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The Washington football team was blown out in its most recent Big 10 matchup, falling 40-16 to the Iowa Hawkeyes on Saturday. On Monday, head coach Jedd Fisch addressed the loss in his weekly press conference.
While speaking to the media, Fisch was asked about his roster for both the remainder of this season and moving forward. He referenced NIL spending in his response.
“The new world order of college football will allow us to be able to spend what other programs are spending,” he said, suggesting his Huskies are at a financial disadvantage.
“When you have that opportunity, then it’s going to be much more of a level playing field than what it is right now in college football. We all saw what the Ohio State-Oregon game looked like, and that was a battle of two $20 million rosters. I think we’re going to see more battles of comparably compensated rosters, and that will make it really cool to see what college football looks like.”
Jedd Fisch singled out two Big 10 rivals in his response, noting both Ohio State and Oregon’s hefty NIL spending.
The Buckeyes landed major players in the transfer portal, some of which include SEC stars Quinshon Judkins and Caleb Downs. The cost of maintaining its current roster was said to near $20 million.
As for the Ducks, it’s been rumored that they’re working with an unlimited budget thanks to their ties to Nike founder Phil Knight.
The recent matchup between the nation’s No. 2 and No. 3 ranked college football programs undoubtedly boasted the largest combined payroll.
Washington isn’t there, but Jedd Fisch suggests that revenue sharing and new NCAA guidelines could help level the playing field. That should allow him to further elevate his program on the recruiting trail while not having to battle the deeper pockets of conference rivals.
Unfortunately, those rules haven’t kicked in quite yet, meaning the Huskies will continue to operate at a disadvantage. Washington is 4-3 in Fisch’s first season with the program coming off an appearance in the national title game.