Huskies Make House Call, Hoping for Memorable Visit

The Big House.

It describes a place more formally known as Michigan Stadium.

Largest college football facility in the country.

Home to the University of Michigan.

So nicknamed by legendary and late college football broadcaster Keith Jackson, a guy who once served as the play-by-play radio announcer for University of Washington games.

On Saturday, the Wolverines and Huskies will see who's up to the task of playing with a lot of eyeballs on them when they meet in this 107,601-seat epic place, which is about 45 minutes west of Detroit.

"It's aweome, it's an awesome place," UW coach Jedd Fisch said. "It's super cool they sell out every game. They have unbelievable energy."

Fisch would know this first-hand after coaching at Michigan for Jim Harbaugh in 2015 and 2016, serving as quarterbacks coach, wide-receivers coach and passing-game coordinator.

"You know when you go on the road, especially to some of these stadiums where it's 100,000-plus, it's different," UW offensive coordinator Jimmie Dougherty said.

Dougherty would know this because he was a Wolverines' offensive analyst in 2016, working alongside Harbaugh and Fisch.

A Michigan spirit team member celebrates a touchdown against Ohio State at the Big House in 2021. | Junfu Han/Detroit Free Press / USA TODAY NETWORK

"It's unique in the fact that it's one tunnel in the middle of the field," he said. "Both teams come out of that tunnel."

Husky offensive-line coach Michael Switzer would know all about this, too, after working at Michigan as both a graduate assistant and an offensive analyst in 2014-16, first for coach Brady Hoke and then for Harbaugh.

On the UW's 103-man roster, sixth-year senior safety Makell Esteen is the only guy who has played in the Big House as a Husky, experiencing it in 2021 when the Jimmy Lake-coached Huskies lost 31-10.

The only other player on the team who has experienced Michigan Stadium up close is sophomore tight Kade Eldridge, who played there 13 months ago for USC and lost 27-24.

The Huskies also have a former Michigan man on their roster in sophomore edge rusher Hayden Moore, who spent the 2023 season with the Wolverines, but he redshirted as a freshman and never appeared in a game for the Maize and Blue before transferring.

The UW's Richard Newton is tackled by Michigan's R.J. Moten (6), Christopher Hinton (15) and Junior Colson (25) in 2021. | Rick Osentoski-Imagn Images

The UW has won just once at Michigan Stadium in five visits, with the breakthrough coming when a Don James-coached team took a 20-11 in 1984 before a crowd of 103,072.

Mark Pattison, who oversees the Sports Illustrated network of websites, including this one, was a Husky wide receiver who had a 73-yard touchdown catch that day.

On the other side was Harbaugh, then the Michigan quarterback, who suffered through a 17-for-37 passing day with 3 interceptions.

One of the pass thefts ended up in the hands of UW safety Jimmy Rodgers, who also drew a late hit on Harbaugh way out of bounds and had Wolverines coach Bo Schembechler in his face calling him every expletive imaginable.

So a big win at the Big House can be done and Fisch, who knows the place well, is hopeful his Huskies will be in the right frame of mind.

"I really believe our team will show up and be fired up," the UW coach said.

The iconic Jackson, who was 89 when he died in 2018, coined the name the Big House during the 1980s while working for ABC-TV and broadcasting one epic game after another.

Two decades before, Jackson was living in the Seattle area and working for KOMO-TV and radio, when play-by-play coverage of the Huskies was part of his job.

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