Washington needed this one badly, and that's exactly why nobody should read too much into it.
After squeaking past Washington State and grinding out a two-point win over Utah State, both wins so unconvincing they knocked the Huskies out of the Top 25, Jedd Fisch's team finally cut loose against Eastern Washington, an FCS opponent that came in at 1-2. The final was 48-16. Demond Williams Jr. threw for 373 yards and four touchdowns on 27-of-33 passing. Dezmen Roebuck caught nine balls for a career high. Rashid Williams hauled in a one-handed touchdown at the pylon that will live on Husky highlight reels for a while. It was Washington's best offensive performance of the season, and it's also close to meaningless as a predictor of what's coming.
This was a manufactured get-well game, not a breakthrough. Washington had scored slowly and painfully through two weeks against overmatched Pac-12 opponents, then dropped 48 on a Big Sky team. The offense can look great when the opponent can't lay a hand on it. Whether Williams and this passing attack can do it against a Big Ten defense built to stop it is still unknown. The Huskies open conference play at home against Minnesota next, and that's the first real data point of the season. Everything before it, including Saturday, is preseason theater with real uniforms.
What worries me heading into that stretch isn't the passing game, it's the discipline. Washington committed eight penalties for 101 yards against Eastern Washington, with the first six coming from the defense, and two of those defensive fouls got fourth-year edge rushers Jacob Lane and Xe'ree Alexander ejected, against an FCS team. That's not a normal bad day, that's a red flag. Eastern Washington moved the ball on multiple drives that didn't result in points, which flatters the final score while hiding the fact that the defense let a clearly overmatched offense hang around longer than 48-16 suggests. If a defense is drawing flags and getting guys tossed against a Big Sky offense, I don't want to see what happens when Big Ten receivers start selling routes and offensive linemen start selling holds.
The running game is the other unresolved question. Washington is down three tailbacks to injury, and outside of a 55-yard burst from freshman Brian Bonner, the group combined for a modest total on a much larger number of carries. Bonner flashed the traits that made him a well-regarded recruit, and I'd bet on Fisch leaning on him more, but one carry inflating a stat line isn't a run game, it's a highlight.
None of this is to bury what Williams did. Going 27 of 33 for 373 yards and four scores is a real performance, and getting into the end zone on the opening drive, something Washington hadn't managed to open a game in a while, is a legitimately good sign about how this team wants to play. Freshmen Jordan Clay and Trez Davis scoring their first career touchdowns is a nice building block too. I just refuse to treat a 32-point win over a 1-3 FCS team as proof of anything beyond "Washington's offense is capable of good days against bad defenses."
Washington heads into Big Ten play unbeaten through non-conference, and that's worth something. But Minnesota, not Eastern Washington, is the game that tells us whether this offense is real and whether that defense can stop shooting itself in the foot before it costs them a game that actually matters.
