This is the Depth Dossier: the Washington Huskies, Week 7.

Elijah Brown threw three interceptions in his first start and still looked exactly like Washington's quarterback going forward, and the Huskies walked away with a 38 to 26 win over Purdue anyway.

Brown finished 21 of 27 for 302 yards and three touchdowns, even with a pick on the game's very first snap and two more after that. Washington leaned on big plays all night. Running back Trey Cooley had the signature one, just eight carries for 113 yards, including a 53-yard touchdown in the fourth quarter that put the game away. A roughing the passer penalty kept a drive alive late in the first half, and running back Brian Bonner Junior cashed it in with a touchdown run right before the break. On defense, Washington held Purdue's running game in check outside of one long run, and defensive backs Jeron Jones and Rylon Dillard-Allen slammed the door shut with interceptions late.

Now, here's the number that should make Washington fans a little uneasy even in a win. The Huskies lost the turnover battle by four. Brown threw those three picks, and a punt even bounced off a Washington player's foot, setting Purdue up at the ten-yard line. Head coach Jedd Fisch said after the game that teams typically don't survive a turnover margin like that, but Washington averaged eight yards a play and had fifteen gains of fifteen yards or more. That explosive offense covered for a lot of mistakes, but it's the kind of formula that can hide problems Brown needs to clean up before a tougher defense makes him pay.

Purdue's running game tells its own story. Running back Fame Ijeboi came in off a 195-yard game and left with just 19 yards on 13 carries. Purdue's only real gain on the ground was a 59-yard run from Antonio Harris. Take that one play away, and Purdue barely moved the ball rushing at all, which says a lot about how well Washington's defensive line played even though the box score shows 98 rushing yards allowed.

The turning point came right before halftime. Washington faced third and ten from the Purdue ten, and an incomplete pass should have forced a field goal attempt. Instead, a roughing the passer call on Purdue kept the drive going, and two plays later Bonner punched it in with 27 seconds left. That turned what could have been a tie or a narrow lead into a 24 to 17 cushion Washington never gave back. Add in Bonner's earlier 25-yard touchdown catch, and his two scores made up a big chunk of the final margin.

Shifting to the depth chart, there were no injuries reported, which is worth noting after the health concerns that hung over Washington's last game.

The bigger story is that Brown's first start looks like it settled the quarterback job rather than complicated it. Three interceptions are the one thing to keep an eye on, but a 302-yard, three-touchdown night on that kind of accuracy is the sort of performance that ends a competition.

In the backfield, Cooley's 113 yards on just eight carries was the most efficient workload on the team, and that kind of per-carry impact is hard to ignore. Bonner, with a touchdown catch and a touchdown run, is becoming a name to watch in short-yardage and red zone situations. At wide receiver, Chris Lawson caught six passes for 103 yards and remains Brown's clear top target.

On defense, Jones and Dillard-Allen both came up with the kind of late interceptions that build trust in a secondary, especially behind a defense that otherwise did its job bottling up Purdue's run game.

Looking ahead, the question for next week is simple. Can Brown keep this explosive-play formula rolling without the turnovers finally catching up to him?

This was the depth dossier. For everything college football, be it depth charts, data or dossiers, head over to C F B Depth dot com. We will be back next week. This was an AI-generated podcast from content developed by real human beings passionate about college football.