Washingtonâs offense will struggle at times in this game as Southern Miss is ranked 40th in yards per play defense, and has played well with some power 5 transfer defensive players. Washington against top 83 yards per play defenses averaged just 19.8 points per game and they only faced 5 of those teams. How bad was the PAC 12 in defense this year? USC and Stanford were ranked 69th, and 67th in the nation in yards per play allowed. Part of that is scheduling and the PAC 12 offenses being better, but Washington does not have anything near an elite offense. They also are traveling over 2,000 miles for this game, and I think Southern Miss will play with a lot of intensity early in this game on the defensive side of the ball. We saw it in their conference championship game against an elite offense in Western Kentucky. They held them to 7 points throughout the first 27 minutes of that game, before things went south. Washington is not going to put their foot on the gas like Western Kentucky did if they have the opportunity. Thatâs just not their style as they rank 95th in plays per game.
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