Washington Head Coach Jedd Fisch Speaks on the Huskies Upcoming Matchup with Indiana
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Written by: Nate Comp (@NathanComp1)
For the fourth time in what will be Indiana’s five conference games, the Hoosiers will get their Big Ten foe off a bye week. Fresh off the break, Washington head coach Jedd Fisch met with the media to discuss the upcoming challenge against the undefeated Hoosiers. The Huskies will make their way to Bloomington on Thursday morning in preparation for the College Gameday game of the week on Saturday. Let’s take a look at what Fisch had to say about this Indiana squad, specifically.
Q: On if he believes Indiana will look different without quarterback Kurtis Rourke.
“Yeah, I don’t know. I saw the guy that went in, Tayven, was 8-for-9 and threw two touchdown passes. So, if I was going off that small sample, I would say it doesn’t look like they’ll look too different. I would guess they’ll make some adjustments. He did play last year. And then Rourke came in, and I think Rourke and Will Rogers have almost identical numbers at this point of time in the season. Obviously, it’s unfortunate when anybody gets hurt, and it didn’t look good when I saw it. It didn’t surprise me that he won’t be able to play in our game, anything on the throwing thumb is a tough one. So, we’re going to have to see what they are going to do on offense. They probably will have some change, but they certainly didn’t have to make any big changes in that game and they were able to continue running the offense that they have done extremely well with.”
Q: New coaching staff, 30+ transfers, when you watch them what do you feel has worked for them?
“I think the biggest difference, he got hired November 30th I believe. So, the guys that he brought in from the transfer portal primarily were there all spring. That’s number one. He brought in I think 13 players from JMU, 13 starters. I think he did a really good job of bringing in productive players, I think his quote was he was really looking for production over potential when he was building that roster. And that December/January roster, I mean that’s the portal that you want to build your team off of is that winter portal, if you’re going to build it through the portal. And I thought they did a great job with that. They found a great quarterback and did a really great job. They have a great scheme; he has a staff that’s been together. Offensive coordinator has been with him for 14 years. And the guys they brought with him, they were able to go from JMU to Indiana, most people are going to want to make that jump, so they were able to bring really anybody he wanted to bring. And I think you can see how that’s paying dividends for them.”
Q: Vinnie Sunseri is the Washington safeties coach… does that help at all in scouting Tino Sunseri at Indiana?
“I think Mike Shannahan calls the plays over there, Coach Sunseri is the pass game coordinator and co-offensive coordinator over there. Coach Shannahan is the receiver coach, and I think is calling the plays. It doesn’t bring any extra insight, no. I think if it did, it would work for both sides then. We know we’ve got a good team that we’ve got to play, they’re playing fantastic football, they’re scoring a ton of points, they’re certainly in that conversation of being one of the top teams in the country right now. Going ahead and beating Nebraska 56-7, that’s a monster win. They know how to score points for sure.”
Q: We haven’t seen a lot of teams trying to run the ball against Indiana. Though part of that is the game script, do you see any opportunity there?
“I think the biggest thing with Indiana is they have never trailed. So, they’re playing with a lead every game. And when you play with a lead, there’s that play caller anxiety for the opposing team. As an offensive play caller, you’re sitting there always feeling like you’re behind and you have more of a tendency to want to call a pass. Or, if it’s an either/or in your brain, you lean pass. And I think that’s what’s been going on with Indiana. They’ve been getting up on teams seven nothing, fourteen nothing, very quickly. I think Maryland did a very good job of balancing both, it was 28-all going into the fourth quarter. Northwestern, they had a situation where it was 14-10 at halftime, then all of a sudden, it’s 21-10 and the run game slows down a little bit. So yeah, a key for us is to be able to run the ball. We have to be able to run the ball; that’s how we’re building this team. That’s how we’re building Washington football for the years to come – good run game, great defense, take shots down the field on offense, and be explosive, and get wide receivers touchdowns. That’s what we believe in, that’s who we are. So, we need to run the football if we’re going to be successful.”