The No. 5 Washington Huskies football team will be without leading pass-rusher Joe Mathis for the rest of the season, head coach Chris Petersen announced Monday.
Mathis, who has missed the Huskies' past three games, will undergo surgery on his foot after hurting it in early October.
The senior had been enjoying a career year from his hybrid defensive end position, racking up 5 sacks and 7.5 tackles for loss in just 6 games of action. According to Pro Football Focus, Mathis leads the nation in pass-rush productivity by an edge defender.
As a team, the Huskies' sack production has plummeted since Mathis left the lineup: Washington racked up 24 sacks in six games with him, but the Huskies have tallied only three sacks in the three games since he went down.
The Huskies (9-0) will face one of their stiffest tests of the year this weekend when resurgent USC visits Husky Stadium.
Junior Connor O'Brien has started the past three games in Mathis' place and is expected to remain in the lineup against the Trojans.