By the numbers: History is not on Michigan's side at Washington, one of the toughest places to play in college football

Michigan Wolverines football was nice and comfortable for five weeks, opening with home games all the way until the Oct. 5 showdown at Washington, a rematch of last season’s national championship game in Houston. Now, it’ll have to get out of its comfort zone and win in hostile territory.

Husky Stadium is the setting. The 70,138-seat venue, located just off Lake Washington, is known for being one of the loudest in the country. On3’s Andy Staples named it the 18th-toughest place to play, one spot behind No. 17 Michigan Stadium.

“They throw down like the best of the Big Ten and the SEC,” Staples explained. “It’s pretty, but it gets plenty rowdy.”

Part of the beauty is the ‘sailgating’ scene. Thousands of fans will arrive to the game, or simply enjoy the pregame festivities, on boats.

Michigan is 2-2 playing Washington in Seattle, but has lost the last two meetings. The Wolverines haven’t won at Washington since Sept. 26, 1970, a 17-3 triumph. The previous victory was 14-0 on Sept. 25, 1954.

Washington, of course, is a former Pac-12 member. While the Huskies are now in the Big Ten, this will be a long trip for the Maize and Blue, who haven’t fared all that well in West Coast road venues in recent history.

Michigan hasn’t won a road game at a Pac-12 opponent since 1989 at UCLA, losing four in a row since. Even then, that victory over the Bruins came with drama. U-M kicker J.D. Carlson made the last of his 4 field goals with 1 second left to lift the Wolverines to victory. They trailed, 23-15, with less than two minutes to go, before Elvis Grbac hit Derrick Walker for a touchdown pass with 1:35 remaining.

Here’s a look at Michigan’s road tilts at Pac-12 foes since 1969.

Date	Opponent	Result
Sept. 3, 2015	Utah	L, 24-17
Sept. 20, 2003	Oregon	L, 31-27
Sept. 8, 2001	Washington	L, 23-18
Sept. 16, 2000	UCLA	L, 23-20
Sept. 23, 1989	UCLA	W, 24-23
Sept. 17, 1983	Washington	L, 25-24
Sept. 29, 1979	California	W, 14-10
Oct. 5, 1974	Stanford	W, 27-16
Sept. 23, 1972	UCLA	W, 26-9
Sept. 26, 1970	Washington	W, 17-3

Perhaps the recent history is a reason why Michigan hasn’t often scheduled trips out West in the regular season, though the Wolverines were supposed to play at Washington in 2020 before it was canceled. And maybe the history is less relevant than it once was, since travel and lodging accommodations have become much more luxurious.

Still, if Michigan does beat Washington this weekend, it’ll buck a trend.

Early look: How have traditional Big Ten teams performed out West?

The Big Ten season is young, and the sample size is (very) small, but there is some data on how traditional Big Ten teams have fared facing the conference’s new teams — Oregon, UCLA, USC and Washington. (For the sake of this exercise, we’ll consider any non-newcomer to the league a ‘traditional’ member.)

There have only been three such matchups so far, but two of them have been won by the former Pac-12 member. Washington beat Northwestern, 24-5, and USC took down Wisconsin, 38-21. Indiana, though, did come to the Rose Bowl and beat up on UCLA, 42-13.

There are so many different factors at play, and those three games likely don’t tell us anything yet, but it’s worth tracking. The data will continue to accumulate this weekend, when Michigan State takes on Oregon Friday night in Eugene and the Wolverines face the Huskies.

By the numbers: Michigan vs. Washington

2 Starters from last year’s national championship runner-up team are still on Washington’s roster — senior linebacker Alphonzo Tuputala and junior cornerback Elijah Jackson.

2nd In SEC history is where Washington quarterback Will Rogers, a Mississippi State transfer, ranks in career passing yards (12,315). He’s fourth in touchdowns thrown (94) with 40 career starts in the conference. Former Georgia signal-caller Aaron Murray is the SEC’s all-time leader with 13,166 passing yards. So far this season, Rogers has completed 110 of his 147 pass attempts for 1,354 yards and 10 touchdowns with no interceptions. He’s fifth in the Big Ten with 270.8 passing yards per game.

4 FBS teams are averaging fewer passing yards per game than Michigan (115.4) — New Mexico State (108.4), Louisiana-Monroe (102), Army (73.3) and Air Force (66.3).

4-8 Was Washington’s record in 2021, but former head coach Kalen BeBoer led a resurgence the following two seasons, with a combined 25-3 record. DeBoer left for Alabama following the 2023 campaign.

21st Nationally is where Washington ranks in total offense, with 469.4 yards per outing. However, the Huskies check in tied for 89th in scoring offense, with only 25.2 points per contest. Part of the discrepancy is the Huskies’ 50-percent touchdown rate in the end zone (106th in the country).

108 Rushing yards per game for Michigan graduate running back Kalel Mullings, ranking third in the Big Ten behind Iowa’s Kaleb Johnson (171.3) and Rutgers’ Kyle Monangai (147.3). Mullings is averaging 7 yards per carry (10th Big Ten). Mullings is averaging 4.81 yards after contact per rush, per PFF, which ranks seventh in the country among players with 50-plus attempts.

160 Rushing yards and 2 rushing touchdowns allowed per game by Washington in its two losses — 24-19 to Washington State and 21-18 to Rutgers. Both the Cougars (4.5) and the Scarlet Knights (5.6) recorded 4.5 yards per carry or better.

2015-16 Seasons for Washington head coach Jedd Fisch were spent in Ann Arbor, as Michigan’s quarterbacks and wide receivers coach and pass game coordinator. Fisch is a bit of a nomad, and the Washington head job is his fifth different program or NFL organization since then.