Washington Huskies cruise to LA Bowl blowout over Boise State
1 of 29 | From left, quarterback Demond Williams Jr., coach Jedd Fisch and Rob Gronkowski raise their arms after the Washington Huskies’ win against the Boise State Broncos in the Bucked Up LA Bowl, hosted by Gronk, on Saturday at SoFi... (Dean Rutz / The Seattle Times)
By Andy Yamashita Seattle Times staff reporter
INGLEWOOD, Calif. — The atmosphere was filled with uncertainty, even as Washington celebrated on the LA Bowl logo.
It wasn’t because of the sparsely populated lower bowls of SoFi Stadium. And it certainly wasn’t because of the score, due to the overmatched nature of the LA Bowl’s matchup. Not even four-time Super Bowl champion and official LA Bowl host Rob Gronkowski racing, and losing, to Boise State’s black Labrador tee-retrieval dog Blitz was able to lift the game’s subdued spirits.
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Instead, the uncertainty of Washington’s future — and particularly Jedd Fisch’s amid links to the Michigan coaching vacancy — loomed over SoFi Stadium like the Los Angeles smog.
Yet, Fisch didn’t hesitate talking about the future. At Washington.
“We’ve had a lot of those conversations at the bowl site,” Fisch said. “I gave the coaches off the next couple weeks. I’ll go back to Seattle for a few days, and then we’ll just figure out what we need to do. We’re working very hard at that, to make sure we keep the staff together, team together. We’ll meet and Zoom and have a lot of calls regarding trying to get everything ready to go Jan. 3 or 4, whenever we have that first team meeting.
“It’s going to look like a lot of work fundraising and talking to donors and trying to put our best team together that we possibly can.”
Washington defeated Mountain West champion Boise State 38-10 to win the 2025 LA Bowl in front of an announced crowd of 23,269 fans at SoFi Stadium in Inglewood, Calif., Saturday evening. Sophomore quarterback Demond Williams Jr. was selected as the LA Bowl’s offensive MVP, while junior linebacker and Auburn native Xe’ree Alexander was named the game’s defensive MVP.
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Williams was 15-for-24 passing for 214 yards and four touchdowns as he helped the Huskies (9-4) win their 22nd bowl game. Alexander made a team-leading seven tackles including a sack, two pass-breakups and an interception, one of five picks the Husky defense registered.
“We’re planning for the future,” Fisch said. “We’ve got some really good players.”
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Neither team found much rhythm on offense early. Boise State Kicker Colton Boomer nailed a 52-yard field goal on BSU’s first drive. Its next three drives resulted in two punts from deep in its own territory and an interception, as quarterback Maddux Madsen was picked off by a lurking Alexander. Boise State gained 49 total yards in the first quarter, and averaged just 2.2 yards per rush.
Washington’s offense was similarly stagnant to start. The Huskies settled for a 33-yard field goal by senior Grady Gross after a 15-play drive stalled out in the Bronco red zone. Their next two drives went three-and-out and gained a total of minus-1 yard. UW gained 54 total yards in the first quarter and averaged 3.2 yards per play.
But UW caught a break on its fourth drive of the game. Facing second-and-six from its own 22-yard line, Williams found junior wide receiver Denzel Boston wide open deep down the field after Boise State busted coverage for a 78-yard touchdown and a 10-3 lead.
It was Boston’s 20th career touchdown receiving, making him the eighth player in UW program history to reach the milestone. He finished the game with six catches for 125 yards receiving and a touchdown in what might be the final game of his UW career.
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“I had my back turned, obviously, because I was under center running play action,” Williams said. “Once I turned around, I saw there were no safeties and my guy was running free. So I was just trying to make sure I made it as catchable as possible so he could go score.”
The Huskies extended their lead a drive later, when Williams, rolling out to his right, found diving freshman wide receiver Dezmen Roebuck at the front-right pylon for a 6-yard touchdown and a 17-3 lead.
And once UW’s offense gained some rhythm, it didn’t slow down. Sophomore nickel Rahshawn Clark reeled in an awkwardly thrown pass by Madsen, who was hit by junior edge rusher Isaiah Ward as he threw, and UW immediately converted it into a 3-yard touchdown catch by freshman wideout Raiden Vines-Bright. It was his first career score, to make it 24-3 with 1:17 remaining before the break.
Washington totaled 198 yards, averaged 6.4 yards per rush and 11 yards per play while outscoring Boise State 21-0 during the second quarter. The Huskies had 147 yards passing during the second quarter, more than the Broncos’ total yardage through three quarters.
“We knew what they were going to play on defense,” Williams said. “So it was just a matter of execution, and I think that in the first quarter, we just weren’t executing enough. Second quarter, it was just a mentality thing.”
UW opened the second half in the same way, as Williams found seventh-year tight end Quentin Moore for a 32-yard touchdown, the longest reception of the Kenmore native’s career, up the left seam to make it 31-3.
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Boise State’s offense, however, continued to struggle. Madsen departed the game at halftime and was later seen on the Bronco sideline wearing a protective boot.
The Broncos (9-5) turned to sophomore Max Cutforth, who was intercepted three times. His first interception occurred in the UW end zone, when sophomore defensive back Leroy Bryant hauled in a ball Cutforth tried to thread between defenders along the left sideline. Cutforth’s second interception happened when a short pass was snagged by sixth-year edge rusher Deshawn Lynch, who returned the ball 57 yards before tripping and landing on the BSU 9-yard line.
Three plays later, senior running back Jonah Coleman waltzed into the end zone untouched from six yards out to add to the score.
Cutforth’s final interception came with 9:10 remaining, when Bryant picked a pass intended for Latrell Caples. Bryant entered the game with zero career interceptions. It’s the most picks UW has made in a single game since recording five against Washington State in the 96th Apple Cup on Nov. 22, 2003.
Fisch said UW’s performance in the LA Bowl was proof that this team holds “a lot of promise to win a lot of games” in 2026. If he stays.
“We’ve talked about what it looks like and what it can look like,” Fisch said. “And the fact that we went — at my last spot — from one win to five wins to 10 wins. And this one, we went from six wins to nine wins. So the only way to get better than that is to keep winning three or four more games every year. And that’s the plan.”
Andy Yamashita: ayamashita@seattletimes .com. Andy Yamashita is a sports reporter at The Seattle Times, primarily covering Washington Huskies football.
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