UW Huskies in Sun Bowl: Louisville pushes on after key players opt out

EL PASO, Texas (AP) — Harrison Bailey is expected to start at quarterback for Louisville in the Sun Bowl against the UW Huskies, which means there won’t be a final trip to Texas for Tyler Shough before he pursues an NFL career.

Sun Bowl Preview: UW Huskies look to secure winning season

Before his final college season with the Cardinals (8-4), Shough spent three injury-plagued years at Texas Tech following his transfer from Oregon.

Shough’s opt-out of Tuesday’s game against the Huskies (6-6) opened the door for Bailey, who played sparingly in coach Jeff Brohm’s first two seasons in a career that started at Tennessee and continued at UNLV.

While Louisville landed former Southern California QB Miller Moss in the transfer portal, Brohm still sees the Sun Bowl as a 2025 audition for plenty of his players.

“It’s important that they do play well if they want to get a position for next year,” Brohm said. “They need to prove themselves in this football game, and we have to make decisions after that, according to how the game goes.”

The other key opt-outs for Louisville are 1,000-yard receiver Ja’Corey Brooks, defensive lineman Ashton Gillotte and Quincy Riley, who led the secondary with nine pass breakups and had two interceptions. They are joining Shough in preparing for the NFL draft.

The portal didn’t have the same impact on the Washington roster, but the Huskies did lose promising freshman linebacker Khmori House, who transferred to North Carolina.

Freshman Demond Williams Jr. is expected to start at QB for the Huskies after taking over for Will Rogers in a 49-21 loss to top-ranked Oregon in the regular-season finale.

“They are opportunities for players who gave a ton of blood, sweat and tears,” said coach Jedd Fisch, who is in his first season at Washington after leading a turnaround at Arizona. “For some reason, we’ve decided that (bowls) are not as important, and I don’t agree. … If you have a chance to go play in a bowl game, it should be a championship mentality.”

• Watch out for the run

With Shough and Brooks gone, Louisville is likely to lean on one of the nation’s top freshman running backs. Isaac Brown entered bowl season second among first-year backs with 1,074 yards to go with 11 touchdowns. He has averaged 7.3 yards per carry. Another freshman, Duke Watson, has 514 yards and seven TDs.

• Offensively challenged

The UW Huskies entered bowl season 110th nationally out of 134 teams by scoring an average of 22.5 points a game. But Williams, who came with Fisch from Arizona, will have 1,000-yard rusher Jonah Coleman and Denzel Boston, who led Washington with 807 yards receiving. Coleman has 10 rushing TDs and Boston nine receiving scores.

• History lesson

The first meeting between Louisville and Washington is also the Cardinals’ first trip to the Sun Bowl since the school’s first-ever bowl game in 1958, a 34-20 victory over Drake.

That was five years before Sun Bowl Stadium opened, so the game was at old Kidd Field on the UTEP campus. Kidd Field, which sits right next to the Sun Bowl, is still standing. It’s the home of UTEP track and field.

• Return to the Sun

The Huskies have been more frequent participants in the Sun Bowl but not since 2002, when they lost to Drew Brees-led Purdue 34-24. Washington has lost three consecutive Sun Bowl appearances since beating Texas 15-7 in its first in 1979.

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