By Andrew Bailie Posted on

Jedd Fisch says Huskies ready for Apple Cup show down with Cougars

The Huskies will travel to Pullman to play the Washington State Cougars on Saturday for the first time since. 2022. Husky head coach Jedd Fisch briefed the media about his team’s preparation for the Apple Cup at his weekly press conference on Monday.

Following a bye week, Fisch says his team is refreshed and ready to take on the Cougars. During the press conference, Fisch discussed what the rivalry means, how his team is preparing, and what his team needs to do to win. Here are the main takeaways from Jedd Fisch’s Monday press conference.

Fisch talks about how last year’s Apple Cup preparation helped him prepare for this year

In 2024, Jedd Fisch was coaching his first Apple Cup game, and he took time to reflect on last year’s preparation.

“Yeah, well, last year, you know, we probably spent a little time researching it, I spent more time researching it. I spoke with, we had Lawyer Malloy come in here. We had Jackson come in here. I spent some time talking to other alums about the game. So I’ve kind of been educated in that regard. I’ll also say that when you play in the game, right, when you coach in the game, you become quickly educated on the game, right? Until you actually participate in the game as a coach or player, it’s just, it’s a rivalry game that you’re aware of.”

Fisch said he gained valuable experience coaching in rivalry games as both an assistant and head coach. Before coaching at UW, Fisch coached in the Arizona-Arizona State game as a head coach and the USC vs. UCLA rivalry game as an assistant . Preparing for the Apple Cup has been a two-year process for Fisch. Last year, Fisch says he learned what the rivalry between UW and WSU means. Fisch had former UW alumni speak about what the game means to them, and the experience from coaching in last year’s game has helped him prepare for this year’s contest

Fisch discussed his experience coaching last year’s Apple Cup

“So I would say after the game, you know when you see the governor giving out the trophy, when you see presidents on the podium, you see how important the game is. And you know then you see tears in the locker room, when the outcome isn’t what you want it to be, you feel that the taste in all of our mouths not winning that game, you see a trophy not coming back into an empty trophy case. So all those things certainly may get very real and very important, and unique in college football.”

GOAL LINE STAND BY THE COUGARS

In last year’s game, the Cougars’ defense stopped the Huskies’ offense on 4th down from the one-yard line. That goal-line stop by the Cougars’ defense still sticks with the Huskies’ coaches and players after the 24-19 loss. . Fisch’s recollection of the feelings and emotions in the locker room after the game is still vivid. The Huskies are definitely using last year’s close loss as motivation to win this year.

“It’s now a responsibility of our staff, offense, defense, and special teams, to come out there and put together the best possible plan we can. And hopefully have more plays that work than don’t work. And we’ll see. We’ll see what it looks like on Saturday.”

After a productive bye week, Fisch feels his team is ready for Saturday’s Apple Cup. Fisch and his coaching staff believe they have created a game plan that will bring the Apple Cup back to Husky Stadium.

The Huskies look to stay disciplined to get an Apple Cup win

In last year’s Apple Cup at Lumen Field, the Huskies struggled with penalties. The Huskies had 16 penalties for 135 yards in their 24-19 loss. UW is looking to be more disciplined against the Cougars on Saturday. Fisch and his coaching staff believe they are past last year’s penalty-filled performance.

“I think we’re right on track, you know, if you’re gonna have five penalties a game, that’s above average and really good. So we’re looking to stay in that range. We did not, we had one personal foul penalty and it was a face mask penalty. If we have that, we have that, that was an effort play. Let’s not, let’s not have any dumb penalties, right? The dumb penalties are the ones we have to avoid. We had three defensive offside penalties in at the end of the game last year. That was insane. And we have to avoid that. And we had some… we probably had the most non-penalties that I’ve ever been a part of in a game last year. And that obviously was a big factor in the loss as well. So we recognize that, we’ve talked to our team about that, and we’re hopefully going to do everything we possibly can to quit it.”

The Huskies have been better so far this season at limiting penalties. Fisch likes the discipline he has seen from his team and hopes they continue to avoid penalties in Saturday’s game. He knows that for his team to win, they need to avoid letting their emotions get the best of them in an emotional game. Emotions run high in rivalry games and Fisch was asked about Taariq “Buddah” Al-Uqdah’s. The former Cougar is now the Huskies starting linebacker

“Yeah, yeah, we talked about it. We’ll talk again. I think that’s an interesting part of what we’re dealing with now, with the portal and with some of these changes. You know college football is completely different than it once was. And a lot of the old ideas and the way things were are not the same. But we’ll just talk to him about he’s a Husky, and that’s what he is right now. And he was a Cougar, and now he’s a Husky, and his job is to represent the University of Washington in the best possible way he can. And that’s on the field playing with great effort, that’s being disciplined, that’s being smart, it’s making a lot of tackles, it’s being a great communicator, and that’s hopefully at the end of the game celebrating a victory.”

Fisch understands his linebacker is going to feel different emotions playing against his former team. Fisch is hoping Al-Uqdah will be focused on the task and in a comfortable headspace going into Saturday’s game.

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