Since April 2025, Washington Huskies defensive coordinator Ryan Walters has pointed out that his unit often takes a significant step in his second year.
On Sunday, after holding Washington State without a third-down conversion in 11 attempts to help secure a 24-10 victory in the 118th Apple Cup, his best second-year leap may be taking shape. The last time a UW defense held an opposing offense without a third-down conversion came in a 16-13 upset over No. 3 USC in 2009.
After the Huskies' 2026 opener, Walters' defense is one of only five in the country that didn't allow a single third-down conversion, along with Alabama, Colorado State, Kennesaw State, and South Alabama. In his first season last fall, the Huskies held UCLA and Wisconsin to a pair
of third-down conversions and three to CSU in 2025's opener.
"We're not having that bend-don't-break mentality this year," fourth-year safety Alex McLaughlin, who pulled down one of two interceptions on Sunday and marked his second Apple Cup with a pick, said after the game when asked how he felt the difference in UW's defense to start 2026.
Ryan Walters knows how to dial up some pressure pic.twitter.com/dh5Bxi3ecL
— Brandon Walker College Football Show (@BFWshow) September 6, 2026
UW's first four defensive series yielded a missed WSU 52-yard field goal, a pair of sacks—the first by fifth-year edge Russell Davis II and the second by fifth-year linebacker Jacob Manu—and an interception by first-year nickel Jeron Jones.
Although Jones' interception set up a short field that the third-year quarterback Demond Williams Jr. capped off with a 5-yard touchdown run to extend the Huskies' lead to 10-0 early in the second quarter, it took until the second half for Jedd Fisch's offense to get going.
The only time WSU remained on the field in the first half after a third-down attempt was when second-year safety Rylon Dillard-Allen was flagged for a personal foul on a late hit on quarterback Caden Pinnick, who scrambled on a third-and-18 and made the line to gain before the UW defender made contact, which nullified the conversion.
It happened twice in the second half. First, through a personal foul on first-year edge Ramzak Fruean on third-and-11 with just under 12 minutes remaining in the third quarter after Pinnick was held to no gain. The second came when Manu was tagged for unsportsmanlike conduct four plays later, after stopping WSU short on third-and-19.
"I definitely felt it," Manu said when asked if he felt an improvement to start year two in Walters' defense. "I feel like as vets we got to step up. We can't make those little mistakes we made today. But I feel like as the season goes we'll get better."
Penalties aside—something that can't easily be brushed away, given it's been a problem for UW under Fisch, having increased the total number of penalties on the team from 76 to 80 between 2024 and 2025—it's clear the Huskies have a top-flight defense this year, with still more to come once Big Ten play opens in late September.
This article originally appeared on Huskies Wire: Ryan Walters Uses Apple Cup Opener as Proof of Second-Year Growth
