The Washington Huskies got the result they wanted in the 118th Apple Cup, but the path there wasn’t exactly smooth.
Washington picked up its first win of the 2026 Football Season by beating the Washington State Cougars, yet the offense never really settled in. The Huskies had to wait until late in the fourth quarter to stretch the lead to multiple scores, and Alex McLaughlin finished things off with an interception in the closing minutes.
That uneven showing set the stage for Jack McCauley and Luke Mounger to break down Washington’s opener in the third season under Jedd Fisch. The longtime interns compared grades from the game and then turned their attention to Saturday’s matchup with Utah State.
The Aggies come in off a 12-point home loss to Idaho State, and they’ll face a Washington defense that held WSU to just 242 yards of offense and 10 total points.
From there, Jack and Luke zeroed in on a few key questions for the Huskies. One is how Washington handles its backfield after losing three important running backs. Another is whether the discipline issues from last week can be cleaned up after the Huskies were flagged for 130 penalty yards.
The pair also got into their Bets to Bark picks as Washington tries to build on the Apple Cup win. Both are trying to recover after going 1-2 to start the year on Betting B1G, and they’ll track those results all season long.
They wrapped up with their confidence interval, both backing Washington to move to 2-0 on the season.
In Other News...
Washington Freshman May Have Already Changed This Defensive Rotation
The snap counts in Washingtons 24-10 win over Washington State said plenty about how the staff views its defensive rotation, and Derek Colman-Brusa was one of the clearest examples. In his first college game, the freshman defensive tackle was on the field often enough to matter, and he made that time count with disruptive moments that showed why the Huskies were willing to trust a newcomer in a meaningful spot.
Colman-Brusa arrived as a consensus four-star recruit and was originally projected as an edge rusher before the Huskies shifted him inside after an offseason of added size. The result was a debut that fit the programs broader approach under a staff intent on playing the best players regardless of age, and it left open a bigger question for the weeks ahead: how much more of the interior rotation he can carve out once the games keep getting bigger. [Read more 🡒]
Washington Gets An Early Warning About Bronco Mendenhalls Aggies
Bronco Mendenhalls first Utah State team has already given Washington a little early-season film to study, and the first impression is not especially tidy. Dan Allisons breakdown of the Aggies paints a picture of a program still trying to settle in under a new coach, with both sides of the ball carrying a mix of familiar Mendenhall traits and the kind of growing pains that can show up fast when a staff is asking players to learn on the fly.
For the Huskies, the bigger takeaway is not just who Utah State is right now, but how much room there still is for the Aggies to improve before the matchup comes into view. The reformed Pac-12 adds more urgency to every nonconference test, and if Utah State begins to clean up its operation the way Mendenhalls track record suggests it can, this is the sort of opponent Washington will want to have fully charted before it shows up on the schedule. [Read more 🡒]
Washington May Have Found A Missing Piece In Its Roster Reset
Washingtons roster reset under Danny Sprinkle has needed more than just time. After two seasons marked by major turnover and the usual headaches that come with rebuilding in the transfer-portal era, the Huskies have added another layer to the staff, bringing in Alex Kline to assist with roster building. It is the kind of move that reflects where the program is right now, with personnel work just as important as what happens on the floor.
Kline arrives after previously being on the Syracuse coaching staff, giving Washington another voice with experience in the behind-the-scenes grind of assembling a team. For a program trying to stabilize its foundation and find the right fit around Sprinkle, the addition points to how seriously the Huskies are treating this next phase. The bigger question is how quickly that extra help translates into a roster that looks more settled and more built for the long haul. [Read more 🡒]