No. 5 Dawgs Set To Host Sun Devils For Homecoming

Saturday, October 21

Seattle, WA

7:30 PM

University of Washington

Arizona State

Buy tickets

Photo by: Scott Eklund / Red Box Pictures

October 16, 2023 | Football

Full UW Game Notes (PDF)

THE GAME: The Washington football team (6-0, 3-0 Pac-12) plays its second straight home game as Arizona State (1-5, 0-3) comes to Alaska Airlines Field at Husky Stadium for the final time as a conference foe. The Homecoming kickoff is 7:30 p.m. PT and the game will air on FS1 television. The contest will mark the 39th UW-ASU game. Next year, the Huskies will join the Big Ten Conference, while the Devils are off to the Big 12. The Dawgs enter the week ranked No. 5 in both the AP Top 25 the coaches' poll. The following Saturday, Oct. 29, the Dawgs will travel to Stanford to take on the Cardinal.

QUICK HITTERS: Washington is 17-2 overall, and 11-0 at home under head coach Kalen DeBoer ... UW leads the nation in passing offense, and is No. 3 total offense and No. 5 in scoring offense ... UW's defense has 8 interceptions, surpassing 2022's season total (7) ... over just 19 games as a Husky, Michael Penix Jr. has notched five of the top-10 single-game passing yards marks in UW history, including his first three games this season (473 vs. Michigan State – 3rd; 450 vs. Boise State – 6th; 409 vs. Tulsa – 10th) ... Penix is up to sixth in UW history in career TD passes, with 51 ... he has thrown multiple TDs in 15 of his 19 games at UW ... his 6,942 career yards rank him 5th at UW ... through 6 games, Penix is No. 1 in FBS in total offense and passing yards per game, No. 3 in pass efficiency, and No. 4 in pass TDs ... four different UW receivers – Jalen McMillan, Rome Odunze, Ja'Lynn Polk and Germie Bernard (2) – have scored a rushing TD so far this season ... prior to this season, UW had had just eight games in its history in which two players had 100 receiving yards (including two last year) ... this season, that has happened in 5 of 6 games ... through 6 games, UW has had 47 scrimmage plays of 20 yards or more, 2nd-most in FBS on a per-game average ... UW's defense has allowed just 21 ... Penix is currently No. 1 in the nation in pass plays of 10-plus (90 plays) and 30-plus (21 plays) yards ... UW enters the week with the nation's second-longest active winning streak among FBS teams, with 13 victories in a row – third-longest in UW history ... only Georgia, with a 24-game run, has a longer active streak ... Washington scored 40-plus points in the first 4 games, the first time that UW has scored 40-plus in four straight in the same season since 1944, when the Huskies did it with two lopsided wins each over Willamette and Whitman ... not counting the 4-game 2020 season, the Huskies have won 10 or more games in 4 of the last 6 seasons.

TELEVISION: The Washington-ASU game will air on FS1, with Jeff Levering and Mark Helfrich calling the action. Fans will with the proper subscription can also stream at fox.com/live.

RADIO: All Washington football games will air on the Washington Sports Network from Learfield, with Tony Castricone (play by play), former Husky tight end Cameron Cleeland (analyst) and former UW basketball player Elise Woodward (sidelines) on the call. Radio coverage begins four hours before kickoff on the network's flagship station – Seattle's SportsRadio KJR 93.3 FM – with "Husky Gameday" live from The Zone for Husky home games. Statewide coverage on the 17-station Washington Sports Network begins two hours before kickoff. The entire broadcast is available worldwide on the Huskies Gameday mobile app and the Varsity app. The UW broadcast of this game will also air on Sirius/XM channel 111 or 198.

HUSKIES vs. DEVILS HISTORY: Arizona State leads the all-time series against the Huskies, 21-17. At one point, the UW led the series 15-8, but ASU has had the better of it in recent years, winning 13 of the last 15.

In 2022, the Devils provided one of the Huskies' two losses, in Tempe, 45-38. UW won most of the statistics battles, but a game effort from then-backup QB Trenton Bourget (15-for-21, 182 yds., 3 TDs) extended the Huskies' poor streak in the Valley.

In 2021, the Huskies took the early lead, but ASU scored 21 in the fourth quarter to win, 35-30. Before 2021, the two teams hadn't met since 2018, a 27-20 Husky win at Husky Stadium in both teams' fourth game of the season. Husky QB Jake Browning was an efficient 15-for-22 for 202 yards and three touchdowns, while the UW defense held ASU to 268 yards of total offense.

In 2017 in Tempe, the Devils handed the Huskies a 13-7 loss, but the season before that in Seattle, Washington beat Arizona State, 44-18, in the UW's final home game of the season, breaking the Sun Devils' 10-game win streak in the series.

Washington first met the Devils in 1975. That '75 game marked the only time that the two teams ever played one another prior to the Sun Devils joining the Pac-10 Conference before the 1978 season. The Huskies lost that first-ever meeting at Tempe in 1975, 35-12, but routed the 12th-ranked Devils in the next matchup, winning 41-7 at Husky Stadium in 1978.

