The Washington Huskies (8–4, 5–4 Big Ten) meet the Boise State Broncos (9–4, 6-2 Mountain West champions) in the LA Bowl. The Huskies are coming off a solid second season under Jedd Fisch where key underclassmen established themselves for a 2026 season with high expectations. On the other side, the Broncos won their third straight Mountain West title, their seventh overall, in their final season before joining the rebuilt Pac-12. While his tenure at each program is years in the rearview mirror, Chris Petersen’s influence on both programs, establishing or reestablishing the respective programs’ reputations at the national level, is still felt to this day. Despite being a step down from each program’s recent post season berths, pride is still on the line in the unofficial Petersen bowl.
The Scheme & Personnel
This matchup between frequent non-conference PNW opponents pits UW’s explosive, pro-style inspired offense against Boise’s aggressive 4–2–5 defense. In his second season at the helm, defensive coordinator Erik Chinander has his defense playing tough, aggressive football that prioritizes impact plays over steady bend-but-don’t-break consistency. Under head coach Spencer Danielson, the Broncos have established a team identity that revolves around gritty physicality. Their 2024 squad, headlined by RB Ashton Jeanty, took their old-school recipe for success, run the ball and play suffocating defense, to its extreme. In 2025, without Jeanty powering an explosive rushing attack, the whole team took a step back statistically. Instead of being able to rely on the offense to throttle the pace of play as needed, or to score points in a hurry, the Bronco defense has regressed from 38th nationally in scoring defense to 54th. Now that regression wasn’t nearly as significant as their offense’s (5th to 40th in scoring offense), but it does illustrate just how reliant their defense is on turnovers and havoc plays, as well as an offense that can control time of possession, to maintain their efficiency.
Overall, the Broncos’ defense leans heavily on team speed and creative disguises to generate plays. Up front, the defensive line doesn’t rely on an individual playmaker, but instead focuses on collectively soaking up blockers to allow LBs and DBs to rally to the ball. This is a classic G5 defensive strategy that Coach Pete Kwiatkowski implemented at Boise years ago and has deployed to great success at Washington and Texas. The DBs, particularly Ty Benefield (Boise’s leading tackler) and Jeremiah Earby (5th in tackles and T-1st in INTs), have flourished in this scheme.
This schematic structure has also made it harder for offenses to single out a specific pass rusher to neutralize in their game planning. No individual defender accounts for more than 25% of their team sack total, and 11 different players have recorded a sack. With that being said, the lack of a singular elite pass rusher also makes it difficult for Boise’s defense to generate pressure against a well-prepared opponent.
Keys to the Game
Big plays are going to be the name of the game. Boise’s defense tends to be susceptible to big plays, and UW’s offense tends to operate best when big plays are available. Boise shifting gears into a bend-but-don’t-break game plan may be just enough of a curveball to throw the Huskies off their game. With that being said, the UW offense has found greater success down the stretch on the ground with up-and-coming RBs Adam Mohammed and Jordan Washington. The thunder and lighting duo bring both consistent chunk yardage and big play ability to the table, and a dominant run game has been the silver bullet against Boise. In each of their four losses, Boise opponents have averaged no fewer than 4 yards per carry on an average of 38 carries, including at least a 40+ yard run in each game. Explosive run plays are available, and the RB trio of Jonah Coleman, Mohammed, and Washington, plus dual threat ability from Demond Williams, poses the greatest combination of rushing talent that Boise’s faced since their Notre Dame loss. Run the ball effectively, and everything else should fall into place.