Washington Huskies regaining national profile in football

Washington undoubtedly will earn its way into the College Football Playoff if it runs the table. Perhaps even a one-loss Pac-12 champion will have enough juice to make college football’s final four.

Only conference champs have earned spots on the CFP bracket, and that’s the committee’s preference.

Plenty of work remains for Washington to reach its first major bowl since the 2000 season, when the Huskies and quarterback Marques Tuisasosopo outdueled Purdue and Drew Brees in the Rose Bowl. That work starts with Saturday’s trip to Utah, in a battle of the Pac-12’s two highest ranked teams. Washington is No. 4, the Utes are No. 17 in The Associated Press poll.

Third-year Huskies coach Chris Petersen would rather not deal with the attention — ESPN’s College GameDay is descending on Salt Lake City — but understands the task of managing the spotlight.

“We’re foolish to think that it doesn’t have an effect on our team and our mind-set,” Petersen said last week.

But these are fun distractions for the proud program that had fallen on hard times, bottoming out at 0-12 in 2008, nearly two decades after winning the national championship.

Steve Sarkisian, Southern California’s offensive coordinator, was hired for the next season, and he stopped the sliding. Sarkisian returned to USC, and Petersen was a home run hire, a coach who deemed Washington as the right fit for an address change after eight seasons at Boise State. There, any loss took the Broncos out of major bowl contention, and Boise still managed to post two BCS bowl triumphs.

Petersen’s first two Washington teams went to bowl games, and this year’s Huskies are steamrolling opponents with excellence on both sides of the ball. Washington, led by quarterback Jake Browning, averages 48.3 points and surrenders 14.6 per game. The season’s high point occurred three weeks ago when the Huskies visited Oregon lugging a 12-game losing streak in the series. Washington won 70-21.

The schedule hasn’t been strong. Rutgers is Washington’s lone power five non-conference opponent, and a victory over Stanford that looked great at the time was the first of three Cardinal losses in four games.

But a victory on Saturday, three days before the first College Football Playoff poll is released, would be the Huskies’ biggest statement of the season and solidify their position as a top-four program.

Game of the week

Clemson at Florida State

This game means everything to the Tigers and Seminoles … and Louisville. Florida State owns two losses and is likely out of the national title picture. But the program can regain some swagger lost in the losses to Louisville and North Carolina. For Clemson, it’s the biggest remaining obstacle to a perfect regular season with Louisville, Pittsburgh, Wake Forest and South Carolina left and Wake as the lone roadie. It’s also big for the Cardinals, who could slide ahead of Clemson in a College Football Playoff pecking order with a Florida State triumph. A Seminoles victory would give the three Atlantic Division contenders in the ACC a 1-1 record against each other.

Upset Alert

Wyoming over Boise State

If the season ended today, the Broncos would be in the Cotton Bowl, a New Year’s Six game, as the top team among the group of five. Boise State and Wyoming are 3-0 in the Mountain West, and the Cowboys are coming off a 42-34 victory over Nevada, a game in which Wyoming running back Brian Hill rushed for 289 and three touchdowns.

Others to watch

Nebraska at Wisconsin

With a 4-0 Big Ten record, the Cornhuskers are in good shape for the West Division, especially with Northwestern in second place. Nebraska won at Evanston earlier this season. But the trip to Madison starts a rugged finish. The Huskers visit Ohio State the following week and after home games with Minnesota and Maryland, finish at Iowa. There’s more pressure on Wisconsin. The Badgers need a victory to remain in the division race. They’re more battle-tested with victories over two (LSU, Michigan State) that were ranked in the top ten at the time, and losses by a touchdown to top-five powers Ohio State and Michigan.

West Virginia at Oklahoma State

The Mountaineers no longer are flying under the radar. The Big 12’s calling card is uptempo offense, but West Virginia is winning with defense. The Mountaineers get Oklahoma and Baylor in Morgantown over the season’s final three weeks. Winning in Stillwater would make those games more meaningful.

This story was originally published October 27, 2016 at 6:09 PM with the headline "Washington Huskies regaining national profile in football."