Washington's 24-5 win over Northwestern had Big Ten flavor

The Huskies and Wildcats have played four games against one another. Northwestern hasn't scored a touchdown in the last three.

SEATTLE — It’s been 44 years and a day since Northwestern scored a touchdown against Washington.

If you watched Saturday’s game at Husky Stadium, you can be forgiven for wondering if the Wildcats will ever score another.

The Huskies began their Big Ten journey with a 24-5 victory in their inaugural conference game, and say this for Northwestern’s five blessed points: they were achieved in decidedly Midwestern fashion, via a safety and a field goal attempted from the opponent’s 1-yard line while facing a 15-point deficit in the third quarter.

Even when the Huskies spotted the Wildcats a 96-yard kick return in the fourth quarter — call Elijah Jackson’s hustle tackle “The Sprint” — Northwestern moved the ball only from UW’s 2-yard line to UW’s 1-yard line before Jack Lausch’s fourth-down pass attempt fell incomplete, and an announced crowd of 69,778 began to understand why this new foe previously settled for that consolation field goal.

It bears repeating: when UW football representatives foretell a more challenging future in their new league, they aren’t talking about games like Saturday’s, which the Huskies led 17-0 before Northwestern had managed its second first down.

“I don’t really know if there’s many other great adjectives to describe” how well UW’s defense played, coach Jedd Fisch said, so he settled on “extraordinary.”

The occasion of UW’s first Big Ten victory also prompted Fisch to award a game ball to athletic director Pat Chun.

“We’re so excited about being in this conference, and we understand the responsibility to be in this conference,” Fisch said. “You watch the football … Big Ten football is, top to bottom, really, really good teams, and we’ve got to be ready to go.”

Ehh.

Ehhhhh.