Huskies Have Been Chronic Slow Starters For A Month

No hurry on getting to Saturday's University of Washington-Illinois football game on time.

The way things have been going, the Huskies have been a little tardy themselves in showing up for each of their past four outings, too.

For a month now, Jedd Fisch's guys, operating on offensive directives from the man himself, haven't scored in the first quarter.

Zip. Nada. Zilch.

Against Ohio State, Maryland, Rutgers and Michigan, the Huskies have laid the proverbial goose egg over the first 15 minutes of each game.

Tbe Huskies haven't scored any opening quarter points since the Apple Cup, when Demond Williams Jr. ran for a 23-yard touchdown with 3:47 left to provide the UW with a 14-0 lead in an eventual 59-24 victory over Washington State.

The UW hasn't scored a first-period TD at home since Jonah Coleman provided a couple of six-pointers to open a 70-10 victory over UC Davis.

That was 48 days ago.

It's like trying to wake the Huskies, get them out of bed and off to class and not making anything happen there.

However, Fisch says he's not all that concerned.

"You'd always love to start fast and finish strong," he said. "But we talk to our team and tell them you don't win games in the first quarter or the second quarter or the third quarter or the fourth quarter. The games are decided at the end of the game."

At the same time, the Huskies continually find themselves behind -- in three of those past four outings -- and needing to play catch up.

Against both Maryland and Rutgers, the UW has emerged from the first quarter down 10-0, with that deficit growing to 20-0 by the third quarter against the Terrapins before successful comebacks were launched.

"We'd love to start faster," Husky offensive coordinator Jimmie Dougherty said. "It's something we talk about. ... It's something we're always going to try to fix and correct, and you don't just throw your hands up."

Heading into Saturday's game against Illinois (5-2 overall, 2-2 Big Ten), the Huskies (5-2, 2-2) have been outscored 37-35 in the opening quarter.

Considering the poor weather in the Seattle forecast, it might be hard to score period in this game, not just in the opening quarter.

If the game is played in a downpour, the Huskies might have to keep things simple and predominantly on the ground with Jonah Coleman, and see if that will get them an early score.

They're way overdue.

"No doubt, we're looking to start faster this week," Dougherty said.

If not, fans can just enjoy their tailgating a little longer, under umbrellas, of course.

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