What looked like just a match-up of struggling Big Sky football teams actually was much more entertaining than that — Sam Huard emerged as the better player in a battle of hyped-up former University of Washington quarterbacks.
Huard threw a game-winning, 4-yard touchdown pass to Bryson Allen early in the fourth quarter to lead Cal Poly to a 24-17 victory over Northern Colorado that was quarterbacked by one-time Husky Jacob Sirmon.
The 6-foot-2, 200-pound Huard, a left-hander from Bellevue, Washington, enjoyed his best outing with the Mustangs (3-5 overall, 1-4 Big Sky) by completing 31 of 39 passes for 333 yards and a pair of scores, while tossing a pair of interceptions.
Sirmon, a 6-foot-5, 235-pound sixth-year senior from Bothell, turned in a 10-for-20, 159-yard and 2-touchdown passing effort, with an interception, for the winless Bears (0-7, 0-4).
These two were never UW teammates. Sirmon transferred to Central Michigan following the 2020 season and joined Northern Colorado last year, while Huard played as a freshman for the Huskies in 2021, spent two seasons in Montlake and turned to Cal Poly through the transfer portal this past winter.
Sirmon, whose cousins are California linebacker Jackson Sirmon and Husky wide receiver Camden Sirmon, was a 4-star recruit who spent three seasons at the UW. He redshirted in 2018 before backing up Jacob Eason and Dylan Morris over consecutive seasons. He left after appearing in just six games and completing 3 of 4 passes for 28 yards in that time.
He played five games in 2021 for Central Michigan, starting four times for a 9-4 team, and completed 73 of 119 passes for 734 yards and 6 scores.
Moving to Northern Colorado, Sirmon backed up Dylan McCaffery, the coach's son, played in 7 games last year and connected on 52 of 93 passes for 595 yards and 4 scores for a 3-8 team.
A 5-star recruit, Huard backed up Dylan Morris in 2021, appeared in four games, started against Washington State in the Apple Cup, and completed 22 of 42 passes for 241 yards and a score, with 4 interceptions.
Following a coaching change from Jimmy Lake to Kalen DeBoer, Huard began looking at his football options after playing behind Michael Penix Jr. and Morris in 2022, appearing in just one game and completing 2 of 2 passes for 24 yards.
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