Washington Runs Away From Boise State at Final LA Bowl
The Washington football team ended its season and the LA Bowl in style, crushing Boise State 38-10 Saturday at SoFi Stadium.
The Huskies pulled away after a 3-3 first quarter and took it to the Broncos, who finished their final year in the Mountain West 9-5 before next year’s move to the Pac-12.
While questions remain about the future of Jedd Fisch with the sudden head-coaching opening at Michigan, UW showed no signs of sleepwalking through the Bucked Up LA Bowl Hosted by Gronk. It’s the final year of the LA Bowl, which was once again poorly attended after being held six days after the opponents were announced.
Washington (9-4) finished the season with three more wins than last year, which ended with a Sun Bowl loss to Louisville.
The stars came out in LA for the Huskies. Demond Williams Jr. threw three of his four TDs in the second quarter, and finished 15-for-24 for 214 yards and four TDs. Jonah Coleman carried the ball 12 times for 86 yards and a score. Denzel Boston caught six passes for 125 yards and a TD.
Huskies Bucked Up Second Quarter
The game started slowly as the two teams combined for six points and four punts. The Huskies dominated on both sides of the ball in the second quarter, however. The defense intercepted starting quarterback Maddux Madsen twice and got a fourth-down stop while allowing a total of 34 yards across five Boise State drives.
The offense took those batons, and Williams threw touchdowns to Boston (78 yards), Dezmen Roebuck (six yards) and Raiden Vines-Bright (three yards) for a 24-3 halftime lead.
Defense Shines
The UW defense has been solid all season, holding all teams to 26 or fewer points.
Saturday, the Huskies dominated.
Passes that were batted down or swatted away during the first 12 games turned into interceptions against Boise State. Backup cornerback Leroy Bryant recorded two of Washington’s five interceptions.
Deshawn Lynch, a 300-pound defensive lineman among the FBS leaders in batting down passes this season, decided to catch one instead of knocking it down. The senior rumbled 57 yards before losing his footing and going down at the BSU 9-yard line. Three plays later, Coleman sped around the right side for a 6-yard TD and a 38-3 UW lead.
Linebacker Xe’ree Alexander (team-high seven tackles, including a sack) intercepted a pass, as did nickelback Rahshawn Clark.
Boise State gained 169 of its 311 yards against backups in the fourth quarter, so Washington’s 355-311 edge in yards is not indicative of the play of Ryan Walters’ defense.
UW held Boise State to 142 yards through three quarters for an average of 3.0 yards per play. The Broncos finished the game with 58 yards on 28 carries (2.1 yards per rush), including an average of 1.6 yards per carry entering the fourth quarter.
Who Was In, Who Was Out?
Aside from the absence of sophomore linebacker Deven Bryant, there were no surprise exits prior to the bowl game. Senior cornerback Tacario Davis, questionable with a hamstring injury, did not play. But the Huskies essentially got full-time play from their best players while the game was competitive.
Coleman was fully involved for so long that he recovered Boise State’s onside kick with 1:17 to go in the game. Boston, who will weigh the NFL draft versus returning for another season, caught six passes for 118 yards in the first half, including a 78-yard TD pass from Williams.
Bryant, who started 10 games this season, was not with the team in LA and reportedly will enter the transfer portal when it opens Jan. 2. Bryant had seen fewer snaps in recent games with the emergence of true freshman Zaydrius Rainey-Sale. Xe’ree Alexander had also played well this season, while seniors Jacob Manu (redshirt) and Taariq “Budda” Al-Uqdah (injury) are also expected to return.
Sophomore wide receiver Audric Harris will also enter the portal and no longer appears on UW’s online roster. Harris played sparingly this season as UW started two true freshmen — Roebuck and Vines-Bright — most of the year.
Fisch’s Future
With Sherrone Moore’s messy exit as head coach at Michigan, Fisch’s name is once again floating around as a potential candidate for different job. Fisch said in the LA Bowl press conference on Friday, “I expect to be here,” which sounded a little softer than when he said “I will be coahching at Washington in 2026” a few days earlier.
After the game, while talking to play-by-play voice Tony Castricone, he sure sounded like someone planning to be at UW, though.
“Well, the coolest part is, in three weeks, we have our first team meeting, and we’ve got to see how good we can get,” Fisch said. “With 20 new freshmen coming in, we're losing some good players, but we also have some great ones that we're going to work very, very hard to hold on to and hopefully have a fantastic team and start the year.”
The Huskies’ next game is Sept. 5, 2026, when Washington State visits Husky Stadium for the Apple Cup.
