Consider the Huskies A Possible Breakout Football Team

Jedd Fisch's guys show up on a list with seven other candidates for program ascension.

Jedd Fisch addresses his team after the Spring Game. | Dave Sizer photo

The consensus around the college game is the University of Washington football team should be good this fall, but how much better?

In one of the latest lists to drop from a website titled "Love for the Game" -- not to be confused with Kevin Costner's film "For the Love of the Game" -- the Huskies are slotted No. 2 among eight teams with supposed breakout potential.

So what that means, if indeed accurate, is the UW is pegged to exceed its 9-4 record from the season before.

"My definition of a breakout team is a program that significantly outperforms its recent baseline, preseason perception, or expected win range because of improved roster quality, better coaching, standout quarterback play, schedule opportunities, or quick roster development," list-maker Reed Knapper explained.

Tops on this collection of possible ascending college teams is Florida, coming off a 4-8 disaster that led to a coaching change to Jon Sumrall, who arrived from Tulane.

With its SEC pedigree and rabid fan base, one wouldn't expect the Gators to put up with sub-.500 play for long.

Florida has a Montlake connection on its roster in long snapper Hunter Sowald, a redshirt freshman walk-on who spent the 2025 season with the UW and entered the transfer portal.

Here are Ten Teams with Breakout Potential coming into 2026!

Who is missing? Who has that potential?#CFB #CollegeFootball #TopTen pic.twitter.com/Eb65YIGLjG

— Reed Knapper - Love For The Game (@LFTGPod01) June 4, 2026

The Huskies are poised to move up after returning two-thirds of their starters from the LA Bowl, adding several freshmen who will start or play right away, putting together seemingly a formidable defense and preparing for season three of speedy quarterback Demond Williams Jr.

Behind them is Louisville, which likewise is coming off a 9-4 season that was on the heels of a 35-34 Sun Bowl win over the Huskies in 2024. It didn't hurt that coach Jeff Brohm stayed put even with multiple schools trying to hire him away.

The Cardinals' success largely will hinge on the play of their new starting quarterback Lincoln Kienholz, the South Dakota kid whose name might sound familiar in Seattle. In 2022, he flipped his UW commitment at the last minute from Kalen DeBoer's staff to Ohio State, and then transferred away from the Buckeyes this offseason.

Breakout candidate No. 4 is Iowa, yet another 9-4 team trying to move up and get into the playoff conversation. The Hawkeyes, who play the UW on Friday, Oct. 9, at Husky Stadium, are led by 70-year-old coach Kirk Ferentz, now entering his 28th season in running the show in Iowa City.

Houston is next up trying to improve on an 11-3 season in 2025 behind third-year coach Willie Fritz. It might be a big ask for the Cougars to get to 12 wins.

James Franklin has moved as the fired coach at Penn State to a most welcoming Virginia Tech. His immediate concern will be improving on the Hokies' lackluster 3-9 season.

At No. 7 is California, which has a new coach in Tosh Lopoi, once the UW defensive-line leader, who takes over a team that finished 7-6 in 2025.

Besides himself, he has Husky connections in junior running back Adam Mohammed, who would have been this season's UW starter; senior outside linebacker Jayden Wayne, who started nine games last season for the Bears after leaving Montlake; and senior safety Tristan Dunn, who has played in 40 college games for the UW and Cal but not started any of them.

Staff-wise, Lopoi has Keith Bhonapha as his running-backs coach and Bob Gregory as his linebackers coach. Those two held the same roles at the UW for Jimmy Lake.

Finally, Oklahoma State is eighth on this list of breakout candidates after suffering through a 1-11 season and firing coach Mike Gundy. The Cowboys can only go up. Eric Morris, formerly of North Texas, is the new sideline leader.

In redoing nearly the entire roster, Morris has a pair of former Huskies he pulled from the transfer portal in junior safety Vince Holmes and redshirt freshman defensive tackle Dominic Macon.