Coming off their biggest win of the season, the Washington Huskies will enjoy a restful weekend on the shores of the Puget Sound. Following a 38-26 win over Purdue, Washington will enter its bye week before preparing for the final five games of the regular season.
Although the Huskies boast just a 4-3 record, far below preseason expectations, the week off presents an opportunity to get healthy and carry the momentum through the end of the season.
Not only has Washington suffered mightily from injuries this season, but a case of the flu also managed to make its way through the locker room last week. Outside of those ruled out for the season with injury, UW had five players miss last Friday's game, including quarterback Demond Williams Jr., Jedd
Fisch spoke on his battered squad during Friday's postgame press conference.
"I didn't know if Trey (Cooley) was going to be available for this game, and we had the flu hit our program pretty hard. We had 15 guys miss practice on Tuesday, and we had 18 guys miss on Wednesday; he was one of those guys. So Trey didn't practice all week with us until, I think, the walkthrough. So, we had to find different ways to get (Dezmen Roebuck) in the backfield because outside we had Ryken (Moon) and Brian (Bonner Jr.) Those were our two backs going into this game. Ansu (Sanoe) couldn't travel with us because he had the flu as well."
The final injury report for Washington as they prepare to take on Purdue pic.twitter.com/xBfRURVDC3
— Roman Tomashoff (@rtomashoff34) October 16, 2026
It doesn't take an expert to tell you that when flu-like symptoms occur, the best thing to do is travel across the country and play football in cold weather. Fortunately for Fisch's team, they won't have to worry about that, as they won't step onto the field until Halloween night against Nebraska.
Not only will the bye give the locker room a chance to overcome sickness and injuries, but also provide an opportunity to re-evaluate the upcoming schedule. Due to the chaos that has ensued across the nation in the last few weeks, Washington's upcoming schedule looks a bit more manageable. After heading to Lincoln, the Huskies will face Penn State, Michigan State, No. 6 Indiana, and Oregon. With the Nittany Lions and Ducks falling out of the top-25 in recent weeks, those matchups suddenly don't look quite as daunting.
Take into consideration that Fisch's offense is coming off its best offensive performance in conference play, and Washington looks to have a real chance to be competitive in all of their remaining games. But if there's one thing to take away from the first seven weeks of the season, it's that expectations can change in the blink of an eye.
Either way, Washington gets some much-needed rest before looking to catch fire to cap off the 2026 campaign.
This article originally appeared on Huskies Wire: Washington Football Gets Rest Before Gearing Up For Final Five Games
