As Sport’s Illustrated put it Washington’s new starting QB Will Rogers, who came through the portal from Mississippi State; “comes to the UW as one of the most storied quarterbacks to emerge from the highly competitive . . . Southeastern Conference (SEC) after throwing for 12,315 yards and 94 touchdowns while starting 40 games.” What I don’t know for sure is when he decided to come. Was it after the brilliant semi-final win by the Huskies over Texas in last year’s college football playoff or was it after UW won the 2023 Joe Moore Award that is given to the nation’s top college line—beating out Georgia, LSU, and Oregon to get it? I’m thinking that it might have been after one of those and not right after UW head coach Kalen DeBoer left to take over the Crimson Tide or when 10 starters took off for the NFL via the draft. But after getting sacked twice by Weber State of all people he’s probably figured out that the grass isn’t always as green as it looks. With an early Apple Cup coming up in two weeks the Huskies have some work to do to get ready to take on a Cougar team that put 70 points up on the board in Week-1.
It was a slow starting game for both teams offensively—actually a non-starting entire game offensively for the Wildcats who, after missing a field goal on their first possession, scored their only three points on a made field goal at the end of a 12 play 56 yard drive with less than 20 seconds left in the third quarter. But by then they were already 28 points behind on three rushing TD’s by Junior RB Jonah Coleman and one Decker DeGraff 33 yard TD reception from Washington’s Will Rogers. After moving the ball less than 30 yards on both of their first two possessions, the Huskies finally got untracked with a 7 play 65 yard drive to start the 2nd Qtr—a mix of runs by Jonah Coleman and Giles Jackson as well as a completed pass to Cameron Davis for a 1st down to keep the drive going. Sitting 1st and goal at the Weber State 5 yard line Coleman scampered in for his first of three.
On the day Coleman rushed 16 times for 127 of the Huskies 204 yard total—an average of 7.9 yards per carry with Freshman RB Adam Mohammed and Senior RB Cameron Davis picking up the majority of the rest. In the air Rogers connected on 20-of-26 for 250 yards, 1 TD to Sophomore WR Denzel Boston, and no interceptions. Collectively Boston, Giles Jackson, and Cameron Davis collected 19 of the passes thrown for the huskies and 212 of the 278 yard total in the air. The Huskies scored one more time right after Weber State’s field goal at the end of a 7 play 74 yard drive led by back-up QB Demond Williams Jr. who connected with Denzel Boston to go up 35-3 with close to twelve minutes left in the game. For the game Williams was 3-of-5 for 28 yards, 1 TD, and no picks to go along with 3 rushes for 17 yards. The Huskies were up 14-0 at the half, 28-3 at the end of three, and 35-3 at the bell. They out-paced the Wildcats in first downs, 25-16; third down efficiency, 50% to 24%; and total yards, 482-253.
Big Ten Network analyst Yogi Roth was quoted in the Seattle Times last month saying; “The No. 1 goal for a team in this environment is to have continuous improvement.” With this environment being a new conference, new head coach and coordinators, new players, and new teams to match up against. That sentiment seems to have registered throughout the team. As Mike Vorel wrote in his column for the Times; “In the aftermath, head coach Jedd Fisch, running back Jonah Coleman and linebacker Alphonzo Tuputala repeated the same refrain. Coleman said: “We’ve got a lot to learn. We’re going to make this our worst game. So I’m looking forward to getting in the meeting rooms and film room and correcting a couple things.” And that from the first RB since 1960 to rush for 100+ yards in the opening game. More to come but the Huskies seem headed in the right direction. We’ll know a bit more after that early Apple Cup at the Seattle Seahawk’s Lumen Field on September 14th. But first they’ll play host to Eastern Michigan this coming Saturday.