Does Texas familiarity with Washington’s offense provide an edge in the Sugar Bowl?

Plenty of the talk surrounding the evaluation of No. 3 Texas’ clash with No. 2 Washington in the semifinals of the College Football Playoff on Monday has been how the Longhorns’ defense will fare against the Huskies’ big-play and high-flying offensive attack.

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But Texas has a trio of important advantages in that matchup that could mean a big difference:

1. The Longhorns’ defense practices against a similar attack on a daily basis – the high-powered, Texas offense. 

2. Texas has faced plenty of potent and varied offenses in its race to the Big 12 Championship

3. The Longhorns have familiarity with the Washington attack after playing the Huskies in the 2022 Valero Alamo Bowl, so they know what to expect.

The Longhorns defense, and coordinator Pete Kwiatkowski, had an availability for the Allstate Sugar Bowl on Thursday in New Orleans. It is the first time since preseason workouts that Kwiatkowski has met with the media and he addressed how Texas plans to stop Washington quarterback Michael Penix Jr. and the Huskies powerful offense.

“The Washington offensive line does a really good job,” Kwiatkowski said. “They’re very athletic. They do a good job working together. Obviously, communicate very well, and they don’t bust very much. And so, yeah, we’ve got a huge challenge in front of us.”

The Huskies are perceived to have an advantage in the passing game, with a trio of receivers that have NFL-level talent going against the Texas defense which is ranked 95th in the nation against the pass. 

Kwiatkowski was quick to say he was pleased with the defense’s preparation for the bowl game and pointed out that defense works as a whole, with the production from the line and linebackers setting the table for success in the secondary.

“Pass defense, yeah, we’d like to be better in that,” he said. “But at the end of the day there’s a lot more to it than just that, right? We’ve been good against the run. We’ve been good in the red zone. We’ve been good on third down. In the situations that matter that gets the ball back for the offense, we’ve been able to execute and perform. 

“So I know the guys have the confidence to do it, and they’re fired up for this challenge because we’re going to be pulling in a lot of very talented, good receivers.”

Kwiatkowski said the Longhorns are looking forward at another shot at beating Washington, which defeated Texas 27-20 last year in San Antonio.

“As competitors, you always want to get another shot at somebody that’s beaten you,” he said. “So that’s no different in this instance. And having already played them, we’ve watched them a lot.”

Texas defensive back Jahdae Barron said the secondary will need to be mentally engaged and ready for just about anything against Washington.

“They are an explosive team with an explosive offense,” Barron explained. “But the thing that will get them going is shots. They thrive off shots and want to catch the defense slipping. They try to do a lot of formations just to trick teams in the back end for having miscommunications – wide open people, offsides, and things of that sort.

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“We just have to stay mentally engaged and not worry about the outside noise or get caught up in what type of game it is. At the end of the day it is just a game. The yards on the field and the color of the field are not changing. We just have to go out there and have fun and play as a team and a family like we have been doing.”