Between Nebraska and Washington, the two Big Ten Conference programs have 29 wins and just 3 losses on Halloween.
Saturday, the loss total will rise to four, with the Huskies set to play their first game on the holiday since 2015, a 49-3 beatdown of Arizona. That season, the Huskers had their last Halloween game, a 55-45 loss at Purdue, to put their record at 17-2 when playing on October 31.
Jedd Fisch has much more on the line this weekend in Lincoln than just the second Halloween loss in school history, with his team facing an uphill climb to reach bowl eligibility if the Huskies lose.
A win over coach Matt Rhule and Nebraska would give Fisch his first back-to-back road victories in league play in his short tenure in Seattle, and it would set
the program up significantly more favorably with two games against schools that enter Week 9 with a losing record, Penn State (3-4) at home and at Michigan State (2-6), followed by a pair of tough games against Indiana and at Oregon to conclude the 2026 regular season schedule.
Washington and Nebraska have a combined 29-3 record in games played on Halloween.
— Lars Hanson (@LarsHanson) October 30, 2026
The Huskies (12-1) only loss came in 1998 at USC, a 33-10 defeat, while the Huskers (17-2) fell to Purdue 55-45 in 2015 and Texas 20-16 in 1998. pic.twitter.com/cXsaKiaula
Outside of injuries to fourth-year center Landen Hatchett and first-year edge Ramzak Fruean, the Huskies appear to have made it through the week unscathed with new injuries. UW is expecting running backs Jayden Limar and Trey Cooley to play, which should help the Huskies' offense no matter who Fisch chooses to start at quarterback in what is expected to be a capacity crowd for Nebraska's second annual blackout game.
If third-year Stanford transfer Elijah Brown gets the nod, the offense may benefit from not having a whiplash effect from bouncing back and forth between quarterbacks.
Brown shined in his first start of the season with Demond Williams Jr. sidelined due to a rib injury two weeks ago at Purdue, in a 38-26 victory, completing 21-of-27 pass attempts for 302 yards and three touchdowns along with three interceptions, but one of those was fully on the former Mater Dei four-year starter.
Fisch likely will dive into his bag of tricks against the Huskers to use both quarterbacks in some fashion. Williams Jr. was listed on UW's final availability report Friday as probable and is expected to be available for the third-year coach to play Saturday night in Lincoln, but that doesn't have to mean the 21-game starter has to be first on the field leading the offense.
The Huskies have already run a double-pass play using second-year wide receiver Dezmen Roebuck as the passer against USC to connect on a 5-yard touchdown at USC to get the offense going, a play that could find its way into Saturday's game through Williams Jr. instead of Roebuck. Fisch could also dust off his 2024 game plan using the dual-threat quarterback as a threat next to Brown out of the backfield or any assortment of tricks to get UW back to Seattle with its fifth win of 2026 and firmly in bowl contention.
This article originally appeared on Huskies Wire: Fisch Aims to Continue Washington's Winning Halloween Ways at Nebraska
