Washington Huskies Football: Demond Williams Jr. Expected to Start vs. Penn State

SEATTLE — The Washington Huskies football team has some momentum on its side for what feels like the first time this season.

The Huskies have won two-straight Big Ten games in three weeks (with a bye week in between), are 5-3 overall (2-3 in Big Ten play) and will be returning home for a game against the Penn State Nittany Lions at 12:30 p.m. PT on Saturday at Husky Stadium in Seattle.

Washington's last two wins were a 39-26 victory over the Purdue Boilermakers on Oct. 16 and a 17-10 comeback win against the Nebraska Cornhuskers on Oct. 31, both road games.

A different quarterback led UW to victory in both games. Third-year signal-caller Elijah Brown threw for over 300 yards and three touchdowns in the teams win against Purdue, his first start with the Huskies. He also got the start for the team's game against Nebraska. However, Brown was unable to replicate the success he had against the Boilermakers and fellow third-year Demond Williams Jr. entered the game in the fourth quarter.

Williams led the team down the field in the fourth quarter for the go-ahead touchdown drive, capped off with a 25-yard completion to second-year wide receiver Chris Lawson.

Williams began the year as the team's starter in his third year with the program. He started all 13 games for the team as a sophomore last season and led the Big Ten in total yards (3,676 yards). He exited the team's 41-24 loss against the Iowa Hawkeyes on Oct. 9, which led to Brown entering the game and earning the start against Purdue and Nebraska.

Entering this week, there was a question over whether Williams or Brown would get the start against Penn State. Barring a flare up with Williams' rib injury, head coach Jedd Fisch intent on continuing the momentum provided by the dual-threat signal-caller in the win against the Cornhuskers.

"We'll take it each week," Fisch said in a weekly news conference Monday at Husky Stadium. "We'll make a decision here at the end of the week. If Demond is feeling good, I don't see why he wouldn't play and start. But we haven't been on the field yet. He took some hits in that game (against Nebraska). So we just have to make sure he's good to go and that he feels right. If he feels right, hopefully we can play off the momentum of the fourth quarter (against the Cornhuskers), similar to how we played off the momentum of the third and fourth quarter against Iowa into the Purdue game with Elijah."

Both quarterbacks will receive first-team reps in practice leading up to the game against the Nittany Lions.

Before Williams went down with injury, he struggled as the team got into Big Ten play to replicate his form from his sophomore season. Including the win against Nebraska, Williams has completed 65.8% of his passes for 1,495 yards, nine touchdowns and three interceptions in six games played. He's ran 68 times for 211 yards and another two scores.

Brown's appeared in four games this season. He's completed 70.7% of his passes for 714 yards, seven touchdowns and three picks. He was 19-for-30 for 136 yards, no TDs and no interceptions through the first three quarters of the game against the Cornhuskers before Williams was subbed in.

Williams finished the game 7-for-13 for 99 yards and a touchdown and ran four times for 28 yards.

"I told Elijah, probably with about two minutes left (in the third quarter)," Fisch said. "I just said to him, 'Hey we're gonna — the next drive back out there — we're gonna let Demond roll. And we're gonna change it up a little bit and we're gonna try and add some spark. We need a spark right now and give Demond an opportunity to do that.' And Elijah, as any competitor would be, is always gonna be disappointed when you hear that. But he handled it exceptionally well and he went right to Demond and said 'let's warm up.'"

Fisch clarified that this week's starter won't be guaranteed the spot for the rest of the season, and with four games left in the year and just one win needed to reach a bowl game, it seems like UW and the rest of the coaching staff will evaluate the position weekly until someone does well enough to claim the job.