SEATTLE — More than most, Roger Rosengarten knows the difficulty that comes with trying to block Washington’s Bralen Trice.
So allow the Huskies’ right tackle, who spent the entire offseason and fall camp trying to contain Trice in practice, explain what makes Washington’s standout edge rusher so difficult.
“Bralen does a really good job with his balance between his rushes. I think he does a really good job balancing his power to speed moves and he’s also a technician with his hands,” Rosengarten said Thursday. “As soon as that guy gets off the line; I think he’s got the best get-off in college football.”
Understandably overshadowed by Washington’s high-powered offense and the performance this season from quarterback Michael Penix Jr. and his stable of wide receivers, the Huskies understand their defense has to do its part in the national championship game against No. 1 Michigan on Monday.
That likely means another big game from Trice, who was at his most disruptive in Washington’s Sugar Bowl victory over Texas.
“He’s that enforcer that gets us going not only with his energy, but his playmaking,” linebacker Alphonzo Tuputala said. “You obviously see it on tape. To have that, it rallies everybody up. He don’t talk that much, but he just decides to go out there and do it himself.”
Trice was clearly the best defensive player on the field for Washington in its semifinal victory over the Longhorns. He filled nearly every column on the stat sheet — five tackles, three tackles for loss, two sacks, one forced fumble and one fumble recovery.
“I just think we prove everybody wrong time and time again. And we’ll continue to do that,” Trice said.
Trice was on nearly every preseason all-American list, but something happened on the way to getting those honors — his numbers took a dip from last season. The nine sacks and 12 tackles for loss he had last season in his first full year as a starter caught plenty of attention from opponents.
That’s meant a lot of schemes this season meant to slow Trice down and as a result, the most obvious number for measuring the success of a pass rusher — sacks — took a hit.
“Regardless of stats and sacks, I think our room, myself, Zion (Tupuola-Fetui), everybody puts a lot of pressure on the quarterbacks and affects the game,” Trice said. “Regardless of stats, right? They’re still knowing we’re there. They’re scheming us. It’s changing up how they play. And it’s affecting them either way.”
Trice had just five sacks in the regular season, but his ability to pressure the quarterback was constant. Pro Football Focus had Trice with 70 QB pressures on the season entering the Sugar Bowl, the most in the nation, and had another seven against the Longhorns.
“I think the reason he doesn’t have more sacks is because they’ve been chipping and holding him,” Rosengarten said. “If anyone watched the (Sugar Bowl) he was getting held almost every single play. And if it’s not that, they’re chipping him.”
Trice is part of Washington’s older core of players who lived through the truncated 2020 season due to the COVID-19 pandemic and struggled through the 4-8 season in 2021 season that led to Jimmy Lake’s firing and the arrival of Kalen DeBoer.
Going through those seasons gave Trice an appreciation for what’s happened the past two seasons with 21 straight wins, a Pac-12 championship and now a chance to play for the school’s first outright national title.
“As a guy that’s been around for a while, it’s crazy to see the adversity we’ve been through and the point we’re at now. All the guys around us that stayed around, stuck around through the mud to get to where we’re at, it’s a great feeling to know that we’re at this point in our careers now where we can look back and be like, ‘Man, we had to go through that to get to where we’re at,’ ” Trice said. “I’m just proud of everybody on the team, both sides of the ball. It’s a great feeling to be where we’re at, but we’re not done.”
