Washington Opens Demond Williams Era Against Colorado State in Home Opener; Week 1 picks
Washington Huskies look to extend 20-game home winning streak as they face Colorado State Rams in 2025 season opener at Husky Stadium.
Colorado State v. Washington
Date: Saturday - August 30, 2025, 8 p.m. PT
Location: Husky Stadium (Seattle, WA)
TV: Big Ten Network
Colorado State Rams Overview
Record: 0-0
Conference: Mountain West Coach: Jay Norvell
Key Players:
Brayden Fowler-Nicolosi (R-Jr.) Quarterback - Fowler-Nicolosi is the key cog in the CSU offensive engine that returns a plethora of key players from a 2024 season which saw the rams go 8-5 with a 6-1 record in conference play. The redshirt sophomore will be entering his third season at the helm after back-to-back seasons of quality play. In 2023, the QB threw for 3460 yards and 22 touchdowns and led the Mountain West in passing yards per-game. Fowler-Nicolosi’s numbers dipped a bit in 2024, but the gunslinger will still be a major threat for the Huskies’ defense.
Justin Marshall (R-So.) Running Back - Marshall was the second leading rusher for the Rams last season behind Avery Morrow and will be the bell-cow back this season. Last season, Marshall compiled 746 yards on the ground along with four scores. In the first game of the season, he toted the ball 25 times for 106 yards against Texas. The revamped Washington defensive line will have their hands full with an experience back on Saturday.
Jacob Ellis (Gr.) Linebacker - Colorado State’s defense lost a lot of key contributors from a solid unit a year ago. However, it did bring in a formidable force at linebacker in Ellis. During his time at Iowa State, Ellis started eight games and recorded 41 tackles in 2024. Ellis helped lead Iowa State to a conference championship appearance in 2024 and will look to be a leader on a young CSU unit.
Three Things to Know
Colorado State lost a lot on defense: The Rams’ defense in 2024 was not necessarily spectacular (74th in opponent points per-game); however, it was formidable enough to lead CSU to an 8-5 record. Junior linebacker Buom Jock led the team in tackles in 2024 and is now at Cal, redshirt junior defensive end Gabe Kirschke totaled 6.5 sacks and is now at Wake Forest, and senior linebacker Chase Wilson, who recorded 98 tackles and two interceptions, took off for West Viriginia.
Couple the mass exodus of talent with a much-improved Washington offense, this looks like bad news for CSU.
How will the young left guards fare for Washington? To put in bluntly, Washington’s offensive line struggled mightily in 2024. Entering 2025, the unit has vastly improved with the additions of Geirean Hatchett (again) and Carver Willis from Kansas State. UW is also relying heavily on two freshmen to command the left guard spot alongside Willis: true freshman John Mills out of St. Ignatius high school in San Francisco, and redshirt freshman Paki Finau who appeared in three games last season. Fisch confirmed that Mills will start, but Finau will also appear. For head coach Jedd Fisch, this will be a great feel-it-out game for the both the young players in hopes of getting one step closer to finding a permanent option.
Washington comes into Saturday with a 20-game home winning streak: Stretching all the way back to the start of the 2022 season, Washington has not lost a game at Husky Stadium. In that stretch, UW has beaten five ranked teams. The last Mountain West opponent (Boise State in 2023), Washington played at the Greatest Setting, suffered a 56-19 beatdown from the Huskies, and given its recent track record, Washington likely will have something similar in store for Colorado State.
Washington’s Keys to Victory
Key 1: Don’t try and do too much on offense.
When you get a new car, it’s hard not to immediately want to take it out for a spin and test out the accelerator, but for Washington, a simple ride around the block should do the trick. Washington has enough offensive fire power to keep the gameplan simple while still being able to handily move down the field. Part of maintaining the gameplan simple revolves around keeping sophomore QB Demond Williams injury free. The speedster is one of the fastest signal callers in college football which sets him up for designed run concepts. But the more running Williams does, the more at-risk he becomes for a potential injury. So, for Saturday, Williams’ rushing ability should not be relied upon; rather only be used as a novelty to keep the defense off-balance.
Key 2: Special teams must avoid costly mistakes.
Washington had a disastrous 2024 when it came to special teams. UW ranked 90th in kickoff return defense and 121st in punt return defense in FBS. However, it is not only a matter of limiting the opponent to big plays, but Washington was also unable to create favorable field position as well, and when they did, a field goal was not always a guarantee. Junior kicker Grady Gross missed eight of his 26 field goal attempts (four were blocked) and the Huskies failed to register a single punt or kick return touchdown in 2024.
To counteract the special teams’ blunders, Washington added Chris Petrilli from Purdue as its special teams coordinator and sophomore punter Luke Dunne from Oregon to hopefully improve the punting game.
Key 3: Step on the gas.
Blowouts happen because teams are relentless until the starters are pulled out. A successful game should result in the backups playing a good chunk of the fourth quarter. The Husky offense should look to stockpile points and protect itself from revealing too much of its playbook in this opening game.
Prediction
Spread: Washington is favored by 21.5 points.
Kevin: Welcome to the Demond Williams era. I expect the Huskies’ offense to play confidently in its home opener against Colorado State. The Rams are depleted after an exodus of key players into the transfer portal. Kevin’s Pick: Washington 41, Colorado State 17.
Danny: With a full offseason to fine tune both the offense and defense, Jedd Fisch should have the Huskies in a great position to make a statement at home. Expect a lot of explosive plays from the Huskies’ trio of offensive stars and a couple of key turnovers from the defense as well. Danny’s Pick: Washington 38, Colorado State 24
Week 1 Picks
No. 1 Texas at No. 3 Ohio State (Saturday at 9 a.m., FOX)
The spread: Ohio State is favored by 1.5 points.
Kevin’s pick: Ohio State 24, Texas 17
Danny’s pick: Texas 27, Ohio State 20
Ball State at Purdue (Saturday at 9 a.m., Big Ten Network)
The spread: Purdue is favored by 17.5 points.
Kevin’s pick: Purdue 24, Ball State 10
Danny’s pick: Purdue 17, Ball State 14
No. 9 LSU at No. 6 Clemson (Saturday at 4:30 p.m., ABC)
The spread: Clemson is favored by 4.5 points.
Kevin’s pick: Clemson 28, LSU 24
Danny’s pick: Clemson 42, LSU 30
Cal at Oregon State (Saturday at 7:30 p.m., CW)
The spread: Oregon State is favored by 1.5 points.
Kevin’s pick: Cal 17, Oregon State 14
Danny’s pick: Oregon State 35, Cal 21
Utah at UCLA (Saturday at 8 p.m., FOX)
The spread: Utah is favored by 5.5 points.
Kevin’s pick: Utah 23, UCLA 18
Danny’s pick: Utah 20, UCLA 15