Rob Gray-USA TODAY Sports Welcome to the 2024 UW Huskies football season!Football is back, and after one of the most tumultuous off seasons in years (strictly in a UW football sense), I think we're all ready to experience the opening chapter of the Jedd Fisch Era on Montlake. With so little continuity from the 2023 team, it's tough to tell what the team's identity will be, but the Weber State Wildcats should be a good opportunity for our Huskies to find their footing before the schedule picks up with our Big Ten debut (yes, yes. I know not to jinx anything having witnessed our last Big Sky season opener). The Scheme Personnel Photo by Chris Gardner/Getty Images The Wildcats, coming off of a 6-5 2023 season are looking to build on their first year under head coach Mickey Mental. Mental, who was promoted from Offensive Coordinator to Head https://www.gamedaywashington.com  Coach/Offensive Coordinator prior to the 2023 season, is a veteran coach at the lower levels, and he's led teams to the DII and D1-FCS playoffs with strong offenses. Despite Mental's pedigree as an offensive-minded coach, the Wildcats struggled offensively for most of 2023, and the defense had to shoulder the load. Co-Defensive Coordinators Joe Dale and Grant Duff led this side of the ball. Dale played safety for the Utah Utes from'06-'09 under the tutelage of Kyle Whittingham, Gary Anderson, Kalani Sitake, and Morgan Scalley, and he has brought a similar style of defense to Weber State.Contrary to the statistical rankings, the Wildcat defense was actually quite effective in many respects. Their multiple, havoc-oriented defense regularly kept their team in closer games by averaging over 6.5 TFLs and 1.5 forced turnovers per game.