Jedd Fisch still isn’t tipping his hand on the quarterback race, even after Washington’s offense finally flashed against a Big Ten opponent.
After Friday’s 38-26 win over Purdue, Fisch declined to say whether Elijah Brown or Demond Williams Jr. will be the Huskies’ starter moving forward. Brown made his first start for Washington since transferring from Stanford this offseason, filling in for the injured Williams, and the result gave the Huskies their first Big Ten victory of the season.
“No we're not going to make any assumptions like that,” Fisch said after the game, according to a post on "X" shared by Dave Mahler."We're going to enjoy tonight and then we'll be coaches on Sunday."
Brown’s stat line was a roller coaster, but the production was real: he finished 21-for-27 for 302 yards, three touchdowns and three interceptions. Washington is now 4-3 overall and 1-3 in Big Ten play, and Friday marked the first time the Huskies topped 24 points against an FBS opponent this season.
The offense had been looking for that kind of jolt for a while. Aside from the 48-16 win over Eastern Washington of the FCS, this was Washington’s most complete offensive showing of the year.
Williams was available on the sideline in pads as an emergency quarterback option, but Fisch wasn’t ready to make any decisions before the bye week.
That pause comes at a good time for Washington, which won’t play again until Oct. 31 at Nebraska, with the kickoff time still to be determined in Lincoln, Neb.
The numbers on both quarterbacks help explain why this is such a complicated call. Williams has started six times this season, five of them full games, and has completed 66.7% of his passes for 1,396 yards, eight touchdowns and three interceptions.
He also has 183 rushing yards and two more scores on 64 carries. His QBR sits at 41.3, which ranks 105th nationally.
Brown has been sharper in a smaller sample. In three appearances, including one start, he’s completed 73.9% of his throws for 578 yards, seven touchdowns and three interceptions, along with a 73.8 QBR.
The bigger picture is simple enough: in Brown’s three halves over the past two weeks, Washington’s offense has put up 59 points. In Williams’ two-and-a-half Big Ten games, spread across five halves, the Huskies have scored 48 points.
Washington has five games left: Nebraska, Penn State at home on Nov. 7, Michigan State on the road on Nov.
14, No. 5 Indiana at home on Nov. 21 and Oregon on the road on Nov.
- The Huskies need two wins in that stretch to become bowl-eligible.
In Other News...
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Washington May Have Another Running Back Problem After Breakout Ground Game
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For Washington, the timing matters. Nebraska now gets a bye week before hosting the Huskies, giving Matt Rhule and his staff a brief window to sort through the issues and the injury situation that surfaced after the Oregon game. Rhule referenced injuries to Gunnar Gottula, Isaiah Mozee and Jamal Rule afterward, and those concerns only deepen the questions around a team already searching for steadier execution on both sides of the ball. [Read more 🡒]