Dawgs Return Home To Face No. 23 Illinois

Saturday, October 25

Alaska Airlines Field at Husky Stadium

12:30 p.m. PT

University of Washington

Illinois

Tickets From $30 - $236

Photo by: Scott Eklund / Red Box Pictures

October 20, 2025 | Football

Full UW Notes (PDF)Gameday Central

THE GAME: The Washington football team (5-2 overall, 2-2 Big Ten) returns home to Seattle to take on Illnois (5-2 overall, 2-2 Big Ten) this Saturday at Husky Stadium. Kickoff is set for 12:30 p.m., and the game will air on the Big Ten Network. Illinois is ranked No. 23 in both the AP Top 25 and the coaches poll. It will be the 12th all-time meeting between the Huskies and Illini, and the first as members of the same conference. They played one another nine times between 1950 and 1972, including in the 1964 Rose Bowl. Following the Illinois game, Washington has an off week before traveling to Wisconsin on Nov. 8.

QUICK HITTERS: Husky RB Jonah Coleman leads the nation in scoring (11.1 points per game), rushing touchdowns (12), and total touchdowns (13), and is second total points (78) ... Coleman also ranks No. 7 in all-purpose yards ... Coleman has new career highs for attempts (24 vs. Colo. St.), rushing TDs (5 vs. UC Davis), receptions (8, vs. Maryland), and receiving yards (104 vs. WSU) this year ... Husky QB Demond Williams Jr. is currently No. 8 in the nation in completion percentage and No. 12 in pass efficiency ... it takes 325 attempts (he has 295) to make the NCAA career active leaders rankings, but if he qualified, Williams would easily lead all active players in career pass efficiency (170.17), which would also rank No. 9 in FBS history ... Washington won 24-20 Oct. 4 at Maryland, despite trailing 20-0 ... it was the seventh 20-point comeback in UW history and the first on the road since the 1993, 24-23 win at California ... Washington has outscored opponents 80-20 in the fourth quarter this season ... only two of seven UW opponents has scored in the final quarter this year ... the Huskies rank No. 17 in the FBS in scrimmage plays of 10-plus yards (116), and No. 7 with 47 plays of 20-plus yards ... Williams is tied for second in the nation with 10 rushing plays of 20-plus yards ... Washington's last nine true road games have been announced sellouts ... the current UW roster includes players from 19 different states, as well as in Australia and Canada.

TELEVISION: The UW-Illinois game will air on Big Ten Network, with Jeff Levering, Jake Butt and Brooke Fletcher on the call. For more on how to watch online, go to www.bigten.org/btn/watch-live.

RADIO: All Washington football games will air on the Washington Sports Network from Learfield, with Tony Castricone (play by play), former Husky tight end Cameron Cleeland (analyst) and former UW basketball player Elise Woodward (sidelines) on the call. Radio coverage begins four hours before kickoff on the network's flagship station – Seattle's SportsRadio KJR 93.3 FM – with "Husky Gameday" live from The Zone for Husky home games. Statewide coverage on the 17-station Washington Sports Network begins two hours before kickoff. The entire broadcast is available worldwide on the Huskies Gameday mobile app and the Varsity app. The UW broadcast of this game will also air on Sirius/XM channel 137 or 195. Additionally, the Husky Football Coach's Show airs each game-week Monday during the season at 6:00 p.m. PT, live from JOEY Kitchen in University Village.

GRADUATES: A total of 12 Huskies head into the 2025 season already having earned their undergraduate degree, whether from UW or from another university before transferring to UW. Here's the list: CJ Christian (S), Zach Durfee (DE), Makell Esteen (S), Geirean Hatchett (OL), Milton Hopkins (DE), Deshawn Lynch (DL), Dyson McCutcheon (S), Quentin Moore (TE), Simote Pepa (DL), Logan Sagapolu (DL), Anthony Ward (LB), Carver Willis (OL).

ACADEMIC SUCCESS: Following the most recent academic quarter (spring, 2025), the UW football program posted some impressive results. The Husky football team's cumulative GPA for the quarter was 3.27, highest ever in program history. Additionally, 26 football players made the Dean's list, including the following 22 current team members: Xe'Ree Alexanders, Deven Bryant, Jonah Coleman, Elinneus Davis, Decker DeGraaf, Kade Eldridge, Jonathan Epperson Jr., Omari Evans, Luke Gayton, Zachary Henning, Luke Luchini, Jacob Manu, Dyson McCutcheon, Paul Mencke Jr., John Mills, Ephesians Prysock, Jack Shaffer, Austin Simmons, Anterio Thompson, Rainen Vines-Bright, Beck Walker and Demond Williams Jr.

