Washington treated Monday like a Tuesday in terms of game preparation, according to head coach Jedd Fisch. That’s due to the short turnaround of the LA Bowl, which is the first FBS bowl game of the season. It will be played this Saturday between the Huskies and Boise State. The team will head to Los Angeles on Wednesday night, the day after the National Football Foundation Awards Dinner on Tuesday. That’s where Fisch will be, alongside Jonah Coleman, where the winner of the William V. Campbell trophy will be announced. Once in Southern California, though, the Huskies will practice on Thursday and Friday in addition to participating in bowl activities. It’s a fast-moving week, but Fisch sees the positives in an early bowl matchup.
Limited Bowl Prep
“There’s a little bit of an advantage being a quarters school,” Fisch said on Monday. “We start back [in school] on January 4th.” That gives the players and coaches a more substantial break before team meetings begin for next season. That also begins on the fourth with team meetings. Fisch pointed to the January 2nd Holiday Bowl as an example for the other way. In that case, the team would have just a one-day break before the 2026 offseason began.
“I think that’s really hard in college football to have our coaches and our players work every day all day, and then have a one-day break,” Fisch described. But an early bowl does mean significantly less practice time for the team. “I don’t like the fact that we’re eight practices less,” Fisch added.
However, last week was a dead period in recruiting due to early signing day. That meant that coaches were not on the road recruiting, and they were instead able to hold practices. Fisch said the team practiced four times during Championship Week.
Player Availability for LA Bowl
“I expect everyone to be there,” Fisch said when asked if any Washington players were skipping out on the LA Bowl trip. “I have not heard about anyone not going, and I have not heard anybody at this point in time talking about opting out of the game itself.” Fisch said that linebacker Jacob Manu will play in the game. Postseason games do not count against a redshirt year. He added that wide receiver Denzel Boston and Coleman at running back are both fully healthy and will be ready to play as well. It seems that cornerback Tacario Davis is still a question mark, and it will depend on if his hamstring is ready.
In terms of game planning reps between young players and the regular starters, expect it to be the same as a regular-season game. “We are planning to bring the same team and play the same amount of reps as we did when we played Oregon a week ago,” Fisch said on Monday. “Our job is to go try to do everything we possibly can to beat a team that played in the CFP last year, and that won the Mountain West this year.” Fisch made it clear that the entire roster is going to be open to play if healthy. But at the end of the day, it comes down to putting a trophy in the trophy case. “Really, we’re out here to win the game, we’re out here to play our best football.”
Host Rob Gronkowski
Four-time Super Bowl champion Rob Gronkowski is the host of the LA Bowl. Fisch knows the former Arizona Wildcat well. “As a matter of fact, we had him set the Guinness Book of World Record in 2021 of catching a punt out of a helicopter,” Fisch described this week. It was the record for the highest catch, as the ball plunged from 600 feet in the air above Arizona Stadium.
Before Fisch became the head coach at Arizona, he said Gronkowski was one of the first people he contacted. “He was one of the first people I talked to when I got offered the last job. Coach Belichick put me in touch with him,” Fisch recalled. At Arizona, Fisch made Gronkowski an honorary captain every season that he was in Tucson. They’ll reunite on Saturday night inside SoFi Stadium.
Main Image: Steven Bisig-Imagn Images
