By Pat Harty

IOWA CITY, Iowa – The Washington football program has gone through some major changes since losing to Michigan in last season’s national championship game.

From hiring a new head coach to replacing most of its starters from last season, including star quarterback Michael Penix, the Huskies show how much a team can change from one season to the next in this age of the transfer portal and NIL.

But even with all the changes, and with all the star power gone from last season’s team, Washington still has a formidable squad, and a highly respected head coach in Jedd Fisch, who rebuilt the Arizona program before taking the job in Seattle.

“Coach Fisch has done a really nice job there, and most of you guys know Washington was in the National Championship game ten months ago, and certainly a lot of things have changed since then,” said iowa head coach Kirk Ferentz. “They have a new staff up there. Jedd did a great job at Arizona, really turning that program around and giving them life. Now he’s doing a great job up there. He has a really good staff.

“It’s interesting player-wise that the team that played back in January, a lot of those guys have gone to the NFL. Some of them have gone on to other schools and a lot of guys are back, as well. The nucleus of the roster is impressive, and then they’ve done a good job bringing guys in to supplement their team. They’re a really good team.”

Washington (4-2, 1-1) is coming off a 27-17 victory over Michigan last Saturday in Seattle in what was a rematch of last season’s national title game, although, both rosters have changed significantly since then.

Iowa (3-2, 1-1) is coming off a 35-7 loss at Ohio State, a game in which Iowa quarterback Cade McNamara committed turnovers on three straight possessions in the second half.

The Iowa-Washington game seems more competitive now than before the season because there was so little known about the new-look Huskies without seeing them play.

But now after six games, Washington’s potential is starting to come into focus.

The Huskies are averaging 462.7 yards on offense and allowing just 256.0 yards on defense.

Washington almost certainly won’t be in the national title game this season, but it will be a threat to win on Saturday – if the Washington players can adjust to the early 11:10 a.m. kickoff time, which is 9:10 a.m. in Seattle.

Washington lost its first Big Ten road game this season 21-18 at Rutgers on Sept. 27.

Here is a look at how Iowa and Washington compare at each position, and which team has the advantage:

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Quarterback: This matchup, just like Iowa’s previous two games against Minnesota and Ohio State, is transfer portal quarterback versus transfer portal quarterback.

Iowa’s Cade McNamara versus Washington’s Will Rogers.

A former Michigan quarterback in McNamara versus a former Mississippi State quarterback in Rogers.

A quarterback that led Michigan to the 2021 Big Ten title, and to the college playoff that season, versus a quarterback that threw for over 12,000 yards for Mississippi State and who ranks No. 2 all-time in SEC career passing yards.

It seems like an intriguing matchup until you look at this season’s statistics.

McNamara has passed for 686 yards and three touchdowns in five games, and he is averaging 137.2 passing yards per game. He has thrown three touchdown passes and three interceptions while completing 63.9 percent of his passes.

Rogers has passed for 1,625 yards and 12 touchdowns in six games this season, and he is averaging 270.8 passing yards per game. He also has thrown just one interception in 178 attempts and is completing a blistering 73.6 percent of his passes.

No disrespect to Cade McNamara, but this isn’t close.

Advantage: Washington

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Running back: Both teams feature a star in the backfield, but they are both far from being solo acts.

Iowa junior Kaleb Johnson has rushed for 771 yards and scored 10 touchdowns in 4 ½ games this season, while Washington junior Jonah Coleman has gained 601 yards and scored five touchdowns in six games.

The 6-foot, 225-pound Johnson is averaging 7.9 yards per carry, while the 5-9, 229-pound Coleman is averaging 6.7 yards per carry.

Johnson surpassed 2,000 career rushing yards against Ohio State last Saturday, and he also has 14 rushes of 20-plus yards this season.

He rushed for at least 100 yards in each of the first four games this season before being held to 86 yards against the Buckeyes.

Coleman is the first UW player since 1976 to rush for at least 100 yards in his Huskey debut as he gained 126 yards against Weber State.

He followed Jedd Fisch from Arizona where last season as a sophomore Coleman rushed for 892 yards, including a career-high 179 yards on just 11 carries against Colorado.

As for the backups, Iowa’s Jaziun Patterson and Kamari Moulton have rushed for 144 and 130 yards, respectively, while Cameron Davis, Adam Mohammad and Desmond Williams Jr. have gained 173, 115 and 110 yards, respectively for Washington.

