fee fi foe film

Previously: Washington Offense 

After profiling the fearsome Washington offense, we now pivot to the much less glamorous defense. Ranked 44th in SP+, Washington's defense has spent a lot of the year doing just enough to give them a win in each and every game. They have a couple stars and also some major worry spots. What should we make of them? Let's take a look: 

The Film: Going with Texas for the charting yet again, but drawing upon Oregon, USC, and other games as additional tape to factor in in our evaluations. 

Personnel: Click for big. [both FFFF charts available in PDF format for the laminators here]

Washington mostly plays a standard 4-2-5 in terms of personnel. Their EDGE who rarely comes off the field is star Bralen Trice, the Dangerman of this piece. The 6'4", 274 lb. rusher is more power than speed, but he's by far their best player at getting organic pressure on the QB, while being not a particularly spectacular run defender in my view. Texas largely had no issue dealing with Washington's four man rushes, except for the moments that Trice made something happen. His efforts have moved him up into the late first rounds of some NFL mock drafts. Trice is the heavier EDGE while the other side of the formation usually features the lighter Zion Tupuola-Fetui or Sekai Asoua-Afoa. Not a huge fan of either, with the latter nearing cyan territory for me. 

Defensive tackle is the weakness of the defense, players that were uniformly crushed by Texas in the Sugar Bowl. The best tackle they have is multi-year starter Tuli Letuligasenoa, who has dealt with a knee injury this season, which has limited his snap count. He played 39 of 73 snaps against Texas and that's probably the ballpark we're looking at for Monday. He is by far the highest graded DT to PFF... I thought he was pretty pedestrian against Texas but still probably better than the others. Those others include Faatui Tuitele, Voi Tunuufi, and Ulumoo Ale. All of them get the cyan, as I have major concerns after watching them get paved repeatedly by Texas.

More promising perhaps is Michigander Jayvon Parker, who they've beefed up to 297. He didn't play much and is not ready to hold up against the run but had a little bit of pass rush juice in his eight snaps. Jacob Bandes has played quite a bit at tackle this season with okay grades from PFF. He didn't play much against Texas so I don't have too many notes on him. Jacob Lane is a true freshman who was listed at 230 as a recruit and is up to 250, more of an EDGE but Washington has been lining him up at tackle on rush packages. He played 19 snaps against Texas, 17 of them pass rush snaps and had a little bit of jump but his miniature size makes it an odd fit. When opponents go heavy, Washington goes into a 5-2 so there are definitely snaps where they will have three DTs out there. Probably often given what we know Michigan likes to do. 

At linebacker the Huskies usually have two on the field, Edefuan Ulofoshio being the headliner of the group. If you're a real FFFF sicko, you may recall that Ulofoshio was starred by this column in the 2021 Washington Defense piece (Letuligasenoa was also a starter on that team). Yeah, he's been around and been a major contributor for a looong time. Interestingly, he isn't an every snap LB like most stars at the position, only playing 55% of snaps this season in totality and 66% of snaps in the Sugar Bowl. It wasn't the best performance against Texas but he had some moments of his strong play and the full complexion of his season suggests he's still a star.

[AFTER THE JUMP: ehhhhh]

And then there were two. The last two unbeaten teams in the 2023 college football season, #1 Michigan and #2 Washington, will do battle in Houston on Monday night with the national championship on the line. For Washington, the offense has carried them to this point, including a dazzling performance against Texas in the Sugar Bowl. Today we will be profiling that star-studded offense, looking at its strengths, tendencies, and any possible vulnerabilities: 

Previously: Alabama Offense 

While 'Bama's offense has had its ups-and-downs, the 'Bama defense has been a rock solid unit all season long. Boasting a hyper talented, NFL-ready secondary, the Crimson Tide have SP+'s #9 defense in the country. There are some weaknesses in the middle compared to past years, but the pass rush and secondary is legit and there's plenty to be frightened of here: 

The Film: We're sticking with the Georgia-Alabama tape for the defensive charting as well. Most recent game, a good performance for the defense, and it came against a high-level offense. Checks all the boxes. I will use some tape and reference observations while reviewing film from the other Alabama games this season, including Ole Miss, LSU, Tennessee, Texas, and Auburn as well. 

