No Time for Husky Stage Fright -- 100,000-plus Crowd Awaits Them

A look back at the UW's 10 six-digit crowds, six coming at the Rose Bowl.

Michigan's Blake Corum runs for a second-half gain against the UW in 2021 in Ann Arbor.. / Rick Osentoski-Imagn Images

STATE COLLEGE, Pennsylvania -- A hundred thousand.

That's a lot of money, to win or lose.

Plenty of acreage for your cattle to graze on.

And it's an extra intimidating sight when you squeeze that many people together to watch a college football game.

On Saturday night, the University of Washington football team will see if it can deal with that sort of crush of humanity when it visits Penn State's Beaver Stadium, the second-largest football facility in the nation with a 106,572 capacity, which will lend its support to the nation's sixth-ranked team (7-1 overall, 4-1 Big Ten).

When full, it becomes the fourth most populous municipality in that state -- trailing only Philadelphia, population 1.5 million; Pittsburgh, 303,413; and Allentown, 124,597.

To prepare for this football echo chamber, UW coach Jedd Fisch had loud music played at his team's night practices this week, most notably rock anthem "Welcome to the Jungle" by Guns N' Roses could be heard blasting through Montlake.

"You have to deal with the initial wave of just the energy and momentum," Fisch said.

In their football history, the Huskies have played before a six-digit crowd 10 times previously -- six at the Rose Bowl on New Year's Day, three at Michigan and once at Ohio State.

To its credit, the UW holds up a winning record at 6-4 whenever the stands are overflowing with spectators.

Over the past 21 seasons, the Huskies have played in front of a 100,000-plus gate just once, losing to Michigan 31-10 before 108,345 fans in the post-pandemic 2021 season. Only six current UW players remain who appeared in that well-attended outing in defensive tackle Jacob Bandes, running back Cam Davis, safety Kamren Fabiculanan, linebacker Drew Fowler, wide receiver Giles Jackson and edge rusher Voi Tunuufi.

For Jackson, it's no big deal at all. Spending his first two seasons at Michigan before transferring to the UW, he was a freshman in 2019 who played in eight Wolverines games that season that drew 100,000 or more fans in attendance -- seven in Ann Arbor and a trip to Penn State.

UW'S 100,000-PLUS CAPACITY GAMES
1. 1960 Rose Bowl, UW 44, Wisconsin 8	First six-digit crowd at 100,809
2.. 1978 Rose Bowl, UW 27, Michigan 20	105,312 saw Warren Moon lead upset
3. 1981 Rose Bowl, Michigan 23, UW 6	Huskies fell flat in front of 104,863
4. 1982 Rose Bowl, UW 28, Iowa 0	Jacque Robinson dazzled 105,611 fans
5. 1984, UW 20, at Michigan 11	Huskies beat QB Harbaugh before 103,072
6. 1991 Rose Bowl, UW 46, Iowa 34	101,273 watched Mark Brunell MVP outing
7. 1992 Rose Bowl, UW 34, Michigan 14	103,566 saw national title clinching
8. 2002, at Michigan 31, UW 29	Huskies' largest crowd anywhere at 111,491
9. 2003, at Ohio State 28, UW 9	Trip to the Horseshow attracted 105,078
10. 2021, at Michigan 31, UW 10	Post-pandemic gathering of 108,345

The Huskies (5-4, 3-3) are trying their best to be hopeful about the task at hand in dealing with such over the top opposing fan support.

“I feel like it doesn’t affect us and we can almost use that crowd energy and noise to our advantage in a way," UW linebacker Carson Bruener said. "As soon as you make a play and you hear 100,000 people go silent, that’s almost as good as making a play here at Husky Stadium and hearing 72,000 people screaming.”

The country has eight college football stadiums that can accommodate one hundred thousand or more in fan capacity on game day in Michigan Stadium (107,601), Beaver Stadium (106,512), Ohio State's Ohio Stadium (102,780), Alabama's Bryant-Denny Stadium (102,733), LSU's Tiger Stadium (102,321) and Tennessee's Neyland Stadium (101,915), Texas' Royal/Memorial Stadium (100,119) and Texas A&M's Kyle Field (100,077).

Following Saturday's visit to the heart of Pennsylvania, the Huskies will play at Michigan again next season before its loyal and and massive following on a date to be determined. That should give them more than enough time to clear the ringing out of their ears.

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