Everyone's Watching to See How Will Rogers Responds to Benching

The quarterback sat out the entire second half of the 35-6 loss to Penn State

Huskies quarterback Will Rogers (7) warms up before facing Penn State Nittany Lions at Beaver Stadium. / Matthew O'Haren-Imagn Images

Last weekend's Washington-Penn State match-up was Will Rogers' 50th as a starting quarterback, counting his time with Mississippi State and the Huskies, which means he's seen and handled just about everything that can come up on game day.

However, he'd never been benched at halftime before while previously taking on such formidable opponents as Alabama, Georgia, LSU, Tennessee and Texas A&M.

That changed on Saturday in State College, Pennsylvania, when Jedd Fisch's staff, while staring at a 28-0 deficit during the break with almost no offense to show for it, decided to swap out Rogers for freshman back-up Demond Williams Jr. during the third and fourth quarters of a game that ended up 35-6.

"I will not divulge what was said, but Will handled it exactly the way you want a guy to handle it," Husky offensive coordinator Brennan Carroll said.

Still Rogers' psyche has been a week-long talking point, with not everyone convinced this was an agreeable situation for everyone involved.

Early in the week, former Husky quarterback Hugh Millen surmised on KJR sports radio 93.3 that Rogers had to angry after getting pulled after following two quarters of play, especially with the college football resume he possesses. Millen would know about this.

When he played, Millen was part of a ongoing three-quarterback competition that also involved Paul Sicuro and Chris Chandler. He was yanked as the starter multiple times by Don James' coaching staff besides memorably coming off the bench in the second half of the 1984 Orange Bowl, replacing Sicuro, to lead the UW past Oklahoma 28-17 in Miami.

Carroll, however, went out of his way during his Tuesday media briefing to suggest that Rogers, who's the son of a football coach and fairly even keel in his general demeanor, didn't protest or sulk.

"Will's doing great," Carroll said. "We made the decision to try to create a little spark in the second half there. The whole time Will is completely engaged, He's absolutely cheering for his teammates. He was fantastic. It's not easy for any player, [for someone] to say, 'Hey we're going to let someone else go for a llittle bit here.' But he handled it perfectly."

Washington quarterback Will Rogers looks for someone to throw to in the Huskies 35-6 loss to Penn State. / Matthew O'Haren-Imagn Images

Rogers has had an unusual season so far for the Huskies (5-5 overall, 3-4 Big Ten) seemingly struggling at times while still completing 71.4 percent of his passes -- he's hit on 207 of 290 attempts for 2,343 and 13 touchdowns, with 5 interceptions.

After an opening drive at Penn State that took the Huskies to the opposing 22 for a Grady Gross field-goal attempt that bounced off the goal post, the UW stalled badly on offense for the next four series until everyone took a break.

The Huskies, in fact, would go through a game for the first time in 13 seasons without scoring a touchdown.

Huskies quarterback Will Rogers throws a first-quarter pass against Penn State. / Matthew O'Haren-Imagn Images

"We had to change it," Carroll said. "We weren't performing the way we wanted to so we just wanted to try something else."

After taking off that second half against Penn State, Rogers will reclaim his quarterback duties for Friday night's game against UCLA (4-5, 3-4 at Husky Stadium, with everyone hoping the struggles of the previous weekend are all forgotten.

"He understands the situation and he's done great with it," Carroll said.

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