Washington Husky football enters new era in Big 10 with 35-3 rout of Weber State
By Charles Hamaker
Seattle, WA – With as much turnover and change that’s taken place on Montlake for the Washington Huskies and their football program, it’s understandable to have some skepticism and questions about what they’ll look like this season. Only two returning starters for Washington, both on defense, a new coaching staff, a new conference, and a bunch of wondering about how the Huskies could follow up their 2023 season where they reached the National title game. While many questions about this team can’t truly be answered until the end of the year, fans at Husky stadium and watching online however they could saw some electric flashes as their team took care of business in their first game of the season against the Weber State Wildcats. Running back Jonah Coleman bowled over the Wildcats defense, Will Rogers as the leader of the offense, and the Washington defense held Weber State scoreless for most of this game in what should be the first of two tune up games on their schedule before getting into the brunt of their first ever Big ten slate.
Slow start in game one
The first drive of the game went to Weber State, and the Wildcats showed some solid offensive signs as they were able to get down the field largely due to their running game before a 48-yard field goal attempt by Kyle Thompson sliced a few feet wide right. Washington got the ball in good position to begin their first drive of the game, and the running game was the story for the Huskies as well in their first drive as lead back Jonah Coleman bulldozed his way through defenders and could’ve had a 44-yard rushing score if there wasn’t a holding call on tight end Quentin Moore to bring it back. The Husky drive stalled out after that holding penalty as an incomplete pass, a short, rush, and a completion five yards in front of the first down marker led to Washington going for it on fourth. The Huskies confidence in their ability on fourth down is nice to see, but didn’t result in success this time as Will Rogers couldn’t find Denzel Boston, and the ball was turned back over to Weber State. The Wildcats returned the favor by gaining one first down before failing to do much of anything, using Australian punter Oscar Doyle to send the ball back to Washington as the first three drives were somewhat indicative of what you’d expect for teams just beginning a new season.
Two first downs gained via completions from Rogers to Denzel Boston had the Husky offense moving a bit before things stalled out, getting the ball back to Weber State who also punted back as the quarter ended to see a lackluster first quarter that featured three punts, a missed field goal, and a turnover on downs. Washington finally got something going as the second quarter began, using a strong dose of Jonah Coleman early to get things going before a 32-yard completion to Cameron Davis out of the backfield put the Huskies into the red zone. Jonah Coleman was finally able to punch it in from five yards out for the first score of the game, and the Grady Gross kick made this a seven-point game just two minutes and 25 seconds into that second frame. The Weber State rushing attack got them a first down on the ensuing drive, but the passing game continued to work against them and a holding penalty ultimately killed another drive, leading to another punt back to Washington. Another Husky drive that saw a few first downs before a punt took place before the Wildcats continued to struggle through this game offensively against the Washington defense, and we were once again playing a game of “no, you take it” with the teams trading punts. Following that last Weber State punt, it seemed like the Huskies were able to make things click and get going. Will Rogers led the offense out of the shotgun and had things in a no huddle tempo, completing big passes to Giles Jackson, Cameron Davis, and Denzel Boston before finding young tight end Decker DeGraaf wide open on a wheel route for a 33-yard touchdown to double the lead at 14-0 after Gross’ kick went through the uprights. The Wildcats weren’t able to answer in the ensuing drive, and Washington couldn’t use the remaining minute and change to get another score before the halftime whistle.
Washington Husky tight end Decker DeGraaf caught the only touchdown pass thrown by quarterback Will Rogers in the game, a 33-yard completion. (Photo by Joe Nicholson/USA Today sports)
Kicking into high gear
After that somewhat underwhelming first half, there was hope that the Huskies were going to be able to wake themselves up a bit and play up to a level that they should be at, especially against Weber State. To open the second half, Washington used a lengthy drive with lots of Jonah Coleman on the ground and timely passes from Will Rogers before Coleman punched the ball in from five yards out for the second time in this game to push the Husky lead to three scores. With that showing of what the Washington offense could do, the purple and gold defense seemed to wake up as well and they were able to force the first three and out of the Wildcats in the game to get the ball back immediately. On the ensuing drive, the Will Rogers led passing attack pushed its way down the field (aided by a horse collar tackle penalty on Kemari Munier-Bailey of Weber State), before Jonah Coleman punched the ball in to complete his hat trick of rushing touchdowns. With the Huskies in command with a 28-0 lead, the Wildcats were finally able to move down the field and get their only points of the game thanks to a Kyle Thompson field goal as they couldn’t push past the Washington eleven-yard line.
