Coming in third is an improving squad in the Pac-12, who need to take that next step in a tough conference, the University of Washington Huskies.
With Steve Sarkisian, the guy most responsible for bringing back respectability to Huskies football, off to his dream job at USC, the job of continuing the upward tick falls to Chris Petersen, formerly head coach at Boise State and one of the most likeable and honest people in college football.
After years of taking his own name out of the race for some very high-profile coaching vacancies, it’s actually quite a surprise that Petersen has decided to move on from the Idaho capital, where he oversaw one of the nation’s most productive teams.
He was always vocal about not leaving the Pacific Northwest region – it’s not far from Washington to Idaho – so, in that regard, the Huskies are a nice fit.
You get the feeling that Petersen’s always yearned for a program in a tougher conference, and he’s certainly walked into that environment in Seattle, where expectations are higher than they’ve been in a decade or more.
Washington has been right on the cusp of greatness, with beautiful new facilities to boot, and are expecting big things from Petersen.
It remains to be seen whether Petersen can have the same recruiting impact he had at Boise State, where he unearthed, among others, a quarterback who was well undersize and, thus, overlooked by every other meaningful Division One school. That guy, Washington native Kellen Moore, went on to become college football’s most successful quarterback.
If Petersen can hit on a goldmine like that again, there’s no reason to see why Washington can’t jump into the upper echelon of the Pac-12.
Petersen’s team should open the season 4-0 – they have Hawaii, Eastern Washington, Illinois and Georgia – before a tough test against conference yardsticks Stanford. Cal the week after is eminently winnable, but Oregon and Arizona the week after, plus UCLA and Oregon State in November, are going to be tough.
They close with the Apple Cup against Washington State. Easily, I figure six wins, but eight or nine isn’t out of the question, either, not with Petersen and his innovative offense. 9-4 or 8-5 wouldn’t be too bad, given the coaching change during the off-season.
To really step up, they’re going to need to somehow find a win against one of the big three: Stanford, UCLA or Oregon. That won’t be easy, but if the Huskies play those teams close, it’ll be a pass-mark season for Petersen, and a good platform from which to build.
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