IN THE CFP ERA: The era of the four-team College Football Playoff is gone, but that 10-season stretch (2014-2023) is instructive in terms of illustrating the teams that operated at the top level of the sport during that timespan, and Washington is one of those teams. Over that 10-year stretch, only 15 different programs earned a berth in the CFP semifinals, and only eight reached the tournament more than once. With two CPF berths in the four-team era (2016 and 2023), Washington is one of those eight. Only six teams made more than two appearances: Alabama (8), Clemson (6), Ohio State (5), Oklahoma (4), Georgia (3) and Michigan (3). For what it's worth, six more teams made their CFP debut in the 12-team bracket in 2024, but UW remains one of (now) 10 teams to have appeared in the CFP more than once, when counting the 2024 data.

B1G TIME: As has been well documented over the last couple of years, Washington officially joined the Big Ten Conference ahead of the 2024-25 school year, effective on Aug. 2, 2024. The Huskies were joined be fellow former Pac-12 programs Oregon, UCLA and USC in making the move to the B1G, which now includes 18 schools. Washington was one of four founding members of the Pacific Coast Conference (along with Cal, Oregon and Oregon State), and, along with Cal, was one of just two teams that were a part of that league (which changed names to the AAWU, Pac-8, Pac-10 and Pac-12) for the entirety of its full-fledged existence from 1915 to 2024.

FUTURE SCHEDULES: In October, 2023, the Big Ten revealed 18 football teams' home and away, conference opponents for the next for the following five seasons (2024-28). Here are the UW's home and road, Big Ten games, for the coming three years:

2026: home – Indiana, Iowa, Minnesota, Penn State; road – Michigan State, Nebraska, Oregon, Purdue, USC
2027: home – Maryland, Michigan State, Nebraska, Oregon, USC; road – Minnesota, Northwestern, Penn State, Rutgers
2028: home – Michigan, Northwestern, UCLA, Wisconsin; road – Illinois, Indiana, Maryland, Ohio State, Oregon

HUSKIES vs. ILLINI HISTORY: For a stretch of time from 1950 through 1972, Washington and Illinois faced one another on a semi-regular basis, squaring off nine times, with all but one of those coming in the regular season. The series was renewed in the 2010s, with a home-and-home series played in 2013 and 2014. Prior to that, it had been 41 years since the last game. Washington holds the edge in the all-time series, with seven wins and four losses.

In 1950, first meeting between the two, unranked Illinois hosted a 10th-ranked and previously unbeaten (4-0) Husky team, upsetting the Dawgs in Champaign, 20-13. The Huskies went on to finish 8-2 that season, the only other loss coming to Cal. The following year, 8th-ranked Illinois visited Seattle and left with another win, beating No. 20 UW, 27-20. The Illini made it three wins in a row with a convincing 48-14 victory in 1952 in Champaign.

Washington finally got its first win over Illinois in 1956, coach Darrell Royal's lone season at Washington, when the Huskies beat the Illini, 28-13, in Seattle. The series picked up back in 1961, a 20-7 UW win in Champaign. The following year, The Dawgs won their third in a row in the series, a 28-7 decision.

After the 1963 season, the two teams met in the 1964 Rose Bowl. In that one, a Dick Butkus-lead Illinois squad took a 3-0 lead into halftime and then outpaced Junior Coffey, Rick Redman, Bill Douglas, Charlie Browning and the Huskies, 17-7. Illinois' Jim Grabowski rushed for 125 yards and was named the game's MVP.

Prior to 2013-14, the last two meetings between the two came in the 1971 and 1972 seasons, both Husky wins behind the arm of Sonny Sixkiller. In '71, the Dawgs posted a 52-14 victory in Champaign and then followed that up with a 31-11 win the next season in Seattle.

In 2013, the Huskies and Illini renewed the series with a game at Soldier Field in Chicago, with the UW winning, 34-24. After a scoreless opening quarter, the UW opened its account on a 31-yard pass from Keith Price to Bishop Sankey in the second. Each team then kicked a field goal to make it 10-3 at half. In the third, Sankey and Jesse Callier each ran for scores and Price hit Jaydon Mickens for another, but two Illini TDs kept it close (one of them was a 72-yard pass). Illinois closed the gap to seven points in the fourth on an Aaron Bailey score, but Travis Coons' second field goal of the day put the game away. Sankey rushed for 208 yards on 35 carries while Price was 28-for-35 for 342 yards, two TDs and no interceptions. Despite the relatively close final score, the Huskies out-gained the Illini, 615 yards to 327. However, 12 penalties for 104 yards and two lost fumbles hampered the UW.

