Huskies Set For Visit From Sun Devils

THE GAME: The Washington football team (4-5 overall, 3-3 Pac-12) plays its second consecutive home game as Arizona State (6-3, 4-2) comes to Alaska Airlines Field at Husky Stadium this Saturday, Nov. 13. Kickoff is 4:00 p.m. and the game will air on FS1 television. Following the UW-ASU game, the Huskies will head to Boulder for their final road game of the season, Nov. 20 at Colorado. The regular season wraps up the day after Thanksgiving with the Boeing Apple Cup vs. Washington State, in Seattle.
 
QUICK HITTERS: Washington leads the Pac-12 in first downs allowed, passing yards allowed, pass efficiency defense, and scoring defense; and is second in total defense ... UW is the only FBS program that has scored in every red-zone opportunity this season ... the Huskies have scored 17 touchdowns and nine field goals in 26 trips inside the opponent's 20-yard line this season ... UW is one of just seven teams that has allowed three or fewer scrimmage plays of 40 or more yards this season ... just two teams (Arizona State, 1; Colorado & Georgia, 2) have allowed fewer ... UW is tied with Georgia and Oregon for fewest 30-plus yard plays allowed, with seven ... Washington is the only team that has yet to allow a pass play of 40 or more yards, and leads the nation in 30-plus-yard pass plays allowed,with three ... Race Porter is currently No. 3 the Pac-12 (7th in NCAA-FBS) with his 47.2-yard punt average, which is 1.6 yards ahead of pace for the UW single-season school record (45.6) ... 44 members of the current UW roster have started at least one game for the Huskies ... 107 of the 124 players on the UW roster are freshmen or sophomores ... 77 are freshmen ... just five true (first-year) freshmen have played this season for the Huskies: DLs Kuao Peihopa and Voi Tunuufi, QB Sam Huard, WR Jabez Tinae, and DB Davon Banks ... UW has gone 84 games in a row without allowing an opponent to score more than 35 points, easily the longest such streak in the nation.
 
TELEVISION: The Washington-ASU game will air on FS1 television, with Dan Hellie (play by play) and Petros Papadakis (analyst) calling the action.
 
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 950 KJR with "Husky Gameday" live from The Zone for Husky home games. Statewide coverage on the 15-station Washington Sports Network begins two hours before kickoff. The entire broadcast is available worldwide on the Huskies Gameday mobile app and on GoHuskies.com. The UW broadcast of the game will also air on Sirius channel 158, XM channel 197, or 959 (app). 
 
HUSKIES vs. DEVILS HISTORY: Arizona State leads the all-time series against the Huskies, 19-17. At one point, the UW led the series 15-8, but ASU has had the better of it in recent years, winning 11 of the last 13.
 
The two teams haven'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: Thanks in part to the extended eligibility that resulted from the pandemic, Washington's 2021 roster is remarkable for both its youth and its experience, all at once. Washington returns 10 starters on offense and eight on defense, along with returning "starters" at kicker (both FG/PAT and kickoff), punter, holder and long snapper. Those numbers are all higher than average. What's more, the roster includes 17 individuals who have started at least one game on offense, and 13 on defense. All totaled, those 29 players (one of them, Alex Cook, has started on offense and defense) have started 212 games (129 on offense, 83 on defense). 
 
All that said, the UW roster includes just six players in their final year of available eligibility: P Race Porter, OLB Ryan Bowman, QB Patrick O'Brien, C Luke Wattenberg, and TBs Sean McGrew and Kamari Pleasant. Of the 126 players on the current roster, 78 are listed as freshmen (56) or redshirt freshmen (22), while 31 more are sophomores. That means that 109 of 126 players (86.5 percent) have three or more years of eligibility remaining, entering the 2021 season. The roster includes just 11 juniors, five seniors and one grad transfer.
 
OPPONENTS 35-AND-UNDER: Washington hasn't allowed an opponent to score more than 35 points in a game since a 44-30 loss at UCLA in 2014. That's a streak of 84 games in a row that the Huskies' opponent has failed to score more than 35. In that 84-game stretch, Husky foes have scored 30 or more just 13 times (of those 13, five were exactly 30 points) and have been held to 14 or fewer points 32 times. In that same span of 84 games, the UW has scored more than 35 points on 31 occasions. No other team in the FBS has a current streak longer than 43 games (San Diego State).
 
DEFENSE vs. BIG PLAYS: Last year (albeit in only four games), Washington's defense allowed just one play from scrimmage for more than 40 yards, tied for fewest in the nation. In 2019, the Huskies gave up just seven such plays of 40 or more yards, the eighth-lowest total (tied) in FBS. The median for 40-plus yard plays allowed in 2019 was 14. Also in 2019, the Huskies allowed just two plays over 50 yards, the third-lowest (tied) total (the median was seven). The year before, the Huskies gave up just ONE scrimmage play of 40 or more yards all season. No other FBS team allowed fewer than four and 102 teams allowed 10 or more that year. In 2017, the UW also led the nation with fewest 40-yard scrimmage plays allowed (3) and were second in fewest 30-yard plays (14). They were tied for 5th and 2nd, respectively, in 2016. Washington has allowed three plays longer than 40 yards in nine games during the 2021 season. Only three FBS team has allowed fewer (Arizona State, 1; Georgia & Colorado, 2).
 
THE PAC-12: Prior to the 2011 season, the Pac-10 Conference added Utah and Colorado to expand to the Pac-12. Washington, which along with California is one of two schools who have been in the conference since its founding in 1915, plays in the Pac-12 North, along with the other three Northwest schools (Oregon, OSU, WSU) and Stanford and Cal. Under the current system, each school plays all five division rivals, plus four of six teams in the other division each season. The first two seasons, the Huskies did not face UCLA or Arizona State. In 2013 and 14, the Huskies didn't play Utah or USC. In 2015 in 2016, neither UCLA nor Colorado were on the UW schedule, while the Huskies didn't face USC and Arizona in 2017 or 2018. The 2019 season marked the start of a new cycle, moving the rotation back to where it started. Therefore, the Huskies 2019 and 2020 scheduled did not include UCLA and Arizona State. In 2021 and 2002, Washington will not play USC and Utah.
 
HUSKY STADIUM RENOVATION: Husky Stadium underwent a major renovation over from Nov., 2011, through Aug., 2013, as the entire lower bowl and south upper deck were demolished and replaced. The new facility features a new, state-of-the-art football operations center (weight room, training room, locker room, meeting rooms, coaches' offices) in the west end, much more premium seating options and a new playing surface. Husky Stadium had featured a track up until 2011, so seats that were once far from the field, particularly in the west end, are much closer to the action. UW is 43-15 at home since the re-opening of Husky Stadium.
 
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 2021 season marks the 101st 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 399-184-21 (.678).