On many so called “way-too-early” rankings for the 2023 season the Washington Huskies are a top 5 team. That’s the highest since the UW kicked off the 2018 season at No. 6 in the AP Poll.  The ranking presents a huge opportunity for Husky Football but also for Husky Nation.

Husky Stadium, to be specific.

In 1984 the Huskies finished the season at No. 2 in the AP Poll.  However, they started the season at 18.   That season there was nearly a 10-point differential between home games and road games as the Huskies went 6-0 at home.

In 1990 the entirety the program, Husky Stadium and Washington’s Purple Haze defense ambushed USC’s Todd Marinovich.  Now known as the “All I Saw Was Purple” game, Washington’s defense worked in concert with the Husky faithful with unrelenting pressure and a headache inducing roar.

After the game Marinovich said, “I just saw purple. That’s all I saw. No numbers, no faces, just purple.”

But he also heard the 72,617 Husky fans that filled the stadium that day.  He never knew where he was going to get hit from but the Trojan offense was unable to get in synch. The stadiums roar came from all corners of the stadium.

This past season Washington went 7-0 at home, but the largest crowd was 67,969–about 1,500 more than San Jose State in 1991.

The 2023 season has huge home contests against Boise State, Oregon, Washington State, Utah, Cal, and Arizona State.

That’s visits from Boise State’s Taylen Green, Washington State’s Cam Ward, Oregon’s Bo Nix, Utah’s Cam Rising, a new QB to lead Arizona State offense.

All should be given the Marinovich treatment.  Not just in his face, but an unrelenting Husky Stadium that is causing false starts, unnecessary timeouts and general pre-snap havoc for opposing offenses. (story continues below video)

It can somewhat be excused that after a 4-8 seasons Husky fans voted with their butts by not putting them in seats.  In fact, the announced attendance usually far-exceeded the actual crowd in 2022.

However, after finishing the 2022 season on a 7-game winning streak Husky football is back.  So is Michael Penix.  So is Rome Odunze.  So is Jalen McMillan.  So is Bralen Trice, Zion Tupuola-Fetui, Troy Fautanu, Devin Culp, Tuli Letuligasenoa, Edefuan Ulofosio.

So is offensive coordinator Ryan Grubb.

And now it’s time for Husky Stadium to be back.  Now is the time to get tickets.  Season tickets.

The home atmosphere is not that far off to returning to the glory days of the early 1990s.  Despite a season of mixed expectations, on the heels of the 4-8 season, the most impassioned Husky fans had the press box was swaying at 9:30 at night during of the dreaded late games.

No matter the start, Husky Stadium should be packed to the rafters.  How many times this past season could the defense use the roar of the of 72,000 on 3rd and 4th down?

With the quality of opponents coming in, with what the players are playing for, you can bet that with the date with the Boise State Broncos

The Boise State Broncos rolls into town in 233 days.  You can bet that Trice and Tupuola-Fetui coming off the edge can use that extra boost that Husky Stadium gave Psalm Wooching on his way to 3 sacks against Stanford in 2016.

The program is doing its part of producing an incredible product.  Let’s consider 2022 to be DeBoer’s proof-of-concept.  From the product on the field beginning with the opening sequence where the video board shows the team leaving the locker room, to the cutaway of Husky football highlight, to Alice in Chains’ very singable song Man in the Box.

The Husky characters abound.  During the opening sequence there will be Voi Tunuufi’s father in his lava-lava waving his Samoan flag, the “Go Huskies” chant before the kickoff, Captain Husky between the 3rd and 4th quarters.  And of course Harry and Dubs.

There is no excuse to not be at Husky Stadium every weekend starting September 2nd.  Several of these players returned to Washington to play for Kalen DeBoer and chase down a national championship–or as Rome Odunze said, “We’re coming for a third.”

The loudest stadium ever recorded was a night game at Husky Stadium. That was the first one under the lights at Husky Stadium.  The fans helped set up the sequence where the entire Nebraska Cornhusker offense was in the end zone when the ball was snapped and QB Mike Grant was sacked by Tommie Smith.  The over capacity stadium of 73,333 registered 133.7 decibels it was the loudest ever recorded.

And it still is.

There was a time when the Huskies ruled Seattle and the PNW.  It was the hottest ticket in town.  Hotter than the Seahawks, hotter than the Mariners, hotter than the Sonics.  It was Husky Fever and a big part of the reason that was was that every person who stepped inside Husky Stadium knew that they were a part of the team for 3 hours.

There’s no excuse for there to be an empty seat this coming Fall–other than standing and yelling as Rome or Jalen score or Trice or ZTF drop a QB in the backfield.