The 1990 Washington Huskies football team represented the

University of Washington The University of Washington (UW, simply Washington, or informally U-Dub) is a public research university in Seattle, Washington. Founded in 1861, Washington is one of the oldest universities on the West Coast; it was established in Seattl ...

in the 1990 NCAA Division I-A football season. The Huskies won their first conference championship since

1981 Events January * January 1 ** Greece enters the European Economic Community, predecessor of the European Union. ** Palau becomes a self-governing territory. * January 10 – Salvadoran Civil War: The FMLN launches its first major offensiv ...

and defeated #17

Iowa Iowa () is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States, bordered by the Mississippi River to the east and the Missouri River and Big Sioux River to the west. It is bordered by six states: Wisconsin to the northeast, Illinois to th ...

in the Rose Bowl by twelve points, 46–34. It was the first victory in that game in nine years as well, when Washington crushed Iowa 28–0 in the 1982 game. The Huskies were led by head coach Don James, offensive coordinator

Gary Pinkel Gary Robin Pinkel (born April 27, 1952) is a former American college football coach. He served as the head football coach at the University of Toledo from 1991 to 2000 and the University of Missouri from 2001 to 2015, compiling career record ...

, and defensive coordinator

Jim Lambright James Ralph Lambright (April 26, 1942 – March 29, 2020) was an American football player and coach. He served as the head coach at the University of Washington for six seasons, from 1993 to 1998, compiling a record of Prior to becoming head co ...

. Pinkel left Washington after the season to become head coach at Toledo, where he stayed for a decade and then moved to

Missouri Missouri is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States. Ranking 21st in land area, it is bordered by eight states (tied for the most with Tennessee): Iowa to the north, Illinois, Kentucky and Tennessee to the east, Arkansas t ...

. Lambright succeeded James as head coach of the Huskies in August

1993 File:1993 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The Oslo I Accord is signed in an attempt to resolve the Israeli–Palestinian conflict; The Russian White House is shelled during the 1993 Russian constitutional crisis; Czechoslovakia is peacefu ...

. Five Huskies were selected in the 1991 NFL draft, led by

running back A running back (RB) is a member of the offensive backfield in gridiron football. The primary roles of a running back are to receive handoffs from the quarterback to rush the ball, to line up as a receiver to catch the ball, and block. Ther ...

Greg Lewis and defensive back

Charles Mincy Charles Mincy was an American football safety who played ten seasons in the National Football League The National Football League (NFL) is a professional American football league that consists of 32 teams, divided equally between the Ame ...

. Sophomore defensive lineman

Steve Emtman Steven Charles Emtman (born April 16, 1970) is a former professional American football defensive end who played in the National Football League (NFL). He played college football for the University of Washington and was selected first overall by ...

was the first overall pick in 1992.

Schedule

Roster

Season summary

The Huskies were ranked #20 in the 1990 pre-season, and started slowly with close wins over San José State at home and at Purdue. In the third game, #5 USC, in pursuit of a fourth straight Rose Bowl, entered Husky Stadium as a 5-point favorite with a four-game winning streak over UW, but was shut out 31–0 on a hot afternoon on the

Seattle Seattle ( ) is a seaport city on the West Coast of the United States. It is the seat of King County, Washington. With a 2020 population of 737,015, it is the largest city in both the state of Washington and the Pacific Northwest regio ...

AstroTurf. The game started at 3:30 p.m. in the heat and the opportunistic Huskies led 24–0 at the half. Sacked three times and under pressure all day, Trojan QB

Todd Marinovich Todd Marvin Marinovich (born Marvin Scott Marinovich on July 4, 1969) is a former American and Canadian football quarterback. He played in the National Football League ( Los Angeles Raiders), Canadian Football League (Winnipeg Blue Bombers, BC Li ...

stated, "I just saw purple. That's all I saw. No numbers, no faces, just purple." The Huskies suffered a letdown the following week, losing to #20

Colorado Colorado (, other variants) is a state in the Mountain states, Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It encompasses most of the Southern Rocky Mountains, as well as the northeastern portion of the Colorado Plateau and the wes ...

in Boulder by six. (Colorado would claim half of the 1990 national championship, tainted by the "fifth down" touchdown at

the following week.) The UW Dawgs regrouped and rolled through the next five games, all in conference and by large margins, and climbed to 8–1 record; they clinched the league title and Rose Bowl berth on November 3 after a 54–10 drubbing of #23

Arizona Arizona ( ; nv, Hoozdo Hahoodzo ; ood, Alĭ ṣonak ) is a state in the Southwestern United States. It is the 6th largest and the 14th most populous of the 50 states. Its capital and largest city is Phoenix. Arizona is part of the Fou ...