The next Husky possession came with some change left in the third quarter, and with the game well in hand Washington decided it was time to get their depth in the game. That included backup quarterback, and likely signal caller of the future, Demond Williams Jr and the freshman was able to help the Huskies score another touchdown in addition to salting away the rest of the clock in this ballgame. Nothing meaningful happened after the final Washington touchdown of the night, and the Huskies came away from this game with a satisfying 32-point result to get their new chapter in program history off to the right start.
Slow start, but par for the course after that
This is a solid beginning to the new era that the Washington Huskies are entering, even with a long way to go and multiple challenges to face. With as much turmoil that took place just days after the Huskies fell to Michigan in the National title game, Washington at least looks like they were able to pull themselves together and bond enough to form a solid squad. As previously mentioned, they’ll need to weather notable tough stretches in their first season amidst the Big Ten’s ranks (largely including anyone after the Rutgers game), but if this team is able to live up to the potential of its veteran coaching staff and the talent of the players that are on the roster, they could certainly make some noise. Not at all putting any expectation that they’d be anywhere near what the program did last season, but a solid bowl game really shouldn’t be out of the question if execution is on par.
This is notably going to look a lot different than the Husky team we saw last year for obvious reasons, whether it was the group that had seen so much together, relying less on the passing attack, and just having more questions surrounding how they’ll play generally, but solid pieces are in place. Having a bell cow back in Jonah Coleman could be a big asset to this team that may look to run the ball hard offensively and then play good defense, an old formula for winning football. The defensive side of the ball is a changed unit like the vast majority of the roster, but the secondary has some great athletes. The front seven has its questions and that was somewhat showcased in the first half of this game with Weber State running the ball well early and often, but defensive schemes could hide those issues, or it could just be an issue of not playing together much. Those questions mentioned throughout this recap will get some answers in the coming weeks, so enjoy the fun of a new team and new experiences that come with it.
Washington Husky quarterback Will Rogers comes in with history as a prolific passer, but how much of him airing it out will we see in Purple and Gold? (Photo by Joe Nicholson/USA Today sports)
Quick Husky notes
66,984 was tonight’s attendance at Husky stadium for tonight’s season opening game between the Weber State Wildcats and our Washington Huskies
That’s 95% of full capacity at Husky Stadium (70,138).
This was the first ever meeting between the Washington Huskies and Weber State Wildcats.
The Huskies are now 99-29-5 in home openers (whether the first game of the season or not).
Washington is now 92-37-6 all-time in season openers.
Following tonight’s win, Washington moves to 26-0 when outrushing opponents over the last 5 seasons.
They're the only unbeaten FBS team in that span.
Husky running back Jonah Coleman’s three rushing touchdowns tied a career high for a single game.
What’s next?
Following tonight’s home season opening win over the Weber State Wildcats, the Washington Huskies have played the first of four games in the Seattle area to begin their 2024 schedule. Their next contest comes next Saturday, September 7th, when they’ll host the Eastern Michigan Eagles with a kickoff time of 12:30PM PDT that will be broadcast live on the Big Ten broadcast. In terms of the off the field festivities, the Huskies are hosting Band Day presented by Dick’s Drive-In. It looks to be the first ever meeting between the Huskies and Eagles, and it’s the first day game that Washington will play this season with at least two more of them to come, as many other games this year still don’t have a gametime set quite yet. With a hefty schedule coming up for their first season in the Big Ten, it’s imperative that the Huskies use this next game against Eastern Michigan to truly lock into their offensive and defensive schemes in order to get fully prepared for the slate ahead.
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Instagram: @CirclingSeattleSports Twitter: @CirclingSports Threads: @CirclingSeattleSports Tiktok: @CirclingSeattleSports Facebook: Circling Seattle Sports Bluesky: @circlingseasports.bsky.social 〰️
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Check out our previous CSS Huskies articles here.
Check out more articles with writing by Charles Hamaker here.
Cover photo and photos in this article by Joe Nicholson/USA Today sports
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