Inside The Huskies

Husky History of Playing Friday Night Lights Games

The UW previously has kicked off 42 times before the weekend begins.
Dan Raley|
Husky Stadium at night is quite a spectacle.
Husky Stadium at night is quite a spectacle. | Skylar Lin Visuals

Friday night football always was the recognized domain of high school teams before the college game felt compelled to expand its interests.

Initially, universities occasionally played only bowl games, war-time contests and turn of the century outings 100 years ago on Fridays.

Well, not anymore.

Everyone wants a piece of Friday Night Lights these days.

Doesn't everybody have a fullback named Tim Riggins, a quarterback named Matt Saracen, a coach who answers to Eric Taylor and fans called Tyra and Lila cheering in the stands or on the sideline?

This Friday at 6 p.m., the University of Washington (4-1 overall, 1-1 Big Ten) will host Rutgers (3-2, 0-2) at Husky Stadium in a game televised by FS1, with this encounter coming a year after the Scarlet Knights welcomed the Huskies to Piscataway, New Jersey, for a Friday night tussle and beat them 21-18.

This will mark the 43rd game in UW football annals played on Friday and the Huskies hold a 23-18-1 all-time record for match-ups played on that day.

Huskies running back Jonah Coleman (1) scores a touchdown against UCLA in last year's 31-19 victory on a Friday night.
Huskies running back Jonah Coleman (1) scores a touchdown against UCLA in last year's 31-19 victory on a Friday night. | Steven Bisig-Imagn Images

Since 2015, the UW typically has played one a year on Friday.

In 2013, when Steve Sarkisian was coach or at least for most of that season, the Huskies suited up for three Friday games against UCLA, Washington State and BYU.

They have played Washington State nine times on Fridays and won six and tied once.

They've been part of 10 bowl games played on Fridays, including five of their Rose Bowl match-ups.

They played three Pac-12 championship games on Friday against Colorado, Utah and Oregon in the Bay Area and in Las Vegas.

No sure thing, the Huskies have lost three of their past six games on Fridays.

The UW played its first Friday game in 1893 against Stanford and lost 40-0 in West Seattle; 123 years later, the Huskies hosted the Cardinals and whipped them 44-6 in Montlake. They're 1-3 against Stanford on Fridays.

They went more than 40 years and played just one Friday game -- from 1940 to 1982, when they lined up on that day for the 1960 Rose Bowl against Wisconsin, a 44-8 victory.

In 2007, the Huskies began playing Friday games for reasons other than a bowl game, war-time concerns or program pioneer days because the TV networks now demanded it.

For the third time in nine seasons, the UW and Rutgers will meet on a Friday. The Huskies won in 2017 in New Jersey, taking a 30-14 victory, before last year's stumble in Piscataway.

The best thing about playing on a Friday night is the Huskies will get Saturday off without needing a bye week to make that happen.

HUSKY FRIDAY NIGHT LIGHTS

Dec. 29, 1893 -- Stanford 40, at UW 0

Nov. 30, 1900 -- at UW 5, WSU 5

Oct. 30, 1903 -- UW 10, at WSU 0

Nov. 26, 1915 -- UW 46, Colorado 0

Nov. 28, 1919 -- at UW 7, California 0

Nov. 5, 1920 -- Stanford 3, at UW 0

Nov. 12, 1920 -- at Oregon 17, UW 0

Jan. 1, 1926 -- Alabama 20, UW 19

Rose Bowl

Jan. 1, 1937 -- Pittsburgh 21, UW 0

Rose Bowl

Sept. 27, 1940 -- at Minnesota 14, UW 6

Jan. 1, 1960 -- UW 44, Wisconsin 8

Rose Bowl

Jan. 1, 1982 -- UW 28, Iowa 0

Rose Bowl

Jan. 1, 1993 -- Michigan 38, UW 31

Rose Bowl

Dec. 29, 1995 -- Iowa 38, UW 18

Sun Bowl

Dec. 25, 1998 -- Air Force 45, UW 25

Oahu Bowl

Dec. 28, 2001 -- Texas 47, UW 43

Holiday Bowl

Aug. 3, 2007 -- UW 42, at Syracuse 12

Nov. 2, 2012 -- UW 21, at California 13

Nov. 23, 2012 -- at WSU 31, UW 28 (OT)

Nov. 15, 2013 -- at UCLA 41, UW 31

Nov. 29, 2013 -- at UW 27, WSU 17

Dec. 27, 2013 -- UW 31, BYU 16

Fight Hunger Bowl

Jan. 2, 2015 -- Oklahoma State 30, UW 22

Cactus Bowl

Sept. 4, 2015 -- at Boise State 16, UW 13

Oct. 8, 2015 -- UW 17, at USC 12

Nov. 27, 2015 -- UW 45, WSU 10

Sept. 30, 2016 -- at UW 44, Stanford 6

Nov. 25, 2016 -- UW 45, at WSU 17

Dec. 2, 2016 -- UW 41, Colorado 10

Pac-12 title game

Sept. 1, 2017 -- UW 30, at Rutgers 14

Nov. 10, 2017 -- at Stanford 30, UW 22

Nov. 23, 2018 -- UW 28, at WSU 15

Nov. 30, 2018 -- UW 10, Utah 3

Pac-12 title game

Nov. 8, 2019 -- UW 19, at Oregon State 7

Nov. 29, 2019 -- at UW 31, WSU 13

Oct. 22, 2021 -- UW 21, at Arizona 16

Nov. 26, 2021 -- WSU 40, at UW 13

Sept. 30, 2022 -- at UCLA 40, UW 32

Nov. 4, 2022 -- at UW 24, OSU 21

Dec. 1, 2023 -- UW 34, Oregon 31

Pac-12 title game

Sept. 27, 2024 --- at Rutgers 21, UW 18

Nov. 15, 2024 -- at UW 31, UCLA 19

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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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