The discontinuation of the Los Angeles Bowl leaves Washington with an interesting bit of NCAA history.
The Washington Huskies football team took major steps forward last season in the program's second year under head coach Jedd Fisch.
The Huskies improved from 6-7 in Fisch's first season in 2024-25 to 9-4 last year. It was a solid season for Washington, which is still putting the finishing touches on a top-to-bottom rebuild.
The rebuild commenced after then-head coach Kalen DeBoer left to take the same role at Alabama and several of the team's best players, such as quarterback Michael Penix Jr. and wide receiver Rome Odunze, took their respective talents to the NFL.
Washington's 9-4 featured several highlights, including a solid year from true sophomore signal-caller Demond Williams Jr., who led the Big Ten in total yards (3,676) and totaled 31 touchdowns.
Williams accounted for four touchdowns in the Huskies' final game of the season, a 38-10 win against the Boise State Broncos in the Los Angeles Bowl. He was named the game's offensive MVP.
That win also gives Williams, and Washington, a unique distinction among other college football programs.
This past season's LA Bowl, which took place at the NFL's Los Angeles Rams and Los Angeles Chargers' home field of SoFi Stadium, was the last.
The discontinuation is due to the end of the bowl game's six-year contract, which was not renewed following the end of last season. Conference realignment and declining viewership was listed as a main reason for the lack of a renewal.
Originally, the bowl was intended as a postseason showdown between the Mountain West and the Pac-12. Those two conferences have undergone major face lists in the years since.
The only two remaining teams in the Pac-12 from when the deal was signed are Washington State and Oregon State. There will be a new eight-team edition of the conference playing football beginning in 2026, with many of the newcomers being former Mountain West universities. The new Pac-12 will be comprised of: Washington State, Oregon State, Boise State Colorado State, Fresno State, San Diego State, Texas State, Utah State and Gonzaga as a non-basketball affiliate.
The previous editions of the LA Bowl were: Utah State def. Oregon State 21-13 in 2021; Fresno State def. Washington State 29-6 in 2022; UCLA def. Boise State 35-22 in 2023; UNLV def. California 24-13 in 2024 and the Huskies' aforementioned 38-10 win over the Broncos in 2025.
Interestingly, Washington, before joining the Big Ten in Fisch's first year as head coach, also was the last champion in the previous iteration of the Pac-12.
Now that the LA Bowl will no longer continue, the Huskies can boast being the last champions in the "Power Five" iteration of the Pac-12 while also being the last champions in a bowl game originally intended for Pac-12 vs. Mountain West competition.
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