Washington had no problem dispensing with Northwestern in their Big Ten opener at Husky Stadium even though neither team could get it going early with back-to-back-to-back three-and-outs to start the game before the Huskies went on a six play 73 yard drive ending in a Will Rogers 46 yard TD pass to Sophomore WR Denzel Boston to go up 7-0 about half-way through the 1st Qtr. The two would connect again in the 2nd Qtr just one possession after Junior Place Kicker Grady Gross hit a 21 yard field goal. With Northwestern still scoreless, Washington was up 17-0 with ten minutes still left in the half. Punting their first six possessions and then throwing an interception on their last of the half, the only points the Wildcats put up on the board came courtesy of the Huskies and Will Rogers who was working from his end zone and got called for illegal grounding resulting in a 2-point Safety. Washington had another chance to put up points before the half after an interception of Northwestern’s QB Jack Bausch by Senior Linebacker Carson Bruener with under 20 seconds left before the break. But after a couple of plays to get the ball within field goal range Grady Gross would miss the 51 yard attempt.
As was the case at the start of the game, the Huskies first possession of the second half would result in a three-and-out and would fumble away their next opportunity. Meanwhile the Wildcats’ Place Kicker Jack Olsen hit an 18 yard field goal at the end of an 8 play 32 yard drive after the fumble to make it 17-5. Third time was the charm for Washington who chased that field goal with a 77 yard 11 play drive and 8 yard Jonah Coleman TD run to go up 24-5. But with just a minute gone in the 4th Qtr the game would end the same sleepy way it started without either side able to score.
Husky Senior QB Will Rogers was dialed in all night and connected on over 70% of his passes for 223 yards and 2 TD’s without an interception while picking up another 17 yards on the ground. Both of the TD’s landed in the hands of Sophomore WR Denzel Boston who collected 7 in all for 121 of those total yards in the air. On the ground Washington rushed 39 times for 144 yards and the 1 TD by Coleman who rushed 15 times for 67 of the total. For the Wildcats, Sophomore QB Jack Lausch really struggled while averaging just two yards a catch while completing slightly less than 30% of his throws—never finding the end zone but throwing up 2 interceptions. On the ground Northwestern, playing without their top running back, was equally inept rushing 26 times for just 59 yards and never making it the house.
On the night, Washington had 10 more first downs, 194 more passing yards, 85 more rushing yards and were able to convert their third down plays 50% of the time compared to just 15% for the Wildcats. Husky head coach Jedd Fisch was really excited about the play of their defense and had this to say after the game; “Our defense just played extraordinary. I don’t really know if there’s many other good adjectives to describe it.” In their Take Away for ESPN the AP also had high praise for the defense and wrote; “The competition wasn’t the best, but the Huskies continue to be stout defensively. Take away the first half last week against Washington State when the Cougars scored 17 points, the Huskies have allowed just 24 points in the other 14 quarters this season.” With an insightful understanding of the game’s importance WR Denzel Boston had this to say afterwards; “It’s going to go down in the books that we won our first game in the Big Ten. I think that’s a big thing not only for us but for our alumni to see us continuing what they began years ago. It’s exciting. A great beginning to a new start.” Indeed!