As optimistic as coach Jedd Fisch was about having a Sunday afternoon kickoff to start the season, the Washington Huskies will now face a short week entering Week Two. Set to face their second consecutive Pac-12 opponent in Utah State, the Huskies will have just five days to prepare for their next opponent.
Leading up to the Apple Cup, Fisch emphasized the benefits of playing the rivalry game in a stand-alone slot on national television. The Huskies had five days of practice and took Saturday off before Sunday's game, giving them additional time to prepare for a Washington State team that featured a new coaching staff, quarterback, and a host of new transfers.
Now turning their focus to Utah State, the Huskies have one less day to recover, catch
up on film, and game prep before kickoff on Saturday at 12:30 p.m. PT.
"We'll have a meeting in the morning with the players to put the game to rest. Outside of that, we got to move on. We got to get to tomorrow's practice, start preparing, game planning. Traditionally we're able to do this on Sunday, but based on the fact it's already Monday, we've got to get going," said Fisch on Monday.
In the opener, the Huskies committed plenty of self-inflicted errors that Fisch will look to clean up. Washington had 12 penalties for 130 yards, including five 15-yard penalties on defense and special teams, helping the Cougars keep several drives alive. Along with the penalties came a sluggish offensive performance, as the Huskies put up just 10 points before piecing together back-to-back touchdown drives to close out the game.
Despite Utah State not posing the same threat as other programs on the Huskies' schedule, the first week of the college football season was a clear indicator not to overlook any opponent. With running backs Quaid Carr and Jayden Limar expected to miss significant time, Saturday will be an opportunity for transfer Trey Cooley and freshmen Brian Bonner Jr. and Ansu Sanoe to gain some much-needed experience in the backfield before entering Big Ten play.
As the Huskies enter a two-game stretch in which they will be heavy favorites in both contests, the coming weeks could prove to be instrumental to the success of Washington's season.
This article originally appeared on Huskies Wire: Washington Football Turns Focus to Short Week Against Utah State
