29-01-2025
Washington's Sun Bowl appearance ranked among top 25 college football games in 2024
Washington's Sun Bowl appearance ranked among top 25 college football games in 2024
Although the Washington Huskies lost the Tony The Tiger Sun Bowl 35-34 to the Louisville Cardinals, it was arguably one of the most exciting games of bowl season. ESPN's Bill Connelly agreed and ranked the matchup as the 25th-best game from the 2024 college football season and the No. 7 best of the postseason slate.
Inside Sun Bowl Stadium in El Paso, Texas, coach Jedd Fisch got to oversee the official breakout of freshman quarterback Demond Williams Jr., while senior wide receiver Giles Jackson ended his career with an exclamation point. Williams completed 81 percent of his passes for 374 yards and 4 touchdowns, all of which went to Jackson, and added 48 yards and a score on the ground.
Jackson set career-highs in every department, hauling in 11 catches for 161 yards, including a touchdown catch to cut the Cardinal lead to one point with under 15 seconds to play in the fourth quarter.
But despite the loss, the day belonged to Williams, who proved that the Huskies will have one of the best quarterbacks in the Big Ten at their disposal in 2025 if Fisch can continue to develop both the former four-star recruit and his supporting cast.
"I think this dude right here is going to be great. Great," Jackson said of the quarterback after the game. "Literally, I think he has a chance to win the Heisman. That last play where he scrambled and made the throw to Jeremiah, I've never seen that before. He's going to be a Dawg."
The play Jackson described was arguably the single-best play of bowl season, which probably had some impact on Connelly's ranking. On second and 10 as the Huskies were driving with a chance to tie the game, Louisville's pass rush got to Williams quickly, the freshman quarterback had to spin out of a sack and while he was getting hit, he delivered a perfect strike downfield to Jeremiah Hunter, who took it for 32 yards and got his team into the red zone.
Although the Huskies weren't able to come away with the win after Louisville's defense batted Williams' pass away on a two-point conversion attempt, the Sun Bowl provided plenty of entertainment and gave Fisch a lot to build on in his second season on Montlake.
