White-Out Conditions Always Pose Big Risk for Husky Football

The UW at least will mix it up with some purple in their uniform ensemble.

The UW's Khmori House and Jacob Bandes (55) converge on Indiana running back Justice Ellison (6). / Rich Janzaruk/Herald-Times / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

The University of Washington football team is headed to Pennsylvania this weekend, not Alaska, but white-out conditions are in the forecast. More than 100,000 fans have been urged to dress all in white for Saturday night's game at Penn State, which has become a full-blown ritual for that Big Ten powerhouse each season.

The Nittany Lions always have made bland look good on the football field, with their teams wearing basic stock colors and no logos whatsoever, a rarity at the FBS level and the opposite of fashion maven Oregon.

For this weekend against that aforementioned blinding all-white backdrop at Beaver Stadium, Penn State will pull on blue jerseys and white pants, while the Huskies respond in kind in their white jerseys and purple pants.

For Jedd Fisch's guys, it's the right fashion statement. Some people think that for the UW to show up for a game in all-white togs, without some sort of purple or gold wardrobe accessory, is blasphemous.

Should the Huskies be the least bit superstitious -- and starting quarterback Will Rogers is overwhelmingly so -- it's the proper call. Some sort of solid color statement in their game-day ensemble will give them a fighting chance to win a game in Happy Valley in which they're already 14-point underdogs going in.

Otherwise, every time the Huskies dress all in white, and it's been three consecutive outings going back to the CFP national championship game in January, they've been a loser. Some people think an all-white uniform is like raising a white flag.

"I haven't been around here long enough to know that stat," Rogers conceded.

The recent all-white results: Michigan 34, UW 13 in the CFP in January; Rutgers 21, UW 18, more than a month ago; and Indiana 31, UW 17, two weeks ago.

The Huskies certainly weren't dressed for success in those encounters. In fact, they haven't won while wearing their all-whites since a 2023 visit to Corvallis, where the Kalen DeBoer-coached and Michael Penix Jr.-quarterbacked team prevailed over Oregon State but just barely, 22-20.

On the other hand, an all-purple look has been unbeatable for the Huskies for at least three seasons now.

Going full grape since 2022, the UW has beaten Michigan State, Oregon and Michigan at home, plus Oregon in Eugene and again in the Pac-12 title game in Las Vegas, and Texas in both the Alamo Bowl and Sugar Bowl/CFP semifinals.

"Everybody talks about the all-purple," Rogers said. "If we can wear all-purple every game, I'm here for it."

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