Inside The Huskies

Huskies Reportedly Will Fill Out 2026 Schedule With Utah State

The Aggies will become a new Pac-12 member beginning next season.
Dan Raley|
UW students show their appreciation for quarterback Demond Williams Jr. at the Ohio State game.
UW students show their appreciation for quarterback Demond Williams Jr. at the Ohio State game. | Dave Sizer photo

The schools have made no official pronouncement, but the University of Washington apparently will complete its 2026 football schedule with a non-conference game against Utah State -- as it becomes a Pac-12 member -- on September 12 at Husky Stadium.

An outfit called FBSchedules.com disclosed this information through a public records request with the UW, it said in an online posting. The Huskies will pay the Aggies a $1.5 million guarantee for the game, according to the contract as viewed by the site.

This means the Huskies will open with Washington State and the Apple Cup in their season opener at home on Sept. 5, followed by the Utah State home outing and yet a third home game against Eastern Washington on Sept. 19, before entering Big Ten play.

In conference action, the UW will host Indiana, Iowa, Minnesota, and Penn State next year in Seattle, giving Jedd Fisch's team seven home games in all, and travel to Michigan State, Nebraska, Oregon, Purdue, and USC.

Utah State, currently of the Mountain West Conference, has come off a 4-8 season in 2024 to win three of five games this fall under new coach Bronco Mendenhall.

The Aggies have beaten UTEP 28-16, Air Force 49-30 and McNeese State 48-7 while losing to Texas A&M 44-22 and Vanderbilt 55-35.

Mendenhall comes to Logan, Utah, after spending the 2024 season at New Mexico, coaching six years at Virginia and 11 at BYU.

The Huskies know Mendenhall fairly well. He was an Oregon State safety in 1986 and 1987, serving as team captain as a senior, while losing twice to the UW, both by 28-12 scores.

As the BYU coach, Mendenhall twice beat the Huskies, 28-27 in Seattle in 2008 when the UW went 0-12 and 23-17 in Provo in 2010 against a Steve Sarkisian-coached team.

The Huskies defeated Mendenhall's BYU team 31-16 in the Fight Hunger Bowl in San Francisco, in a game in which Marques Tuiasosopo served as UW interim coach because Sarkisian had taken the USC coaching job.

The UW and Utah State have met just three times in football, with the Huskies winning each time in Seattle, over 121 years.

In 1904, the UW won 45-0; in 1998, it prevailed 53-12, and in 2015, it took a 31-17 victory.

Next year, Utah State will be part of the newly reconfigured Pac-12 that also will consist of Boise, State, Colorado State, Fresno State, Oregon State, San Diego State, Texas State and Washington State.

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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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