Iowa lost a running back earlier this week when Leshon Williams announced he plans to enter the transfer portal.

Williams led Iowa with 821 rushing yards last season. But he barely has played this season due partly to injuries and to Iowa’s depth at running back.

Advantage: Iowa

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Receiver:  Washington has three wide receivers that have combined for 1,193 receiving yards and 11 touchdowns this season, while Iowa’s entire group of wide receivers have combined for just three touchdowns, and just two of Iowa’s wide receivers – Northwestern transfer Jacob Gill (169) and true freshman Reece Vander Zee (123) – have at least 100 receiving yards.

Sophomore Denzel Boston leads Washington with 492 receiving yards and eight touchdowns on 36 receptions. He also averages 14.1 yards per reception.

Michigan transfer Giles Jackson leads Washington with 38 receptions, and he has 476 receiving yards and two touchdowns.

Jackson and Boston are becoming one of the top wide receiver tandems in the country.

Washington also has a third threat at receiver in Jeremiah Hunter, who has 19 catches for 222 yards and one touchdown.

Iowa lost some depth at wide receiver when Kaleb Brown announced earlier this week that he plans to enter the transfer portal.

Brown was expected to play a key role this season, but he only appeared briefly in three games and had one catch for 18 yards.

He was also suspended for the season opener against Illinois State after being charged with drunken driving and with using a fake ID in June.

Redshirt freshman Jarriett Buie has recently started to get more playing time and has two catches for 29 yards.

Former walk-on Kaden Wetjen has one catch for 33 yards.

Advantage: Washington

 

Tight end:  Iowa will be without its No. 2 tight end Addison Ostrenga in Saturday’s game due to an injury that he sustained against Ohio State. His loss is significant in both the passing and running game.

Ostrenga has 11 catches for 63 yards, and he is one of just four players on the team with at least 10 catches.

Senior Luke Lachey leads Iowa with 17 catches, and has 130 receiving yards.

Lachey has 57 career catches for 764 yards and four touchdowns. The Ohio native missed the final 11 games last season due to a lower leg injury.

Sophomore Zach Ortwerth and junior Johnny Pascuzzi both could play a more significant role in Saturday’s game in Ostrenga’s absence.

Ortwerth has three career receptions for 89 yards, while Pascuzzi, who has mostly been used as a blocker, has one catch for one yard.

Meanwhile, even without season-opening starter Quentin Moore, Washington has a productive one-two punch at tight end in 6-7, 244-pound senior Keleki Latu and freshman Decker DeGraaf. They have 180 and 125 receiving yards, respectively. DeGraaf also has two receiving touchdowns this season.

Moore suffered a knee injury in the season opener against Weber State and hasn’t played since. However, he is listed as the starter on this week’s depth chart.

Advantage: Washington

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Offensive line: These units couldn’t be much different in how they were assembled.

Iowa’s five starters on the offensive line have combined for 151 career starts, while four of Washington’s five starters joined the program this summer.

The only holdover from the previous coaching staff is junior Gaard Memmelaar, who has started every game at left guard this season after having missed all of last season due to an injury.

The new additions up front are sophomore right tackle Drew Azzopardi, who transferred from San Diego State; senior center D’Angalo Titialii,, who transferred from Portland State; senior right guard Enokk Vimahi, who transferred from Ohio State; and junior left tackle Maximus McCree, who transferred from Iowa Central Community College where he played in 2023 after having played for Maryland in 2022.

The newcomers up front have had to learn how to play together in a hurry, but so far, the transition has gone smoothly based on the success of both the running game and the passing game.

Iowa’s offensive line has helped to make Kaleb Johnson one of the most productive running backs in the country, but it did struggle with run blocking against Ohio State.

And while Washington has a way more balanced offense than Iowa, it’s hard to know how much credit goes to the offensive line.

This was a tough choice between two units that are similar from a performance/execution standpoint, but that are vastly different in how they were built.

Advantage: Washington

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Defensive line: The situation on the defensive line is sort of like the offensive line matchup in that Washington mostly has newcomers starting, while Iowa has four veteran starters that have combined to play in 153 games with 48 starts.

