Brock Huard’s Observations: How UW Huskies, WSU Cougars look

The college football season kicked off in positive ways for both the UW Huskies and WSU Cougars, with the two in-state rivals each victorious in their openers on Saturday.

UW Huskies roll Kent State 45-20 | Ward throws 3 TDs, WSU tops Idaho 24-17

The Cougars had a spirited battle in Pullman against their neighbors from just across the state line, the Idaho Vandals, escaping with a 24-17 win thanks to a late WSU interception near the goal line that sealed it. The Huskies, meanwhile, had no problem with Kent State at Husky Stadium, blowing out the Golden Flashes 45-20 win in the debut of head coach Kalen DeBoer.

On the return edition of Seattle Sports’ Brock and Salk on Tuesday morning, FOX Sports college football analyst Brock Huard shared his thoughts on both teams.

UW Huskies

Offense was a common complaint when discussing Washington’s performance under previous head coach Jimmy Lake in 2021, as the Huskies scored 21 points in just five of their 12 games. Under DeBoer, the Dawgs had 21 points in the first quarter alone on Saturday.

Huard, who starred as UW quarterback in the 1990s, was very glad to see what the Dawgs did with new QB Michael Penix Jr., and he sure didn’t mince words when it came to comparing it to last season.

“The Huskies showed more ingenuity in 10 minutes than they did in 12 games offensively last year, and I’ll stand by that,” Huard said. “It showed you what coaching can do – great coaching, formations, personnel, tempo, creating one on ones, creating matchups. Everything that their historic, archaic, pathetic offense did not do a season ago.”

UW continues play at 1 p.m. Saturday at home against Portland State.

WSU Cougars

Huard will be on the TV call for Washington State’s Week 2 matchup at No. 19 Wisconsin at 12:30 p.m. Saturday, and while the Cougars had some trouble with Idaho, Huard was very impressed with new WSU QB Cameron Ward, who transferred to Wazzu from Incarnate Word of the FCS in the offseason.

“It was fun to see this this new kid, Cam Ward, this FCS All-American. Not a pretty game, they only beat the Vandals by seven, but he’s got a lot of Vince Young,” Huard said, referring to the former Texas Longhorns and Tennessee Titans star. “(Ward) is not as big as Vince, but he’s a mini Vince Young. Came out of the state of Texas, played down there at Incarnate Word at the FCS level for two years, I’m sure watched Vince Young growing up. From his low release to his quick release to his playmaking ability, kind of a littler, poor man’s Vince Young, but man is he fun and electric to watch.”

Huard also liked what he saw on the other side of the ball from head coach Jake Dickert’s Cougars team.

“Yeah, Mr. Dickert had them flying around defensively for the Cougs.”

You can listen to the full conversation in the Blue 88 segment of Brock and Salk at the end of the podcast at this link or in the player below.

Blue 88 airs at 7:45 a.m. during each edition of Brock and Salk, which is the new morning show on Seattle Sports 710 AM from 6-10 a.m. each weekday.

Pac-12 Network’s Roth: UW Huskies, with QB Penix, “really undervalued”

Follow @BrentStecker