All signs point to Demond Williams Jr. returning to the starting quarterback role when Washington plays Penn State on Saturday in Seattle.
“If Demond is feeling good, I don’t see why he wouldn’t play and start,” Washington coach Jedd Fisch said early this week. “But we haven’t been on the field yet. He took some hits in that game. So we just have to make sure that he’s good to go and that he feels right.”
Come Wednesday, Williams did not appear on the Huskies’ initial injury report for the game, indicating he was ready to return.
The signal-caller came off the bench last week in his return from a fractured rib and led the Huskies (5-3, 2-3 Big Ten) on a fourth-quarter rally in a 17-10 victory at Nebraska.
Williams made one brief appearance in the first half, completing a 9-yard pass. He returned in the fourth quarter with the Huskies trailing 7-3 and led a touchdown drive capped by a 25-yard scoring strike to Chris Lawson with 1:30 remaining. Lawson made 12 catches for 155 yards.
Williams was 7-of-13 passing for 99 yards and also made plays with his legs. A 17-yard scramble on third-and-15 from his own 14-yard line and his 24-yard pass to Lawson on fourth-and-18 set up the go-ahead touchdown.
Washington safety Alex McLaughlin, the Big Ten defensive player of the week, followed that with a 48-yard interception return for a touchdown to help clinch the victory, the second in a row for the Huskies.
Penn State is coming off a 31-17 home victory against Purdue that snapped a four-game skid. Cam Wallace rushed for a career-high 135 yards and a touchdown on 22 carries and Carson Hansen added 96 yards and a TD on 17 attempts. Quarterback Rocco Becht was 16 of 24 for 175 and another score.
It was Nittany Lions coach Matt Campbell’s first Big Ten win after being hired from Iowa State in the offseason.
“This group’s never wavered, they’ve never flinched, they’ve never — honestly — they haven’t bitched, whined, complained,” Campbell said. “They’ve just kind of gone to work and tried like heck to correct the areas and grow themselves forward. And I wouldn’t say everybody in that locker room’s done it, but I’d say the bulk majority has.”
With a 12:30 p.m. Pacific time kickoff Saturday, the Nittany Lions traveled to the West Coast on Thursday.
“If it was a later game, maybe it would have been a different approach, but the fact of it being when the game time is plus the travel time, we just felt like this was the best situation for us,” Campbell said.
Defensive tackle Keanu Williams, who played at UCLA the past three seasons, downplayed any issues with travel as long as the Nittany Lions get their rest and stay hydrated.
“It’s football at the end of the day, so got to play football, so it’s no big deal,” Keanu Williams said.