In 2014 in Seattle, in Coach Chris Petersen's first year, the teams met in week three, at Husky Stadium. A short rushing score from Callier, a 75-yard TD pass from Cyler Miles to John Ross and a Shaq Thompson 36-yard interception staked UW to a 21-3 lead in the first quarter. Early in the second, UW running Dwayne Washington scored, and after Illinois scored two points on a safety, Thompson returned a fumble 52 yards for his second defensive touchdown of the day. The Huskies, who led 38-12 at half, coasted to a 44-19 victory.

DEMOND'S BIG DAY: UW quarterback Demond Williams Jr. turned in a career performance in Washington's 38-19 win over Rutgers on Fri., Oct. 10, passing for 402 yards while rushing for 138. In doing so, he became the first Husky, second Big Ten player and 16th QB in NCAA-FBS history to pass for 400-plus yards and rush for 100 or more in a game. His 138 rushing yards were fourth-most ever by a Husky quarterback (his was just the 12th 100-yard rushing performance by a QB in UW history), and his 538 yards of total offense broke Michael Penix's record of 529, set in 2022 vs. Arizona (516 passing, 13 rushing). His 402 passing yards were 15th-most in UW single-game history.

ROSTER TURNOVER: Like at a lot of programs in this day and age of college football, Washington's roster has seen a good deal of turnover in the last few years, unsurprisingly, given that UW has had four head coaches in seven years. However, in terms of class years, the 2025 Husky football roster is relatively balanced. At the start of the season, UW's 103-man roster includes 29 true freshmen, 15 redshirt freshmen, 19 sophomores, 18 juniors, and 22 seniors. However, taking into consideration how many years players have been at UW provides a different picture, as 77 of the 103 are playing their first (47) or second (30) at Washington in 2025. UW's roster also includes 14 third-year Huskies, seven fourth-year (including Anthony Ward, who spent two years at UW before going to Arizona for two seasons), four fifth-year (including Geirean Hatchett, who spent last season at Oklahoma), and one sixth-year roster member (Makell Esteen, whose first year at Washington was 2020).

STARTING EXPERIENCE: For the second year in a row, it's fair to say that UW did not return a large number of starters from the previous year. However, the Husky roster DOES include a surprisingly large number of players with starting experience – nearly all from last year. Not counting specialists (Grady Gross has been UW's "starting kicker" for two seasons), and not counting the current Huskies who started for other college programs before transferring to UW, Washington had 20 different current players who had started in a Husky uniform – 12 on offense (total of 70 UW starts) and eight on defense (32).

In addition to the 20 current player who had started for Washington, the 2025 Husky roster includes 21 players (some of them the 20 who have since started for UW) who have started at least once for another four-year college: LB Buddah Al-Uqdah (21 starts at Washington State), LB Xe'ree Alexander (7 at UCF, 6 at Idaho), OL Drew Azzopardi (6 at San Diego State), S CJ Christian (19 at FIU), RB Jonah Coleman (7 at Arizona), Tacario Davis (22 at Arizona), Zach Durfee (11 at Sioux Falls), TE Kade Eldridge (1 at USC), WR Omari Evans (6 at Penn State), WR Kevin Green Jr. (2 at Arizona), OL Geirean Hatchett (1 at Oklahoma), QB Kai Horton (1 at Tulane), LB Jacob Manu (27 at Arizona), S Alex McLaughlin (23 at NAU), DL Simote Pepa (3 at Utah), CB Ephesians Prysock (16 at Arizona), DL Logan Sagapolu (1 at Miami, Fla.), DL Anterio Thompson (12 at WMU), DL Ta'ita'I Uiagalelei (13 at Arizona), EDGE Isaiah Ward (11 at Arizona), and OL Carver Willis (18 at Kansas State).

All totaled, as of the start of the 2025 season, UW had 33 different players with a combined total of 330 career starts at the four-year college level.

ALASKA AIRLINES FIELD AT HUSKY STADIUM: The Oregon game on Nov. 5, 2011, marked the final game in Husky Stadium prior to major renovations that were completed in summer, 2013. The Huskies re-opened their home field with a 38-6 win over then-No. 19 Boise State on Aug. 31, 2013. The 2024 season marks the 104th season of play in Husky Stadium. Original construction on the facility was completed in 1920 when Washington played one game in the new campus facility. UW's all-time record in Husky Stadium stands at 421-186-21 (.687). Washington is 66-17 (.795) in home games since the stadium re-opened in 2013.