The Huskies are deep and talented at the edge positions with Zach Durfee, Isaiah Ward and Voi Tunuufi. Ward leads the team with four tackles for loss, and he also has two sacks and one pass break-up.

Durfee has 3.5 tackles for loss and 2.5 sacks while Tunuufi has 1.5 tackles for loss and 1.5 sacks.

On the interior, Washington is led by 6-4, 305-pound Sebastian Valdez and 6-3, 307-pound Jacob Bandes. Valdez has 21 tackles, including 3.5 for loss and one sack, while Bandes has 10 tackles.

Iowa’s starting defensive line consists of senior defensive ends Deontae Craig and Ethan Hurkett, senior defensive tackle Yahya Black and junior defensive tackle Aaron Graves.

Brian Allen and Max Llewellyn also provide quality depth at defensive end.

Allen, Llewellyn and Hurkett lead the team with 3.5 tackles for loss, while Graves leads the team with three sacks.

Llewellyn also has three pass break-ups and one quarterback hurry.

This was a tough decision because both units are solid. But Iowa’s defensive line has been playing together for a much longer time.

Advantage: Iowa

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Linebacker: You would be hard-pressed to find a better linebacker tandem than Iowa’s Jay Higgins and Nick Jackson, but Washington also has its own dynamic duo at linebacker in Carson Bruener and Alphonzo Tuputala.

Bruener, who is the son of former Huskey and NFL tight end Mark Bruener, leads the team with 36 tackles and he also has one of Washington’s four interceptions.

Tuputala is second on the team with 30 tackles and he also has three tackles for loss, 2.5 sacks, one pass break-up and one quarterback hurry.

Higgins leads Iowa with 48 tackles and has played one fewer game than Bruener and Tuputala have this season.

Higgins also has two of Iowa’s six interceptions.

Jackson is second on the team with 28 tackles.

Jackson is a sixth-year graduate student who played his first four seasons for Virginia before transferring to Iowa in 2023. The Atlanta, Georgia native has 492 career tackles and is just 86 tackles shy of becoming the all-time FBS tackles leader.

Iowa also has another experienced linebacker in graduate Kyler Fisher. He has played in 52 games with five stars.

Fisher usually plays when Iowa shifts to a 4-3 defensive alignment.

Advantage: Iowa

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Defensive backfield: Washington starts five defensive backs, and all five are athletic and active.

Safeties Kamren Fabiculanan and Cameron Broussard have 22 and 20 tackles, respectively, while cornerback Thaddeus Dixon has 17 tackles, one interception and a team-high five pass break-ups.

Junior Ephesians Prysock has started every game at cornerback this season after having transferred from Arizona.

Three different players have started at the nickel spot this season, the most recent being Khmori House against Michigan.

Redshirt freshman Jordan Shaw has started four games at nickel this season and he has 16 tackles, two tackles for loss and four pass break-ups.

Iowa also often plays five defensive backs, using 2023 All-America safety Sebastian Castro in the cash position.

Iowa’s five starters in the secondary have combined for 105 starts, led by Quinn Schulte’s 32 starts at free safety.

Graduate cornerback Jermari Harris has started 23 games and is performing at a very high level this season. The Chicago native has two interceptions this season, including a pick-six against Troy, and seven in his career.

Advantage: Iowa

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Special teams: Washington has a reliable punter in Jack McCallister, who is averaging 44.3 yards on 18 attempts, but an unreliable kicker in Grady Gross, who has missed six of his 15 field-goal attempts this season, including both attempts from at least 50 yards.

Iowa’s punter/kicker combination of freshman Rhys Dakin and junior Drew Stevens has mostly been solid throughout the season.

Dakin is averaging 43.7 yards on 28 attempts, with 12 of his punts downed inside the 20.

He has struggled briefly at times as he faces the daunting task of replacing 2023 Ray Guy Award winner and fellow Melbourne, Australia native Tory Taylor.

But with each game, Dakin seems to be progressing.

Stevens has made 6-of-7 field-goal attempts this season, the longest from 46 yards. He has made 40-of-51 field-goal attempts overall as a Hawkeye.

Denzel Boston also returns punts for Washington and is averaging 8.1 yards on eight returns, while Kaden Wetjen is averaging 8.0 yards per punt return and 25.8 yards per kick return for Iowa.

Advantage: Iowa