive line has allowed only 11 sacks for a team that throws it as much as any in the country. And while the Huskies’ deep passing game can be spectacular, Penix and Co. are good all over the field. If there is a play to be made, the Huskies usually make it.
Penix targeted receivers Rome Odunze, Ja’Lynn Polk, Jalen McMillen and Germie Bernard 20 times against Texas and completed 19 passes for 411 yards.
Michigan’s secondary plays an aggressive style, led by star cornerback Will Johnson and versatile nickel back Mike Sainristil. The Wolverines don’t concede anything. They want to force opponents to make difficult completions. No team is better at making the difficult look easy than Washington.
Here’s the wildcard: Michigan has the third-best pass defense in the country by opponent efficiency rating (101.52) and has allowed seven touchdown passes, fewest in the nation.
But the Wolverines have faced only two offenses ranked in the top 20 in pass efficiency (Alabama and Ohio State).
“Michigan is elite defensively, but they’ve gotten to feast on horrific, horrific offenses in the Big Ten,” Huard said. “So from a stress test, Michigan has not seen anything the likes of Washington’s offense.”
Meanwhile, Washington has faced only one top-30 pass defense: Oregon, twice. Penix completed 64% for 8.2 yards per attempt with five touchdowns and two interceptions.
Michigan 34-26