Jedd Fisch's Sweep of LA Schools Is Huge Husky Step Forward for Him

Beating USC and UCLA in the same seaon is a rarity for UW football coaches.

Bruins quarterback Ethan Garbers and Huskies linebacker Carson Bruener, once UW teammates, chat after Friday's game. / Steven Bisig-Imagn Images

Hey Hollywood, the University of Washington football team owns you.

It doesn't happen often, but with their 31-19 victory over UCLA on Friday night coupled with an earlier 26-21 win over USC, the Jedd Fisch-coached Huskies pulled off a season sweep of the Los Angeles schools -- for the first time in 14 years and for just the second occasion in 28 years.

Even with neither SoCal school competing for championships or playoff berths this season, the UW finds this a notable achievement because of the program recognition factor and the decades of football abuse dished out by these two on Husky teams. It's one indicator, along with a victory over Michigan, that Fisch is making steady progress in remaking the Huskies.

"I think it's great for our team to get those wins and those are big wins,' Fisch said on Saturday night. "In our first year with a team that none of us were familiar with, with a lot of players where none of them had played together and not a lot of us knew them, and they came from all over, to beat USC, Michigan and UCLA, those are big wins for our program. Really proud of our guys to get those wins. That's a big deal."

It was this same accomplishment in 1975, in his first year heading up the UW football program, that solidified the great Don James with his players and the Montlake fan base. His 17-13 victory over UCLA on the road and an 8-7 squeaker over USC at Husky Stadium that year brought him instant credibility.

Yet in his 18 seasons, James was able to do this only one other time, in 1985, when his Huskies defeated UCLA 21-14 and USC 20-17, both in Seattle.

Since James, this Husky football double play over these rivals had happened just twice until Fisch came along,

In 1996, Jim Lambright, James' defensive coordinator and coaching successor, beat both of the Los Angelenos in his fourth season in charge, leading the Huskies past UCLA 41-21 at home and toppling USC 21-10 at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum.

Fourteen years later, Steve Sarkisian pulled off this feat in his second season. His 2010 Huskies edged USC 32-31 in Los Angeles and defeated UCLA 24-7 in Seattle.

Overall, the Huskies can claim 12 times that they've beat up on their friends from the Southland in the same season. Among other UW coaches, Jimmy Phelan did this four times, Jim Owens pulled it off twice and Howie Odell made it happen once, The complete list is as follows:

HUSKY LA SCHOOL SWEEPS
2024 -- UW 31, UCLA 19	UW 26, USC 21 (Jedd Fisch)
2010 -- UW 32, at USC 31	UW 24, UCLA 7 (Steve Sarkisian)
1996 -- UW 41, UCLA 21	UW 21, at UCLA 10 (Jim Lambright)
1985 -- UW 21, UCLA 14	UW 20, USC 17 (Don James)
1975 -- UW 17, at UCLA 13	UW 8, USC 7 (Don James)
1964 -- UW 14, at USC 13	UW 22, UCLA 20 (Jim Owens)
1960 -- UW 10, UCLA 8	UW 34, at USC 0 (Jim Owens)
1950 -- UW 21, UCLA 20	UW 28, at USC 14 (Howie Odell)
1941 -- UW 14, UCLA 7	UW 14, at USC 13 (Jimmy Phelan)
1940 -- UW 14, USC 0	UW 41, at UCLA 0. (JImmy Phelan)
1937 -- UW 7, at USC 0	UW 20, UCLA 0. (Jimmy Phelan)
1932 -- UW 14, at UCLA 0	UW 12, USC 0 (Jimmy Phelan)

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