Personnel: Click for big. 

Alabama's defensive line is headlined by its superstar EDGE talent, although we should point out that their two blue chip rushers don't play together all that much. Alabama tends to go with two DTs and their beefy SDE on standard downs, with only one of the two star rushers on the field. Only on passing downs do you see the SDE kick inside and be replaced on the perimeter by the other rusher. The two rushers that trade places as the stand-up EDGE are Dallas Turner and Chris Braswell. Both are starred on the diagram, though Turner gets the shield because he is projected for the first round of the 2024 NFL Draft, while Braswell is more thought of as 2nd round range. Both are expert pass rushers and PFF doesn't differentiate much between their rushing abilities (89.8 vs. 88.6), nor could I find a difference in my review. Both are terrors I would like to see suiting up for the Detroit Lions in the near future. 

The rest of the DL is much less flashy, and it's the DT spot where you see arguably the biggest departure from the typical Alabama team. The foursome of Tim Keenan III, Tim Smith, Jaheim Oatis, and Damon Payne Jr. are all solid players but Alabama doesn't quite have that level of terrifying DT talent that they normally do. None are cyan'd, but none are starred either. Merely decent. The SDE that is nearly DT-sized is 292 lb. Justin Eboigbe, who I don't think has much rushing juice but is a good run defender from the outside and is comfortable moving inside on passing downs. He came close to a star, but ultimately fell short. Reserves on the edges include Quandarrius Robinson, who is occasionally spelling Braswell/Turner, and Jah-Marien Latham, who backs up Eboigbe. 

The linebacker position is rather ho-hum, a primarily three-man rotation of Deontae Lawson, Jihaad Campbell, and Trezmen Marshall. Lawson and Marshall were the nominal starters most of the season but Campbell has moved to take on the title of starter over Marshall late in the year. Campbell is their best coverage LB, an area the other two struggle, while Lawson is their best blitzer. They have varied skillsets and each are capable of making plays, but also being exploited in the right matchups. This positional group, like DT, is a bit of a step down from the usual Nick Saban defense. 

What is not a departure from the Saban standard is the secondary, where Alabama boasts the best cornerback tandem in college football. Kool-Aid McKinstry was a true freshman starter at CB on Alabama's 2021 national championship team and was immediately placed on NFL Draft radars, where he has stayed ever since. As expected, Kool-Aid will be a first round pick in 2024 and he's joined on the outside by Terrion Arnold, who has played very well this season too. I think Kool-Aid is a bit better than Arnold, with Arnold being the one more often targeted by opposing defenses, but the 6'0" Arnold has worked his way into the back-end of 1st round projections due to his play this season. If either outside corner has to miss a play, Trey Amos comes on in relief. He played a bit against Georgia and I honestly felt there was no visible drop-off from the starters. 

At safety, Alabama is rolling out starters at the opposite ends of the experience spectrum with 6th year Jaylen Key, a UAB transfer, starting next to mega-5* Caleb Downs, who is a true freshman. Downs has played exceptionally well this season and earns a star from me, impressive for a Tr Fr safety. Key I was less impressed with but I don't have anything particularly negative to say about him either. The DB starters as a whole log the most snaps on the defense, so there is little room for reserves, but next man up at S is Kristian Story, who splits Downs and Key in the middle in experience as a RS Jr. The HSP/nickel, which 'Bama calls the "STAR", is Malachi Moore. A fourth year player, Moore is both a figurative and literal star, excellent as a run defender and in coverage. This secondary has no real weakness and boatloads of NFL talent. 

[AFTER THE JUMP: how they do damage]