Husky Offense Can't Be Stopped in Apple Cup Rout

PULLMAN, Washington -- The 117th Apple Cup began with a sack of Demond Williams, a naked-to-the-Eastern-Washington-wind, fully-exposed hit and an 8-yard loss.

That might have been the only real defense played on Saturday early on in Martin Stadium, as the University of Washington football team and host Washington State engaged in a shootout for three quarters before the Huskies finally asserted themselves in the final period for a convincing 59 -24 victory.

While the often high-powered UW offensive unit did a quick reset after nearly having their quarterback decapitated -- by scoring a touchdown on its first three possessions, and on 12 consecutive drives over two games -- the defense was a bit of a concern at times.

The Huskies (3-0) definitely have some work to do on that side of the ball before facing No. 1-ranked and defending national champion Ohio State (3-0) next Saturday in Seattle.

The good news is junior safety Alex McLaughlin, the Northern Arizona transfer, had a pair of interceptions, including a 47-yard touchdown runback to finally create real separation in this Palouse point fest.

The bad news for the defense initially sounds grim. Two plays before the pick-6, junior linebacker Buddha Al-Uqdah, the former Cougar turned Husky, was helped from the field favoring a knee and limped off.

"It didn't look good," UW coach Jedd Fisch said ominiously of his defensive leader.

Still, the Huskies had a lot of positive things to take home with them. They scored on nine of 10 offensive possessions until taking a knee to end the game. They pushed their Apple Cup record to 77-34-6. They avenged last season's 24-19 loss to WSU in Seattle. Their 59 points was a series record. They piled up 471 yards of offense. And Fisch gained his first road win at Washington.

The Cougars (2-2) couldn't handle the UW's big three: running back Jonah Coleman scored 3 touchdowns, giving him 10 for the season; wide receiver Denzel Boston caught a pair of scoring passes; and Williams accounted for 4 touchdowns, three passing and one running.

"The offense had a real dominant game and we've got to keep it going," Williams said in the postgame.

Jonah Coleman had another big day in Pullman. | Dave Sizer photo

The speedy Husky signal-caller got loose for runs of 26, 23 and 26 yards all in the first half. He finished with a game-high 88 yards rushing on 13 carries.

After picking himself up off the turf after that first welcome-to-Pullman play, Williams hit Boston with a 25-yard gainer on the next snap. He broke a 12-yard run to get the ball close. He found Boston in the left corner of the end zone, with the wideout snatching the ball away from a Cougars defender.

It took nine plays to cover 75 yards. It took just over four minutes. It took something out of the sell-out crowd.

"It's all resiliency," Williams said. "The offense, nobody wavered. Nobody batted an eye on a negative play, especially on the first play. The next play we had a 25-yard reception. It was us as an offense continuing to succeed."

On their first possession, the Cougars gave the ball right back. New starting quarterback Zevi Eckhaus got hit by UW edge rusher Zach Durfee as he let go of a pass, linebacker Devin Bryant deflected it and McLaughlin intercepted it and returned 26 yards to the Husky 47.

Five plays later, the UW went up 14-0 when Williams broke two of his long runs, with his 23-yard touchdown sprint coming when he ran through a huge hole over the right side and up the sideline without a Cougar defender anywhere near him. The clock said 3:47 left in the opening quarter.

WSU finally got something going when Eckhaus, under another heavy rush supplied by Durfee, threw a 16-yard touchdown pass to wide-open tight end Beau Baker.

Former Cougar linebacker Buddah Al-Uqdah shares in a UW tackle with safety Alex McLaughlin. | Dave Sizer photo

The bad news for the Cougars is they had to go back out on defense.

The Huskies went 75 yards in just four plays this time, with Coleman going 45 yards with a flat pass, taking a blow to enable Adam Mohammed to rush for 16 yards and coming back in to bull his way into the end zone. He broke two tackles to score his eighth touchdown.

Coleman finished with 59 yards rushing on 12 carries and caught 6 passes for 106 yards, with his 3 touchdowns matching his previous total on a visit to WSU in 2023.

To close the half, the teams traded field goals, with Grady Gross sending a career-best 51-yarder through the uprights right with 25 seconds on the clock while WSU's Jack Stevens earlier connected on one 15 yards shorter.

Demond Williams Jr. launches an Apple Cup pass. | Dave Sizer photo

WSU came out of the break and took advantage of the sometimes porous Husky defense by moving 75 yards in seven plays for Devin Ellison's 8-yard TD catch.

The Huskies responded with a 5-play, 64-yard drive on Coleman's 2-yard TD run for a 14-point lead.

Back WSU came to cut the score to 31-24 on Eckhaus' 1-yard TD plunge with 2:38 left in the third quarter.

And then everything came unraveled for the Cougars, who gave 59 points for the second Saturday in a row.

Williams threw a 7-yard touchdown pass to Boston, who beat safety Duhron Goodman and had words with him as they were leaving the end zone. The Huskies led 38-24 with 12:49 left to play. Boston would finiish with 6 catches for 107 yards.

Seven plays later, McLaughlin had an Eckhaus pass come to him and nobody was near him when he scored for a 45-24 lead.

"I was guarding my man and looked up and saw the ball and saw nothing but green," the former All-Big Sky selection said. "So I just ran straight and scored."

The Huskies tacked on two more touchdowns with Coleman taking a pass on a third-and-16 situation and scoring from 34 yards out and Penn State transfer Omari Green catching a 59-yard scoring pass with 2:40 left. It was Green's first game as a Husky.

That gave the Huskies 129 points in two games and a 167 for the season, or a 55.6-point scoring average. Ohio State might blanche a little at that.

"We just like to score when we have the ball," Fisch said.

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