Inside The Huskies

UW vs. OSU: It's Been 102 Years Since Husky Football Started This Late

The University of Washington team had to navigate another pandemic and face Oregon State way back when. The similarities are sort of haunting.
Dan Raley|
UW vs. OSU: It's Been 102 Years Since Husky Football Started This Late
UW vs. OSU: It's Been 102 Years Since Husky Football Started This Late

The latest starting University of Washington football season in 102 years kicks off tonight, late of course.

At 8 p.m. 

In a cold and empty Husky Stadium.

The last time UW football fans waited this long for somebody to pull on a purple shirt and tackle someone with a game on the line, a deadly flu pandemic was raging through the country.

Imagine that. 

It was even worse than that.

World War I ended 12 days before.

On Nov. 23, 1918, a patched-together Husky team hosted Oregon State in its opener — the first of just two games held that season — and beat the Beavers 6-0 in front of 3,000 satisfied fans in Seattle.

A century later, the UW and OSU get together again under an ominous cloud.

The Beavers have had COVID-19 thin its roster some, stripping away four players to a positive virus test and contact tracing and quarantining, and forcing them to stay home.

As for the Huskies' health, coach Jimmy Lake says, "We're good to go."

While there won't be any fans by Pac-12 mandate, there are plenty of storylines. 

Lake will make his head-coaching debut, an emotional moment for him whether he recognizes it publicly or not. 

This marks and extends the most confusing UW quarterback situation in decades, with four players given a legitimate shot at winning the starting job.

Unless the early intel is all wrong, expect to see Sacramento State transfer Kevin Thomson take the first snaps. 

But only as a partial winner of the competition. 

Expect to see Jacob Sirmon, last year's and possibly this year's back-up QB, trot onto the field in the first half for a series or two. And maybe more. 

Looking for some fun, watch the biggest Husky offensive line in school history break from the huddle and run a few plays. 

Pancakes anyone?

Put these five beefy boys on a scale together and the needle won't stop until it hits somewhere around 1,625 pounds.

Depending on what these guys eat for breakfast and lunch on Saturday, that's 324 pounds per man, with Jaxson Kirkland having put a few pounds back on after losing nearly 30 and is tipping maybe 305 now.

Last year's UW team had to replace almost its entire defense. This season, it's just a third of those guys.

Inside linebacker, continually exposed in 2019 and that team's biggest weakness, should be in much better hands with Edefuan Ulofoshio and Jackson Sirmon. They're sophomores with plenty of experience, great instincts and sufficient talent. Hey, they both might be NFL guys some day.

Senior defensive tackle Josiah Bronson, back for a sixth college football season at the UW and elsewhere, is ready. 

Sophomore defensive tackle Tuli Letuligasenoa, with his low center of gravity and certain amount of feistiness, should be an able replacement for the departed Levi Onwuzurike. If nothing else, he has a longer name. 

Sophomore outside linebacker Laiatu Latu is expected to be able to step right in for the long- gone Joe Tryon with little or no drop-off.

Yet if Latu is not quite up to the job yet, look for the Huskies' top freshman, Sav'ell Smalls, to burst onto the scene and become an edge-rushing presence. He'll make his debut no matter what.  

The Huskies appear to have able bodies throughout the rest of the lineup.

Running backs. Check.

Wide receivers. Check.

Secondary. Check, check.

Quarterback, as inside linebackers were the previous season, remains the huge question mark. 

With that monstrous line, though, this new guy won't have to do much more than hand off.

Football is back in Montlake. 

Finally. 

Make no mistake, these are weird times.

After all, the season is just getting started — and the Apple Cup is fewer than two weeks away.

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Dan Raley
DAN RALEY

Dan Raley has worked for the Seattle Post-Intelligencer, Atlanta Journal-Constitution and Fairbanks Daily News-Miner, as well as for MSN.com and Boeing, the latter as a global aerospace writer. His sportswriting career spans four decades and he's covered University of Washington football and basketball during much of that time. In a working capacity, he's been to the Super Bowl, the NBA Finals, the MLB playoffs, the Masters, the U.S. Open, the PGA Championship and countless Final Fours and bowl games.

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