Washington has played just two home games since the calendar flipped to October, and just three conference home games this season. All three have been wins thus far, with UCLA on Friday night as the fourth and final home conference game. In its previous three home games, Washington has scored touchdowns on at least two of its first four possessions. The Huskies have also built a two-score lead before allowing their opponent to put points on the board in each. That trend has allowed Washington to extend its home winning streak to 19 games. Friday night is a chance for 20 in a row. “[It’s] a blackout from what I was told, so that’s awesome.” Jedd Fisch said on Monday. “Some great uniforms coming out, Adidas did a fantastic job there,” he added. In primetime, Washington has a prime opportunity to extend its season on Senior Night.
Left Tackle Update
Kahlee Tafai played 42 snaps at Penn State and 55 snaps against USC. He and Soane Faasolo split time with 29 snaps each at Indiana the week prior. But Tafai went down with an injury inside Beaver Stadium. On Monday, Fisch said he has optimism about his left tackle, “Kahlee should be fine.” Before arriving at Monday’s press conference, Fisch said Tafai told him he would be good to go for the game on Friday. In terms of the team’s overall injury status, Fisch said there everyone who was healthy to play last week should be available this week. That appears to include Tafai.
Since Maximus McCree sustained a thumb injury against Iowa, Tafai had been the Huskies’ strongest left tackle. Tafai has played 148 snaps since that injury, including the Iowa game itself. In that stretch, Tafai has allowed just five quarterback pressures according to Pro Football Focus. That’s a 3.4% pressure rate allowed. Until his injury, McCree had 232 snaps on the season with eight pressures allowed. McCree’s pressure rate allowed this season has been 3.4%.
Since McCree’s injury, Faasolo’s pressure rate has been 11.8%, with 14 pressures on 118 snaps. Tafai has taken 30 more snaps than Faasolo since then, allowing nine fewer pressures in that period. Faasolo received significant snaps in the early portion of the year in non-conference play. On the year, Faasolo has taken 258 snaps at left tackle with 22 pressures allowed, an 8.5% pressure rate allowed. In terms of protection, Tafai has been more consistent. The good news for the Huskies is that he should be available to play.
Starting Quarterback
Will Rogers is going to be the starting quarterback for Washington on Friday night. The fifth-year senior is 5-0 at home this season. Friday will be his 51st career start. “He’s led us all season long,” Fisch said on Monday. “He’s done a fantastic job against both Michigan and USC… He has been a fantastic leader since arriving here.” Fisch said that there was a lot that went into the decision to start Demond Williams Jr. in the second half against Penn State. That decision was, “Certainly to try to provide a spark… we weren’t where we wanted to be.” But Fisch added, “There wasn’t anything that occurred on Saturday night that I would hold him solely responsible for.”
Williams will continue to get snaps at quarterback, however. Fisch said that the plan is going to be similar to what we saw for USC and for Michigan. “About 15 plays, 20 plays, but that’s certainly up for grabs.” Fisch did not go into more details of how Williams will be utilized, but it appears it will be in a similar fashion to what we’ve seen in the Huskies’ two most recent victories. But on Senior Night, Rogers will begin under center for the Huskies. “I have total faith that we’re going to win the game with Will at the starting quarterback position,” Fisch added that the team feels the same way.
Senior Night at Washington
There will be 26 seniors walking on Senior Night. There are a lot of guys who have been at Washington for five or six years. Fisch is excited to honor the group of players suiting up for their final home game in the purple and gold. But he added, “Walking does not mean leaving.” Fisch said he told his team this with regard to the Senior Night festivities. He pointed to a few players at Arizona who made the decision to go through the Senior Night festivities before returning for an additional year of eligibility. Those few players ended up finding NFL careers.
Jonah Coleman is only a junior, and he does have the opportunity to leave school early and enter the NFL Draft. Coleman is 5th nationally in yards after contact per attempt with 4.88 (minimum of 45 attempts). He’s also seventh nationally in run plays of 10-plus yards with 32 on the year. But on Monday, Fisch delivered some news regarding his plans to return to college football next year. “I’m going to say it’s on the high end of 90%, but we’ll see.”
Short Week
Fisch said that the Huskies returned home to Seattle around 5:00 am on Sunday after their 35-6 loss at Penn State. Washington has five days to get ready for Senior Night at Husky Stadium against UCLA. But the Friday night game creates a short week for Washington. UCLA had the benefit of playing last Friday night in the same TV window against Iowa. It’s not a short week for the Bruins, they’re on schedule for a normal road game. Fisch said they had a late night last night in preparation, and they’ll do a walk-through on Monday evening. Preparation is going at full strength for the team’s final home game. “As I told the staff, sleep Saturday,” Fisch concluded.
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