Ranking Washington's 20 consecutive home victories

From least to most memorable. Any guesses at No. 1?

From Kent State to UCLA, from the Pac-12 to the Big Ten, from Kalen DeBoer to Jedd Fisch, the Washington Huskies can at least say that one thing remained constant.

It’s been three full seasons since they lost at home.

Though the Huskies possess a middling 6-5 record, their 31-19 victory over UCLA on Friday assured an unbeaten home record in 2024 and made it 20 wins in a row at Husky Stadium. It doesn’t compare to the school’s 45-game home winning streak from 1908-17 — when the team played its games at Denny Field, before they were even called the “Huskies” — but it is a Husky Stadium record, and a modern-era record, and in fact a record for any era that did not in some way involve Gil Dobie. It also is the second-longest active home winning streak in FBS, behind only Georgia’s streak of 29.

The Huskies have outscored their opponents 742-367 during the streak, an average of 37.1 to 18.4 per game. Eight times, UW scored 40-plus; four times, its opponent did not score a touchdown, and once, the Huskies managed to win without scoring an offensive touchdown. Thanks to victories over USC and UCLA this season, the streak now includes a win over every member of the former Pac-12. Five of the 20 victories came against opponents ranked at the time of the game, though only two were against opponents who finished the season ranked (we can close the book on Michigan this year).

Let’s look back at how the Huskies got here, ranking each of their 20 consecutive home victories from least to most memorable.

20. Washington 52, Portland State 6 (Sept. 10, 2022)

One of two FCS victories during the current streak, and, I would say, the least memorable game of the bunch. UW had 337 yards by halftime despite Rome Odunze sitting out while managing an injury (the only game he missed from 2022-23). This game also marked Sam Huard’s last action as a Husky, as he completed 2-for-2 for 24 yards in the fourth quarter. 

19. Washington 43, Tulsa 10 (Sept. 9, 2023)

This Week 2 tuneup was mostly just a box to check, and the Huskies sort of played like it, winning easily while making several sloppy mistakes. They also didn’t punt a single time in this game, and routed Michigan State in East Lansing the following week.

18. Washington 30, Eastern Michigan 9 (Sept. 7, 2024)

A bad first quarter gave way to a fairly easy victory, and the Huskies went the first two games of the Fisch era without allowing a touchdown. They had a goal-line stand in this game, too, which was nice foreshadowing for the season to come.

17. Washington 54, Colorado 7 (2022)

Remember when DeBoer still coached Washington, and the Buffaloes were limping to a 1-11 finish under interim coach Mike Sanford? Brian Howell, the CU beat reporter for The Daily Camera newspaper in Boulder, recalled being the only person at Sanford’s postgame press conference in Seattle; things look a bit different in 2024. I remember thinking UW didn’t play all that well in the first half … yet they led 33-0 at halftime. The win secured a perfect home record for DeBoer in his first season.

16. Washington 59, California 32 (Sept. 23, 2023)

Though it wound up one of the least memorable games of the season, it was noteworthy for a few reasons. UW led 14-0 before its offense played a single snap, owing to Edefuan Ulofoshio’s pick-six and Odunze’s 83-yard punt-return touchdown. It was the debut of Husky Stadium’s new LED lights. UW led 45-12 at halftime and 52-12 early in the third quarter. Michael Penix Jr. didn’t play in the fourth.

15. Washington 40, Stanford 22 (Sept. 24, 2022)

UW followed a big win over Michigan State with this relatively easy victory over the Cardinal to open Pac-12 play. The Huskies had eight sacks, Odunze caught eight passes for 161 yards and a touchdown, and tailback Wayne Taulapapa had the first 100-yard game of his career. UW improved to 4-0 and climbed to No. 15 in the AP top-25. But the Huskies lost their next two games, at UCLA and Arizona State, to put an end to any premature CFP talk.

