It was a great win for the Huskies on Saturday, as they added another W to their sterling home record with a 49-13 shellacking of Purdue. Let’s get to what we learned!
The Kids Are Alright
The Huskies were shorthanded on Saturday,
with not only Jonah Coleman and Denzel Boston standing on the sidelines, but Landen Hatchett and Drew Azzopardi also not playing. It offered us fans a sneak peak at the future of the program. And if Saturday is any indication, the Dawgs have more than a few playmakers. Adam Mohammed has a lot to like about his game. He has good power, is a dependable receiver, and he’s very tough for one guy to bring down. The 59 yards might seem like a pedestrian line, but as a coach, you’ll take 3 touchdowns every time! He needs to develop, sure, but he showed on Saturday why he could be a worthy successor to Jonah next season.
Jordan Washington is fast! We’ve seen flashes of that speed only occasionally, like in the Sun Bowl when he worked his way into the rotation, as well as when he returned kicks. But this was really the first time we got to see that superb speed up close, as he took his first carry, sprinted through the hole and hit the gas, sprinting by everybody for 68 yards and the score.
He did accrue a 15 yard unsportsmanlike conduct penalty for removing his helmet, but he’ll surely have more opportunities to get into the end zone in the coming years! Washington led all Husky rushers with 108 yards on an incredible 5 carries, an average of 21.6 yards per carry! Not a bad way to make an impression on the coaches! In the pass game, sophomore Decker Degraaf had 5 catches for 91 yards, while Audric Harris got great separation as Demond found him for a 61 yard touchdown strike in the 3rd, Harris’s first TD at Washington. The young guys didn’t just make an impression on offense either, as Zaydrius Rainey-Sale displayed an impressive vertical on his interception, to go along with 5 solo tackles. If there’s anything to take away from this game, it’s that, even though I do criticize Coach Fisch, he does believe in the underclassmen we have, and the players rewarded him for it today. If he stays, these guys could be very special, and a performance like this has me excited for their potential.
Fisch Bowl
I might’ve overreacted slightly last week. I know some people in real life who wanted me to stop using so many exclamation points, to which I replied “Jedd’s got to give me a reason not to”. On Saturday, he did. One could make the case that “yeah, but it’s Purdue, we expect to win this game”. And that’s true, to an extent. But, this felt like a must win, and these Dawgs delivered. However, the negatives of Coach Fisch were still there, namely the penalties. Although we won the overall battle, the magnitude of said penalties could’ve been disastrous, particularly the unsportsmanlike conduct on Tacario Davis. But thanks to a well coached game, they persevered and dominated, rattling Purdue to the point where 13 points was all they could muster. I for one will take that every time. This has to be extra sweet for Ryan Walters, whose defense only gave up 267 total yards against his former employer (and didn’t let Purdue get into the red zone until the 4th quarter), and Demond looked more like his old self, at least by his passing standards, as he put up 257 yards and 2 touchdowns, going 16/19 in the process. It was a much needed course correction, but momentum needs to be sustained, because we’re going into…
The Bruin’s Den
(Do Bruins have dens, I don’t know, bear biologists, sound off in the comments!)
Nestled in the San Gabriel Mountains lies the majestic Rose Bowl, a venue that has given the Huskies a lot of trouble over the years. The last time they played there was 3 years ago, when Jake Bobo lit up the scoreboard for the Bruins, but that was with a different coaching staff. This staff better be prepared, as this is a game that they could very easily drop, considering Coach Fisch’s road struggles in his UW tenure. From what I saw on Saturday, I think the Huskies can pull off the win, but they need to be razor sharp and laser focused, as they were against Purdue. The discipline was better than it had been in recent weeks, and Demond got back into his usual rhythm. Like I always say in my predictions, what pushed us over the top was the contributions from the unheralded guys. An underrated piece was John Mills shifting over to tackle, and excelling at it. That kind of plug and play adaptability will be huge down the stretch for the Huskies, not only in next week’s game, but against Oregon and in the bowl game as well. Getting healthier won’t hurt either, as it was reported that Jonah was a late scratch, and we’ll see how healthy Denzel Boston ends up being. I hope we won’t need them, but as a friend of mine used to say, it’s better to have it and not need it, than need it and not have it! It’ll be interesting to see what this win does for the Huskies’ confidence and the momentum of this team, because we have a lot of it. We’ll need a lot of it, because the Bruins are also hungry for a win, in what might be their last game in the Rose Bowl. Overall, it was a great win, but the Huskies have an opportunity for even greater things, after dark in Pasadena next Saturday!
Extra Things
- According to Coach Fisch, receiver Raiden Vines Bright is “doing good”, which is very welcome news!
- Shoutout to running back Ryken Moon, son of legendary Husky, CFL, and NFL quarterback Warren Moon, as he recorded 4 carries for 22 yards, almost getting into the end zone in the 4th quarter.
- Jordan Washington is the first Husky freshman to have 100 yards rushing since Myles Gaskin in 2015!
- The 61 yard completion from Demond Williams to Audric Harris was the longest since Michael Penix Jr.’s 92 yard strike to Ja’Lynn Polk against Stanford in 2023.
We have UCLA on the road next week for Big Ten After Dark!