. The Huskies moved up five places to a #2 national ranking, behind Notre Dame, when

UCLA The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California. UCLA's academic roots were established in 1881 as a teachers college then known as the southern branch of the California ...

visited the following week. In the wind and under dark but rainless skies on November 10, the 21-point underdog Bruins jumped out to an early lead with an 89-yard run. The game went back and forth, and was tied at 22 until a late field goal by UCLA ended UW's national title hopes. The Huskies took their frustration at the loss and their drop in ranking to #10 by crushing

Washington State Washington (), officially the State of Washington, is a state in the Pacific Northwest region of the Western United States. Named for George Washington—the first U.S. president—the state was formed from the western part of the Washington ...

in Pullman to win the

Apple Cup The Apple Cup is an American college football rivalry game between the University of Washington Huskies and Washington State University Cougars, the two largest universities in the state of Washington. Both are members of the North Division of th ...

55–10. The Cougars scored their touchdown on Husky reserves with less than three minutes remaining to close the margin to 45 points. The #8 ranked Pac-10 champs then took on the

Big Ten The Big Ten Conference (stylized B1G, formerly the Western Conference and the Big Nine Conference) is the oldest Division I collegiate athletic conference in the United States. Founded as the Intercollegiate Conference of Faculty Representati ...

champions, #17 Iowa Hawkeyes, in the Rose Bowl, winning 46–34. Entering the fourth quarter with a 39–14 lead, reserves were entered into the game for the Huskies and promptly gave up two touchdowns; UW then scored its own touchdown to push the lead back to 46–26, answered by an Iowa TD and conversion to close the final score to a 12-point gap. The Huskies, like all Pac-10 teams in 1990, played an eight-game conference schedule. They did not play

Oregon State Oregon State University (OSU) is a public land-grant, research university in Corvallis, Oregon. OSU offers more than 200 undergraduate-degree programs along with a variety of graduate and doctoral degrees. It has the 10th largest engineering col ...

, who finished last in the Pac-10 at 1–10 overall (1–7 in conference) and fired sixth-year head coach

Dave Kragthorpe Dave Kragthorpe (born May 1, 1933) is a former American football player He was the head football coach at South Dakota State University in 1969, Idaho State University from 1980 to 1982, and Oregon State University from 1985 to 1990, compiling a ...

San Jose State

at Purdue

USC

"All I saw was purple," -

on Washington's defense

at Colorado

*Source
Box score

at Arizona State

at Washington State

vs. Iowa (Rose Bowl)

Awards

* Greg Lewis,

Doak Walker Award Since 1990 the Doak Walker Award honors the top running back in college football in the United States. It is named in honor of Doak Walker, a former running back who played for the SMU Mustangs from 1945 to 1949 and in the National Football Le ...

(inaugural)

NFL Draft

Five Huskies were selected in the 1991 NFL Draft, which lasted twelve rounds (334 selections). :Source: Both 1990 Washington quarterbacks were selected in the

1993 NFL Draft The 1993 NFL draft was the procedure by which National Football League teams selected amateur college football players. It is officially known as the NFL Annual Player Selection Meeting. The draft was held April 25–26, 1993, at the Marriot Ma ...

. Sophomore starter

Mark Brunell Mark Allen Brunell (born September 17, 1970) is an American football coach and former quarterback who is the quarterbacks coach for the Detroit Lions of the National Football League (NFL). He played in the NFL for nineteen seasons and is best k ...

was taken by the Green Bay Packers in the fifth round with the 118th pick. Brunell was a reserve for two seasons behind

Brett Favre Brett Lorenzo Favre ( ; born October 10, 1969) is an American former football quarterback who played in the National Football League (NFL) for 20 seasons, primarily with the Green Bay Packers. Favre had 321 consecutive starts from 1992 to 201 ...

in Green Bay, then led the expansion

Jacksonville Jaguars The Jacksonville Jaguars are a professional American football team based in Jacksonville, Florida. The Jaguars compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the American Football Conference (AFC) South division. The team pla ...

1995 File:1995 Events Collage V2.png, From left, clockwise: O.J. Simpson is acquitted of the murders of Nicole Brown Simpson and Ronald Goldman from the year prior in "The Trial of the Century" in the United States; The Great Hanshin earthquake str ...

. Redshirt freshman

Billy Joe Hobert Billy Joe Hobert (born January 8, 1971) is a former professional American football quarterback. He played nine seasons in the National Football League (NFL) with four teams, primarily as a reserve. College career While at the University of Wash ...

was drafted by the

Los Angeles Raiders The Los Angeles Raiders were a professional American football team that played in Los Angeles from 1982 to 1994 before relocating back to Oakland, California, where the team played from its inaugural 1960 season to the 1981 season and then agai ...

in the third round with the 58th pick.

References

External links

YouTube
– UW video – "All I Saw Was Purple" (vs. USC on September 22) {{Pac-12 Conference football champions

Washington Washington commonly refers to: * Washington (state), United States * Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States ** A metonym for the federal government of the United States ** Washington metropolitan area, the metropolitan area centered o ...

Washington Huskies football seasons Pac-12 Conference football champion seasons Rose Bowl champion seasons

Washington Huskies football The Washington Huskies football team represents the University of Washington in college football. Washington competes in the NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) as a member of the Pac-12 Conference. Husky Stadium, located on camp ...