Illinois Fighting Illini at Washington Huskies

Denzel Boston’s big day helps Washington beat No. 23 Illinois and match its 2024 win total

Boston, who played quarterback for six years when he was younger, threw and caught a touchdown pass, and finished with career highs of 10 catches and 153 receiving yards to lead Washington to a 42-25 victory over No. 23 Illinois on Saturday.

“That’s who he is,” coach Jedd Fisch said. “I think he’s one of the best receivers in the country. And we’ve continued to find ways to get him the ball, and we’ll always continue to do that.”

Boston, who entered the game 10th in the Big Ten in receiving yards, put the Huskies (6-2, 3-2 Big Ten) up for good at 21-17 with a 12-yard TD pass to Jonah Coleman on a trick play with 40 seconds remaining in the first half.

“He’s a baller, everybody knows that,” quarterback Demond Williams Jr. said. “He continues to show that every week.”

Williams, who tossed four touchdown passes, threw a backward pass to Boston. The junior wideout promptly threw the ball across the field to a wide-open Coleman, allowing Washington to head into halftime with a lead it would not relinquish.

“It was certainly nice to see Denzel take that one and run with it and throw the ball there to Jonah,” Fisch said. "All that was really good.”

The Huskies led 14-3 after the first quarter thanks to a pair of 13-yard receiving touchdowns by Dezmen Roebuck. The Fighting Illini (5-3, 2-3) struck twice in the second quarter and took a 17-14 lead on a 5-yard touchdown pass by Luke Altmyer to Tanner Arkin.

After Arkin’s touchdown catch, though, Washington outscored Illinois 28-8. It was the Huskies’ second win against a Top 25 team under Fisch; Washington beat No. 10 Michigan 27-17 at home last season.

The Fighting Illini, meanwhile, lost for the third time in five weeks after a 3-0 start to the year in which they were ranked as high as No. 9 in the nation.

“It was great to get a win against a Top 25 team,” Fisch said. “They’re a very good football team. They won 10 games last year.”

Washington’s sixth victory matched the Huskies’ total number of wins from the 2024 campaign, which was Fisch’s first at Washington.

“It’s great that we got six wins,” Boston said. “We got many more to go.”

3rd down thriving The Huskies entered the contest 14th in the Big Ten in third-down conversion rate during conference play, having succeeded on just 15 of 43 attempts. But on Saturday, Washington converted nine of 11 third-down opportunities.

Fisch credited Washington’s success to how the offense fared on first and second down.

“I think the biggest thing is we weren’t in a lot of third-and-longs,” Fisch said.

Ballhawk dogs Seven games into first-year defensive coordinator Ryan Walters’ tenure, Washington ranked 69th nationally in turnovers created with eight. The Huskies generated two of them on Saturday, both coming on interceptions of Altmyer by cornerback Tacario Davis and safety Rahshawn Clark.

A jovial Fisch described that development as “awesome”.

“Takeaways are huge,” Fisch said. “I told them all week long, you get zero takeaways, you’ve got about a 25% chance to win…It was a good day in taking the ball away.”

The takeaway Illinois: The Fighting Illini defense, which was ranked 73rd in the country in total defense heading into the game, struggled mightily against Washington’s offense. The Huskies scored on all six of their red zone opportunities, and just two of their eight drives did not end in a touchdown.

Washington: Coleman increased his career high for rushing touchdowns in a season with his 13th of the year. The senior running back has 15 total touchdowns this season to lead the Huskies in scoring.

Up next Illinois: Hosts Rutgers on Nov. 1.

Washington: At Wisconsin on Nov. 8.