14. Washington 56, Boise State 19 (Sept. 2, 2023)

It’s easy to forget the Broncos actually led, 6-0, at the end of the first quarter, before Penix started gashing the defense and the Huskies built a huge lead. The season-opening victory was made more impressive by BSU’s eventual Mountain West championship, and maybe some of the Broncos’ early splash plays seem more forgivable in hindsight, considering a pre-stardom Ashton Jeanty accounted for 109 receiving yards and a touchdown on four catches (though UW did limit him to 44 yards rushing and a touchdown on 10 carries). Penix threw for a casual 450 yards and five touchdowns.

13. Washington 35, Weber State 3 (Aug. 31, 2024)

The first game of the Fisch era went mostly according to plan, as the Huskies shook off a slow start to win comfortably. The game introduced Jonah Coleman to UW fans, and several true freshmen — like Demond Williams Jr., Decker DeGraaf and Adam Mohammed — turned heads, too. Aside from all that, it might be best remembered for the bizarre play that resulted in a season-ending injury for tight end Quentin Moore.

12. Washington 45, Kent State 20 (Sept. 3, 2022)

The DeBoer era — and the home winning streak — began with an easy victory over a MAC opponent. UW’s offensive performance suggested a quick turnaround. Penix threw for 345 yards and four touchdowns, two of them to Jalen McMillan and one to Odunze. 

11. Washington 24, Northwestern 5 (Sept. 21, 2024)

This was an ideal opponent for UW’s inaugural Big Ten game. The Huskies held the Wildcats to 112 yards of total offense and kept them out of the end zone thanks to a pair of goal-line stands. Other highlights: Elijah Jackson’s tackle to prevent a kick-return score; David Braun opting to kick a field goal on fourth-and-goal from the 1-yard line, trailing 17-2 in the third quarter; Khmori House catching an interception on a ball that ricocheted off the chest of an NU receiver. After the game, Fisch commemorated UW’s first Big Ten win by awarding a game ball to athletic director Pat Chun.

10. Washington 49, Arizona 39 (Oct. 15, 2022)

Fisch’s first game as a head coach at Husky Stadium came on the opponent’s sideline. His rebuilding Wildcats finished 5-7 that season but ran a pesky offense with quarterback Jayden de Laura and receivers Dorian Singer, Jacob Cowing and Tetairoa McMillan. Arizona hung around but Penix threw for a school-record 516 yards and accounted for five touchdowns, and the Huskies snapped their two-game losing streak. Across town, the Seattle Mariners saw their season end with a 1-0, 18-inning defeat to the Houston Astros in Game 3 of the American League Division Series. UW-Arizona kicked off at 2:40 p.m.; first pitch at T-Mobile Park was 1:07. Yet the Mariners played another hour and 15 minutes after the Huskies were done.

9. Washington 31, UCLA 19 (Nov. 15, 2024)

Will you ultimately remember UW’s 20th consecutive home victory as “the Demond Williams Jr. game?” UW’s freshman quarterback replaced a struggling Will Rogers in the third quarter and helped lead the Huskies to 17 points on their next three possessions. World of Warcraft was also involved, and the Huskies had six sacks. Maybe it will end up being “the Russell Davis II” game, too.

8. Washington 26, USC 21 (Nov. 2, 2024)

Win No. 19 was a nail-biter, and should be remembered, in part, for Lance Holtzclaw’s pressure on USC’s final fourth down. The Huskies are fortunate that the substitution penalty in the fourth quarter won’t have as prominent of a place in the retelling. Carson Bruener played lights out with a bum shoulder, and Lincoln Riley changed quarterbacks afterward. The win marked just the fifth time UW has ever defeated Michigan and USC in the same season.

7. Washington 35, Utah 28 (Nov. 11, 2023)

Many will remember this game primarily for Alphonzo Tuputala’s pick-six-that-wasn’t, but it also was one of several hard-fought victories for the Huskies en route to last season’s Pac-12 championship. Utah quarterback Bryson Barnes, a former walk-on, threw for 238 yards in the first half, and the 13th-ranked Utes led 28-24 at halftime. Then UW’s defense clamped down and held Utah to just 76 yards in the second half, and even after Tuputala’s gaffe, the Huskies scored a safety to account for the final margin.

