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Washington’s Jedd Fisch Previews Pivotal Week 9 Matchup with Illinois Football

The Washington Huskies head coach speaks on the Illini heading into a pivotal conference game.

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Credit: Alex Kyi - Armchair Illini

As the 2025 season heads into a crucial stretch, Illinois Football prepares for a cross-country trip to Seattle to face a fired-up Washington Huskies team, fighting for the same crucial 4th place position in the Big Ten as Bret Bielema’s Fighting Illini. Both teams enter at 5–2 overall, with zero margin for error if either program wants a real fighting chance at a potential bid at the College Football Playoff.

For Bielema’s crew, it’s a pivotal moment coming off the bye week. A win on the road against a ranked Washington team—seemingly Illinois’ toughest test remaining — would put them in a strong position to potentially run the table and secure a playoff berth at 10-2. However, a long and unfamiliar trip to the West Coast, into one of the loudest environments in college football at Husky Stadium, will prove to be a tough challenge. With two closely matched teams, Illinois cannot afford to make the same sloppy mistakes in week 9, that cost them in their pre-bye week loss to Ohio State.

For coach Jedd Fisch’s Huskies, it’s about bouncing back from a frustrating 24–7 loss at Michigan. If Washington can regain their footing and confidence, it will be a challenge for the Illini to contain dangerous dual-threat sophomore Demond Williams Jr. and the Huskies on their home turf. That said, a banged-up offensive line will make it tough to keep Gabe Jacas and the Illini front 7 at bay, coming off bye week adjustments.

With so much at stake, Fisch met with the media Thursday to preview this pivotal Week 9 matchup and break down exactly how Washington plans to combat a veteran Illinois Football squad at home.

Behind Enemy Lines: Washington’s Jedd Fisch Previews Illinois Football at Washington

With both teams battling for that crucial fourth-place spot in the Big Ten, Washington’s Jedd Fisch opened his weekly press conference by acknowledging the challenge Illinois presents in this critical week 9 showdown.
“We know we have a great opponent in town. Looking forward to the opportunity to play Illinois.” Fisch states. “Ranked team. Coach Bielema has done a great job with his program. As expected. I think they’re now currently in their fifth year. I think 2021 was his first year as the head coach there, and certainly, he has done a great job and won 10 games last season. We know how challenging that is, and then to be back this year at 5-2, it will be a great challenge for us. We’re ready for it. We’re excited.”

Fisch On Illini QB Luke Altmyer

Fisch went on to highlight the versatility of Illinois quarterback Luke Altmyer. He notes the challenges Luke presents and the adjustments Washington’s defense has made in practice to keep him in check
“Well, he’s a very good passing quarterback that is also very athletic and experienced and has great ability to really run the team. So we’ve had to really work very hard, mixing coverages, mixing looks, making things more challenging in practice to be able to try to prepare for an elite quarterback. One of the best quarterbacks in the Big Ten. They’ve got a really good slot receiver (Hank Beatty). They’ve got really good running backs. They’re a team that has thrown the ball exceptionally well the last year and a half. I think Altmyer has been one of the top guys in the Big Ten. So we’ve got our work cut out for us there.”
He continues, “We know that we’re going to have a great challenge. It starts with pass rush, and then it starts with how tight of coverage we can play.”

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Kirkland is an expert source for Illinois athletics news. He is the lead Football analyst at Armchair Illini and has been featured in top media publications like Bleacher Report, Yard Barker, Autograph, Newsbreak, CBS Sports and more.

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