SEATTLE — For the first time since January, the University of Washington (UW) football program will take the field in a live game on Saturday at Husky Stadium against Weber State.
The Huskies reached the peak of college football in the 2023 season, advancing to the College Football Playoff and coming up one win short of a national championship.
After an offseason full of turnover, however, fans tuning into the Huskies for the first time in 2024 won't recognize most of the group that runs out of the tunnel.
Here's a quick guide for fans to catch up on all the new faces and changes that dramatically altered the collegiate athletics landscape.
New leadership
Kalen DeBoer returned the Huskies to national prominence, then took his talents to the deep south to replace one of the greatest coaches in college football history in Nick Saban at the University of Alabama. Along with DeBoer went many of his staff and other football personnel.
Stepping in to replace DeBoer is Jedd Fisch, who comes to Seattle after leading a swift turnaround of the football program at the University of Arizona. Fisch inherited a team that went winless the prior season, and three years later the Wildcats were 10-3 and finished ranked in the top 15 teams in the country.
Fisch essentially brought his entire offensive coaching staff from Arizona, including Brennan Carroll as offensive coordinator. If that last name sounds familiar, Carroll is the son of longtime Seahawks coach Pete Carroll. UW's defensive coordinator is also the son of a coaching legend, as Steve Belichick will lead the unit after years in the NFL working with his father, six-time Super Bowl champion Bill.
New contributors
When DeBoer departed, so too did many of the players that made up UW's conference-champion roster. Along with the many players who are now playing in the NFL, Fisch had a huge amount of student-athletes to replace.
Stepping in at starting quarterback is Will Rogers, who formerly played at Mississippi State University. Rogers actually committed to the Huskies while DeBoer was still the head coach, but Fisch convinced the quarterback to stick around under his regime. Rogers was a prolific passer at Mississippi State and holds 29 school records.
Fisch managed to convince one of his best players from Arizona to come north with him in running back Jonah Coleman. The junior totaled over 1,100 yards from scrimmage for Arizona in 2023 and will be a huge part of the offense for the Huskies.
Kamren Fabiculanan and Carson Bruener do provide some continuity for the UW defense after playing significant roles in 2023. Ephesians Prysock also played for Fisch at Arizona and should be UW's top cornerback in 2024.
New conference
After years of rumors and rumblings, conference realignment completely reshaped college football. UW joined the Big Ten along with the University of Oregon, USC and UCLA, a conference primarily focused in the Midwest that counts the University of Michigan and Ohio State University as its top programs.
The shake-up also threw a wrench into UW's historic rivalry with Washington State University, which was left behind in the conference musical chairs and remains as one of just two teams left in the Pacific-12 Conference. Instead of the traditional matchup on Thanksgiving weekend, the teams will now play in mid-September, with this season's game being held at a "neutral site," Seattle's Lumen Field.
New playoff format
UW is one of just a few college football programs that qualified more than once for the four-team College Football Playoff (CFP), in effect from 2014 to 2024. As the push to commercialize college football grew in recent years, expanding the playoff field was inevitable.
The CFP will now feature 12 teams, with the four major conference winners (sorry remnants of the Pac-12) along with the highest ranked of the other conference champions and seven at-large bids. The first round will include games hosted by schools for the first time, with the remaining rounds being played at bowl game sites.
