Next up in our Penn State preseason opponent previews is the defending national runner ups, the Washington Huskies.
The Huskies enter their first season in the Big Ten under new leadership as former Arizona head coach Jedd Fisch took over the program this offseason following Kalen DeBoer's departure to Alabama.
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The Huskies not only lost their head coach in DeBoer but saw their program ravaged by the transfer portal losing nearly 30 members of their 2023 team to the portal. They were of course active in the portal themselves, adding nearly two dozen players to their roster.
Despite coming off the College Football Playoff and National Championship game appearance last season, the Huskies are not expected to be among the best in the Big Ten this fall and enter the season with a projected win total of just 6.5 games.
The Huskies will be welcomed to the Big Ten by Penn State on November 9 when the Nittany Lions host the former Pac-12 program in their annual White Out matchup.
HEAD COACH PROFILE: Jedd Fisch
Salary: $7.75 million
Overall Record: 17-22
Record at Washington: 0-0
Record against Penn State: 0-0
Fisch is entering his first year with the Huskies after spending the past three seasons with the Arizona Wildcats where he oversaw a turnaround that saw a once 1-11 Arizona team in 2021 go 10-3 just two years later, last fall. After Kalen DeBoer left Washington for Alabama this offseason, Fisch was hired by Washington, signing a seven-year contract worth $7.75 million per year.
Prior to his time at Arizona, Fisch was most recently in the NFL with the Los Angeles Rams (2018-19) and New England Patriots (2019). Notably, Fish did not play football at either the high school or collegiate level, he began his coaching career in 1997 as a high school defensive coordinator.
Offensive Coordinator: Brennan Carroll
Defensive Coordinator: Steve Belichick
Fisch's coordinators at Washington have deep NFL bloodlines with Pete Carroll's son Brennan Carroll leading the Huskies offense and Bill Belichick's son Steve Belichick leading the Huskies defense into the 2024 season.
Brennan Carroll comes to Seattle alongside Fisch after spending the last three seasons at Arizona with him as the Wildcats' offensive coordinator and offensive line coach.
Belichick is coaching at the collegiate level for the first time after spending the last decade as an assistant on the New England Patriots coaching staff under both his father and Jerod Mayo.
LAST TIME PENN STATE MET WASHINGTON
This will be the fourth meeting between the two programs all time and the first since 2017 when Penn State defeated the Huskies 35-28 in the Fiesta Bowl. The Nittany Lions and Huskies also met in the 1983 Aloha Bowl, a 13-10 Penn State win and in 1921, a 21-7 win for the Nittany Lions in Seattle.
In that 2017 Fiesta Bowl, Trace McSorley threw for 342 yards while Saquon Barkley ran for 137 yards and a pair of touchdowns in his last game as a Nittany Lion.
OFFSEASON ROSTER MOVEMENT
As mentioned above, it was a busy offseason for the Huskies with nearly 30 players leaving the program via the portal and nearly two dozen players heading to Seattle as well. On top of that, the Huskies signed a top-60 recruiting class in the 2024 recruiting cycle with 16 commitments including four, four-star commitments.
The Huskies added a handful of offensive weapons through the portal this offseason including Mississippi State quarterback Will Rogers who brings plenty of arm talent and experience to Seattle. Tailback Jonah Coleman was one of the more underrated running backs in the country at Arizona and former Cal wide receiver Jeremiah Hunter brings plenty of production and upside to the Washington wide receiver room as well.
The Huskies will have to replace nearly 4,000 total snaps amongst their top 10 portal departures on the offensive side of the ball and over 1,600 snaps were lost on defense just among their biggest losses. Fisch and Bellichik were given an extremely tough task when it came to replacing the talent they lost this offseason and while Fisch has shown the ability to quickly rebuild programs before, he'll likely need more than one offseason to replace all the talent lost in Seattle.
2024 SIGNING CLASS / TOP SIGNEES
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