6. Washington 24, Oregon State 21 (Nov. 4, 2022)

At the time, this was DeBoer’s biggest win yet at Washington (he surpassed it by a decent margin in Eugene the week after). It was a weird one: Friday night, strong winds, stadium lights went out for about 25 minutes in the fourth quarter. No. 23 Oregon State missed a couple crucial fourth-down tries. Edefuan Ulofoshio played for the first time that season. Penix threw a pick-six but also led two huge scoring drives in the fourth quarter. Peyton Henry banged through a 22-yard field goal to cap a 92-yard drive with eight seconds left to win it. 

5. Washington 27, Michigan 17 (Oct. 5, 2024)

The Huskies forever get to claim a “top-10 win over Michigan” despite the fact the Wolverines, then ranked No. 10, are now staring at a likely 6-6 regular-season finish. On a beautiful Saturday evening before a packed house, though, the Huskies exacted at least some measure of revenge against the team that defeated it in last season’s national championship game, even if both programs look far different now. Kam Fabiculanan said recently his fourth-quarter interception to set up UW’s clinching field goal rates as the favorite play of his career. It was the high point of the Fisch era so far, a signature win amid a rocky first season. 

4. Washington 15, Arizona State 7 (Oct. 21, 2023)

This game included one of the most important plays of the season, Mishael Powell’s 89-yard pick-six to give UW a fourth-quarter lead in a game it seemed certain to lose … as a 26.5-point favorite. The Huskies were coming off their massive victory over Oregon, and rudderless ASU fulfilled the promise of a trap game, harassing Penix and preventing UW’s offense from experiencing the end zone. Penix and several of his teammates were apparently sick for this game (and the next, at Stanford), but ASU also stymied UW’s offense by bringing pressure up the middle, and the Huskies had no answer for it. A friend recently posed the question: if Kenny Dillingham had settled for a fourth-quarter field goal rather than the fourth-and-three pass attempt that Trenton Bourguet threw to Powell, might DeBoer still be Washington’s coach?

3. Washington 39, Michigan State 28 (Sept. 17, 2022)

The Spartans were ranked No. 11 at the time, making this UW’s biggest nonconference home game in years. A raucous crowd watched UW jump to a 29-8 halftime lead before coasting. Never mind that MSU wasn’t actually that good; the Spartans wound up finishing 5-7 in Mel Tucker’s third season. This still was a cathartic victory that made clear the Huskies were ready for immediate Pac-12 contention under DeBoer, and gave Penix and Co. a national stage to showcase their revamped offense. It was a breakout, too, for Ja’Lynn Polk, who caught three touchdown passes.

2. Washington 24, Washington State 21 (Nov. 25, 2023)

The underdog Cougars gave the Huskies everything they could handle in the final Apple Cup-as-conference-game, and might have won, if not for Odunze’s famed fourth-and-one dash from UW’s 29-yard line. This was not UW’s finest performance, and there was no doubt frustration that winning required a 42-yard field goal by Grady Gross. Penix struggled and had that moment with his head in the equipment cart. Even at 12-0, vibes were not immaculate heading into the Pac-12 title game. But the win still set off a raucous field-storming, and DeBoer awarded Gross with a scholarship in the locker room afterward. It was a whole scene.

1. Washington 36, Oregon 33 (Oct. 14, 2023)

Feels like a long time ago, doesn’t it? Still, the game has a way of coming up. Asked last week to name the favorite play of his career, receiver Giles Jackson settled on the 26-yard touchdown he caught in the first quarter — on his first snap of the season, after sitting five games with a broken thumb — to give UW a 7-0 lead. Penix and Odunze combined for one of Husky Stadium’s all-time, keepsake moments in the fourth quarter, and Camden Lewis’ missed field goal set off what I’m comfortable calling the wildest on-field celebration in stadium history. It was later revealed that Penix had played through cramps — or perhaps something more? — in the fourth quarter. We also know that Odunze was recovering from a fractured rib and punctured lung. Dan Lanning was criticized for a few fourth-down decisions. Oregon has lost only once since.

— Christian Caple, On Montlake