Huskies OC Jonathan Smith on Colorado defense: ‘There’s a reason why they’re in this championship game’

Here is some of what Huskies offensive coordinator Jonathan Smith said after Washington’s practice on Tuesday.

(On Colorado’s defense) “I know they’re tough. They’re just defensively very sound and they’re veteran. They make a lot of plays. You don’t see a lot of ibg plays going on ‘em. Overall, statistically, the quarterback position against Colorado’s defense is completing less than 50 percent of their balls. That’s some good defense, in this conference, to have that going on. And you can see how many points they’re giving up. They’re a good group. They’re sound, they’re tough, they’re physical, and there’s a reason why they’re in this championship game.”

(What does Jake Browning need to be aware of?) “He’s going to have to throw it on time, recognition of coverage, understand that they’re good on defense. We’re not going to be just going up and down the field scoring 60, 70 points. I don’t see that coming. So being able to stick and grind through it. But when there’s plays to be made, we need to make them. You’re going to get half a dozen plays in this game against a good defense. We’ve got to make those.”

(On Myles Gaskin and Lavon Coleman) “They’ve got some similarities. They’re not just totally different runners. They’re definitely just a 1-2 punch. There’s not particular schemes we want Myles over Lavon or vice versa. Those guys have been awesome for us. He’s been able to keep those guys fresh. You think about Myles not having to take too many carries because you’re feeling great about Lavon getting in there. Those guys have been huge to our success, for sure.”

(On Chico McClatcher being healthy) “You mix it in, you want to get him a couple of touches in different ways. It’s been nice, because obviously the two other wideouts are playing at a high level, but you throw that element in there of Chico and it just adds to our variety offensively of what we can do.”

(Any similarities between CU’s defense and UW’s?) “Scheme, similar scheme, similar confidence in the back end. I think they’ve got great players in the back end. They’re a veteran group. They’ve got a lot of guys that have played a lot of ball. There’s a lot of similarity to what our defense looks like.”

(How does that confidence show up?) “They’ll isolate them. They’re not scared to come up and press and put them on some islands that way. You can just see their swagger on contested balls, they’re right there with guys trying to separate. There’s not a lot of guys running free. They just play with a lot of confidence.”

(Think they’ll isolate them against John Ross?) “I do expect them to challenge him, because they’ve challenged everybody. At the same time, they’re going to mix it up. They’re not just going to sit there and let him be isolated the whole time. But I do expect some plays, they’re going to challenge him.”

This story was originally published November 29, 2016 at 12:36 PM with the headline "Huskies OC Jonathan Smith on Colorado defense: ‘There’s a reason why they’re in this championship game’."