The Washington Huskies football team is set to begin this season in the Apple Cup against in-state rivals, the Washington State Cougars, at 1 p.m. PT on Sept. 6 at Husky Stadium in Seattle.
The Huskies will begin the season ranked 17th in the Associated Press Top 25 poll and will look to build up quality wins before it gets into the thick of Big Ten play, which includes five conference foes ranked in the AP Top 25 poll.
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The non-conference schedule will be good for building wins and confidence before it takes on other Big Ten programs. The nonconference schedule includes the Apple Cup against the Cougars, a showdown against Utah State on Sept. 12 and a final nonconference showdown against Eastern Washington on Sept. 19.
In what could prove to be a positive (or negative) for Washington, it now knows what quarterback will be taking snaps for Washington State.
According to a post on “X” from On3 Sports reporter Pete Nakos, the Cougars have named Caden Pinnick as their starting quarterback.
Pinnick earned the starting job after transferring to Washington State after a stellar year at Football Championship Subdivision (FCS)-side UC Davis.
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While with the Aggies last year, Pinnick completed 69.6% of his passes for 3,206 yards, 32 touchdowns and 10 interceptions. He added another 437 yards and three touchdowns rushing.
UC Davis finished 9-4 overall (6-2 in Big Sky play) and third in the conference behind last year’s FCS national champions Montana State (14-2; 8-0) and Montana (13-2; 7-1).
Usually, going against a quarterback that spent an entire season at a different level could provide something of a disadvantage for a team. However, the Huskies have experience playing Pinnick and doing well against him.
One of UC Davis’ four losses last season came against Washington in a Week 2 game for the latter. The Huskies prevailed in that game 70-10 in the most lopsided victory of the season for UW and Pinnick struggled. The now-Cougar finished 8-for-16 for 50 yards, one touchdown and one interception and was sacked twice. He ran six times for 17 yards.
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Returning third-year Washington quarterback Demond Williams Jr. finished that game 16-for-25 for 254 yards and a touchdown through the air and added another 64 yards and a score on the ground. Running back Jonah Coleman, who’s since been drafted to the NFL’s Denver Broncos, ran 15 times for 111 yards and five touchdowns.
