By Danny Williams Posted on

Washington defense shines in 24-10 Apple Cup Victory

The 17th-ranked Washington Huskies ( 1-0) sleepwalked through the first three quarters of the Dawgs’ game against Apple Cup Rivals Washington State Cougars (0-1) . That is the PG-rated version of how the Huskies performed in front of a sellout crowd at Husky Stadium

Luckily for Husky Nation, the defense came out of the gate locked in and ready to rumble. The Dawgs defense forced three turnovers en route to another Apple Cup Victory over the Cougars

“Good teams win games like that,” safety Alex McLaughlin said.

INEPT EXECUTION

Where does one even begin? After the final whistle, Washington’s offensive numbers look respectable: 402 total yards and 6.3 yards per play. But for those three quarters, the Husky offense shot itself in the foot so many times it had placed itself on the donor registry. Thanks were that bad.

Washington racked up 12 penalties for 130 costly yards. One particular drive encapsulates how debilitating the penalties were. Washington marched down the field to the Washington State 13-yard line. From there, Washington committed the following penalties: an incomplete pass, a delay of game, and a second holding penalty. The results of the self inflicted wounds resulted in 1st and 10 at the 13-yard line, to a 3rd and 28 at the 31-yard line. Placekicker Tyler Robles drilled a 48-yard field goal to give the Huskies an early 3- 0 lead and breathe life into a bewildered Husky Nation

“We have to clean up our penalties; it kind of reminds me of year one in that Apple Cup [in 2024] where we had a ton of penalties, so not happy about that,” head coach Jedd Fisch said in his post game press conference.

WASTED OPPORTUNITIES

The Dawgs finally found their way to the end zone on a Demond Williams scramble with 10:18 left in the first half to make the score 10-0. On UW’s next drive Robles inexplicably missed a 29-yard field goal try. The misery continued for the Huskies. On the last drive of the half, the Huskies found themselves in a 4th and one at the one-yard line. Fisch opted for a handoff from the shotgun. Running back Jayden Limar was promptly stuffed, and the Huskies hustled to the locker room wondering what could have been.

STRONG START

Fortunately for Washington, it received the ball to start the second half, giving it an opportunity to correct some mistakes and put points on the board. Mere wishful thinking for a struggling offense. The Huskies immediately started the drive with a delay-of-game penalty that led to a three-and-out.

The Huskies continued to meddle around on offense for the rest of the quarter and found themselves in the same spot they were at the half, clinging to a 10-0 lead.

COUGARS MAKE A GAME OF IT

Washington State officially made it a game with a 9-play, 62-yard scoring drive capped with an 11-yard touchdown scamper from WSU quarterback Caden Pinnick. The scoring drive by the Cougars’ offense breathed fire into a offense that wanted whatever the Cougars’ offense was having.

Washington’s next drive lasted all of four plays in 2:05. Receivers Chris Lawson and Rashid Williams hauled in 29- and 44-yard receptions, respectively, and Williams ended the drive with a one-yard touchdown grab.

COUGARS RESPONDS

The game turned into a party for the offenses. The Cougars rejoined the celebrations with a field goal, but it was too little, too late . The Washington offense went full steam ahead once again. For a second, however, it looked as if this drive would go into the “ruined by penalties” pile after left tackle Kodi Greene committed a false start.

Williams and the Husky offense were not to be denied. The elusive signal caller evaded pressure and scampered for a 21-yard gain on a third and nine. On the next play, Jordon Limar galloped 11 yards into the end zone, giving Washington up 24-10. With a two-possession lead, the players could feel the Apple Cup Trophy touch their fingertips.

Defense

While the offense looked like it woke up in a panic by its alarm, the defense looked like it had been up for hours, twitching, waiting to knock pads. In short, the defense was spectacular. The Dawgs defense held WSU to 242 yards and 0-11 on third down. Washington recorded three sacks and eight tackles for loss. The only knock on a stellar day from Ryan Walters’ unit was that at times, it was a little too amped up.

Safety Rylon Dillard-Allen committed three 15-yard unsportsmanlike conduct penalties: one on a kick-catch interference, one on a late hit out of bounds, and the third and biggest, a targeting call that took away a forced fumble from freshman Ramzak Fruean. Luckily for Dillard-Allen, his teammates stepped up and held the Washington State offense to just three points on all three drives.

“We have to be more disciplined, the late hits, the unsportsmanlike conducts, stuff like that, that’s hurting us, we were shooting ourselves in the foot,” linebacker Jacob Manu said. “We have to take accountability and watch film and keep working on it.”

QUICK TAKEAWAYS

Without the defense playing lights out, Washington would have almost certainly seen the Apple Cup make its way north to Pullman. Instead, the defense played almost a perfect game and kept the trophy nice and snug in the Husky Stadium home locker room.

When the offense was floundering in the first half, the defense stepped up and set UW up for its first score. Freshman nickelback Jeron Jones recorded his first career interception and put his offense in prime position at the WSU 21-yard line.

On the very next WSU drive, defensive end Isaiah Ward forced a fumble and set the offense up in prime position once again. This time, however, led to no points on the missed field goal from Robles.

The biggest takeaway in the game came in the fourth quarter. With Washington up 14, McLaughlin picked off Pinnick and put a stamp on a dazling all-around performance from the Washington defense.

“Before we went out there [the coaches] told us if we get a turnover, just to go down, so when I got it, it definitely crossed my mind to take it back to the endzone,” McLaughlin said. “But we appreciate situational football here so much, I just had to secure the win and go down.”

Special Teams

Robles made one of two field goals and all three extra points. The real hero of the day on special teams was punter Hunter Greene. Greene routinely bombed balls that kept the WSU offense backed up. Greene had two punts go inside the 20 yard-line and had two punts over 50 net-yards.

“You look at the way Hunter punted the ball today; that made a huge difference in our game,” Fisch said.

In his first year as the return man, Rayshawn Clark made the most of his opportunities. Clark returned a kickoff for 31 yards and a punt for 27 yards. Clark’s punt return turned into three points and his kick return turned into a touchdown.

Washington had a poor special-teams unit in 2025, to put it mildly, so to see impact plays on the often-forgotten third phase of the game is a key sign moving forward, especially if the offense continues to sputter.

Up Next

Next up for Washington is Utah State (0-1) on Saturday, September 12 at 12:30 p.m. The game will air on the Big Ten Network.

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