The Huskies will face their first conference opponent in a primetime matchup against the Golden Gophers on Saturday.
The Washington Huskies football team's Big Ten slate has finally arrived.
The Huskies will play the Minnesota Golden Gophers at 8 p.m. PT on Saturday at Husky Stadium in Seattle.
Washington's first Big Ten game will be a good sign over how well UW will be able to play against Power Four competition and could answer several questions with the team that persisted through the nonconference schedule.
Here's three three things to look for in the Huskies' game against the Golden Gophers:
More disciplined defense
Penalties have been a consistent point of contention for Washington through the first three weeks of the season.
Entering Saturday, the Huskies are tied for 16th in the country and second in the Big Ten in penalties per game (nine) and seventh in the country in penalty yardage per game (87).
On Sept. 19 against Football Championship Subdivision (FCS) squad, the Eastern Washington Eagles, Washington committed eight penalties for 101 yards. The first six penalties were committed by the defense and were comprised of targeting and unnecessary roughness penalties that resulted in the ejections of fourth-year linebacker Xe'ree Alexander and fourth-year edge rusher Jacob Lane, respectively.
The penalties have been pointed out by coaches and players in the past week and will need to be cleaned up if the Huskies hope to be competitive against their Big Ten foes.
How healthy will the secondary be?
Fourth-year starting outside cornerback Emmanuel Karnley has been week-to-week with a soft tissue injury since his exit in the team's Week 2 contest against the Utah State Aggies.
This week, on the team's injury report, third-year defensive back and starting nickelback Rahshawn Clark has been included on the injury report. Both Karnley and Clark were listed as "questionable" on the team's latest injury report Friday.
Head coach Jedd Fisch has stated that he believes at least one of the two cornerbacks will likely play in Saturday's contest. True freshman cornerback Jeron Jones has filled in for Karnley since the latter's absence and either third-year DB Elias Johnson or second-year Ramonz Adams Jr. would be the next defensive back if Clark is unable to go, as well.
Johnson and Adams have a combined three games of experience between the two of them. If Karnley and Clark both end up out against Minnesota, an inexperienced group of cornerbacks, with the exception of second-year starting outside cornerback Dylan Robinson, will be tasked with keeping the Gophers' passing attack and pocket-passing quarterback Drake Lindsey in check.
Can Trey Cooley step up?
Since second-year running back Quaid Carr and fourth-year running back Jayden Limar went down in the team's Week 1 win against the Washington State Cougars, the team has opted to split reps between first-year back Brian Bonner and sixth-year Trey Cooley, with true freshman Ansu Sanoe receiving the hand-offs in goal line situations.
Against the Eagles, Bonner was able to have notable runs, including one of over 50 yards. Cooley, who transferred to UW this offseason from the Troy Trojans after missing the entire season with an injury, is still looking to put together a standout game.
The team's running back room, through the injuries of Carr, Limar and third-year Jordan Washington in the spring, has been depleted, which has left Fisch and the rest of the coaching staff few options as to who's getting carries.
However, a stellar game from Cooley would go a long way in allowing the running back room to persist until one of the three aforementioned injured backs are ready to return. If Cooley is unable to perform, it'd make sense if Fisch begins to opt for a more steady workload for Bonner with Cooley as the designated backup.
