Originally Posted by
smootness
Let's talk some more about this idea that Washington figured Leach out, as though it's something special. So in 2016, Washington St. scored 17 points, put up 334 yards of total offense, and threw for 269 yards against Washington. Not great numbers. But Washington played 4 other ranked teams that year, and here's how those teams fared:
#7 Stanford - 6 points, 213 yards of offense, 184 yards passing
#17 Utah - 24 points, 376 yards of offense, 163 yards passing
#9 Colorado - 10 points, 163 yards of offense, 81 yards passing (Pac-12 Champ Game, the game following WSU)
#1 Bama - 24 points, 326 yards of offense, 57 yards passing (CFP Semifinal)
2017:
Washington State - 14 points, 345 yards of offense, 369 yards passing
Washington played a weak schedule that year, but out of their 8 other conference games, 5 opponents scored fewer than 14, 6 put up fewer than 345 yards of offense, and 8 put up fewer than 369 yards passing.
2018:
Washington State - 15 points, 237 yards of offense, 152 yards passing (This was no doubt Washington's most impressive performance defensively against a very good WSU team)
#9 Auburn - 21 points, 420 yards of offense, 273 yards passing
#20 BYU - 7 points, 194 yards of offense, 160 yards passing
#17 Oregon - 30 points, 379 yards of offense, 202 yards passing
#17 Utah - 3 points, 188 yards of offense, 137 yards passing (Pac-12 Champ Game, the game following WSU)
#5 Ohio St - 28 points, 364 yards of offense, 251 yards passing
2019:
Washington State - 13 points, 339 yards of offense, 308 yards passing
#21 USC - 14 points, 375 yards of offense, 163 yards passing
#12 Oregon - 35 points, 468 yards of offense, 280 yards passing
#9 Utah - 33 points, 399 yards of offense, 284 yards passing
#18 Boise St - 7 points, 266 yards of offense, 188 yards passing (Bowl game, the game following WSU)
Let's not pretend this is some issue against Washington unique to WSU. They are consistently comparable to other ranked teams against Washington while typically being much less talented than those other ranked teams as well. So don't compare WSU's games against Washington to WSU's other games. Compare them to Washington's other games, and they're no outlier. In fact, usually Washington performs better in the following game, even against ranked teams, which seems to suggest weather plays a factor as well.
Washington has fielded an elite defense recently. They don't just shut down WSU. They shut down everybody.