Inside The Huskies

Huskies Enter New Season with Nation's 3rd-Longest Home Win Streak

WSU was the last team to beat the UW in Seattle in the 2021 Apple Cup.

Dan Raley

Then-Husky quarterback Sam Huard (7) goes up against Washington State during the first quarter of the 2021 Apple Cup.
Then-Husky quarterback Sam Huard (7) goes up against Washington State during the first quarter of the 2021 Apple Cup. / Joe Nicholson-USA TODAY Sports

Looking back at it now, what happened at Husky Stadium on Friday, Nov. 26, on a gray day in Montlake, was a huge mistake.

Trying to infuse some instant excitement into a lost University of Washington football season that cost Jimmy Lake his coaching job midstream, interim leader Bob Gregory sent true freshman quarterback Sam Huard onto the field as a first-time starter against Washington State before a full house in the Apple Cup.

Gregory might as well have thrown Huard to the wolves rather than the Cougars. The youngster's college starting debut did not go well at all.

Four interceptions later, WSU had a 40-13 victory in Seattle and Huard's football ascension was blunted. In three hours, he went from a promising player waiting his turn to someone left with unnecessary scars. He since has bounced from the UW to Cal Poly to Utah, with the left-hander now the Utes' third-string signal-caller.

This also was the last time the locals have lost a football game on their home turf on the shores of Lake Washington, with Kalen DeBoer and his coaching staff coming in and making Husky Stadium an unbeatable place, and Jedd Fisch and Company now trying to extend the dominance.

With another college football season ready to begin this weekend, the UW will wait a week before it puts nation's third-longest home winning streak on the line -- 14 and counting -- trailing only Georgia (25) and Michigan (22).

Michigan hasn't lost at home since 2020, when it took a 27-17 beating from Penn State in Ann Arbor late that season with the COVID pandemic raging.

The Wolverines' second win in its current 22-game home streak, in fact, was a 31-10 decision over Lake's Huskies in 2021 before a Big House crowd of 108,345. These teams were scheduled to meet the year before at Husky Stadium, but the game was scuttled by COVID concerns.

Eyeballing this coming season, the UW has a real chance to extend its home dominance to at least 17 with winnable games against Weber State, Eastern Michigan and Northwestern before defending national champion Michigan comes to town for the first time in 22 seasons for a showdown with multiple implications on Oct. 5 at Husky Stadium.

It's a CFP title game rematch of their Houston matchup nine months earlier, two new Big Ten rivals getting together and what could be a truly memorable college football weekend in Montlake.

For the latest UW football and basketball news, go to si.com/college/washington

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Dan Raley

DAN RALEY

Dan Raley has worked for the Seattle Post-Intelligencer, Atlanta Journal-Constitution and Fairbanks Daily News-Miner, as well as for MSN.com and Boeing, the latter as a global aerospace writer. His sportswriting career spans four decades and he's covered University of Washington football and basketball during much of that time. In a working capacity, he's been to the Super Bowl, the NBA Finals, the MLB playoffs, the Masters, the U.S. Open, the PGA Championship and countless Final Fours and bowl games.

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