Some of the Huskies' most memorable games in modern history have come vs. ASU. In the 1995 season-opener, tailback Rashaan Shehee hit receiver Fred Coleman with a 30-yard TD pass late in the fourth quarter to give Washington a 23-20 win. The following year at Tempe, Washington trailed 42-21 before backup QB Brock Huard came on to lead the Huskies to three fourth-quarter TDs, but Robert Nycz kicked a 38-yard field goal with 0:02 left to win, 45-42.

In 1998 at Sun Devil Stadium, the Huskies pulled off the "Miracle in the Desert" as Huard hit tight end Reggie Davis with a 63-yard pass on fourth-and-17 with 0:28 left in the game to pull out a 42-38 Washington win. In 2001, the Huskies capped a seven-minute, 12-second drive with a 30-yard field goal with no time remaining to edge the Devils, 33-31.

EXPERIENCE AND YOUTH: Washington's current roster includes a total of 34 players – 17 each on offense and defense – who have started at least one game for the Huskies prior to 2023. Entering the year, the 17 offensive players had totaled 145 starts in the Purple & Gold, while the 17 defensive players (which includes former offensive line starter Ulumoo Ale) had 156 starts between them. Tight end Devin Culp entered the 2023 season with the highest total of starts under is belt among offensive players, with 18, while safety zx0Asa Turner, with 23 career starts entering 2023, led the defensive side. The list of Dawgs with starting experience doesn't take into account the 10 current Huskies who transferred to UW after having started at another four-year college, nor does it account for starting "specialists." Washington 119-man roster entering the year included just 15 players in their final year of eligibility, along with 29 true freshmen, 15 redshirt freshmen, 35 sophomores and 25 juniors. Potentially, 104 current Huskies could return for 2024, while 79 enter the 2023 season with three or more years of eligibility remaining.

GRADUATED DAWGS: The 2023 Washington football roster includes 23 players who have earned their bachelor's degree. Here are those 23, alphabetically: Ulomoo Ale, Jacob Bandes, Julius Buelow, Devin Culp, Troy Fautanu, Drew Fowler, Ralen Goforth, Dominique Hampton, Antonio Hill, Giles Jackson, Tuli Letuligasenoa, Matteo Mele, Quentin Moore, Dylan Morris, Jabbar Muhammad, Richard Newton, Michael Penix Jr., Faatui Tuitele, Zion Tupuola-Fetui, Alphonzo Tuputala, Asa Turner, Edefuan Ulofoshio, and Jack Westover.

LONG PLAYS: Washington has notched 47 scrimmage plays of 20 or more yards over its first six games, the second-highest per-game average in the nation. UW also leads the nation (on per-game average) with 26 plays of 30 yards or more. Those totals include 39 passes of 20 or more yards, and 21 of 30 or more, from quarterback Michael Penix Jr. Both of those averages are also tops in the nation. Penix also leads FBS with 90 completions of 10 yards or more, despite having played just seven games. Additionally, Rome Odunze is tied for second in the nation with 32 receptions of 10-plus and 14 of 20-plus yards, while Ja'Lynn Polk has 11 20-plus yard receptions. Meanwhile, UW's defense has allowed just 21 plays of 20 or more yards this season, 26 fewer than the Husky offense has had.

Last year, Washington finished the season with 62 passing plays for 20 or more yards, tied for eighth-most in the nation (five teams that ranked higher played more games than UW's 13). Washington led the nation last year with 193 pass plays for 10 or more yards.

TWO 100-YARD RECEIVERS IN A GAME: Prior to the start of this season, Washington had had just eight games in its history with two players finishing with 100 or more receiving yards (including two such games last year). So far this season, Washington has had two players with 100 receiving yards in five of games:
                  vs. Boise State: Rome Oduzne (132) & Ja'Lynn Polk (101)
                  vs. Tulsa: Jalen McMillan (120) & Odunze (107)
                  at Michigan State: Odunze (180) & Polk (118)
                  vs. California: Polk (127) & Odunze (125)
                  vs. Oregon: Odunze (128) & Polk (118)

Additionally, last year, Odunze was the first Husky ever to record four straight 100-yard games. In the first four games of 2023, he matched that streak.

CONFERENCE MOVES: Along with USC, UCLA and Oregon, the Huskies will move to the Big Ten Conference after this coming academic year (2023-24) and will play a Big Ten schedule in 2024. Four other current Pac-12 programs – Arizona, Arizona State, Colorado and Utah – will join the Big 12 Conference in 2024-25; while Stanford and California will join the ACC. Washington has been a member of what is now the Pac-12 since the inception of the league, in 1915. Only the UW and California have/had been members in every year since. The UW football team has won a league title in every decade since the 1910s, other than the 2020s – the Dawgs will have one last chance to extend that streak this year.

ALASKA AIRLINES FIELD AT HUSKY STADIUM: The Oregon game on Nov. 5, 2011, marked the final game in Husky Stadium prior to major renovations that were completed in summer, 2013. The Huskies re-opened their home field with a 38-6 win over then-No. 19 Boise State on Aug. 31, 2013. The 2023 season marks the 103rd season of play in Husky Stadium. Original construction on the facility was completed in 1920 when Washington played one game in the new campus facility. UW's all-time record in Husky Stadium stands at 410-185-21 (.683). Washington is 54-16 in home games since the stadium re-opened in 2013.