Inside The Huskies

First Big Ten Football Predictions Give Huskies Bump Up in Standings

One has Jedd Fisch's team optimistically finishing in the upper third of the league.
Dan Raley|
Raiden Vines-Bright (7) is a UW freshman receiver who showed he can help in the Spring Game.
Raiden Vines-Bright (7) is a UW freshman receiver who showed he can help in the Spring Game. | Skylar Lin Visuals

Everyone agrees the University of Washington football team will be bigger and better this coming season, but how much better?

Last summer, the Big Ten preseason media poll pegged Jedd Fisch's first team in Montlake to finish in ninth place in the conference standings -- and the Huskies (6-7 overall, 4-5 league) ended up tied for ninth with USC (7-6, 4-5) and Rutgers (7-6, 4-5).

This next UW team will bump up a few spots according to the first bit of post-spring football prognostication supplied by those guys at Big Ten Huddle, for a a podcast that closely watches all league developments, and they offered two takes.

How about sixth?

John Rhoades of Big Ten Huddle had the Huskies at sixth, in the upper third of the Big Ten standings, trailing, in this order, Ohio State, Penn State, Oregon, Illinois and Indiana.

His cohort Zack Gugenheim, however, slotted the UW eighth, figuring Michigan and USC are teams that will leapfrog Fisch's latest collection of talent.

Eighth is still better than ninth.

"Excited where we're at," Fisch said following the Spring Game, "but a long way to go."

After watching 15 spring football practices, the consensus among local media is the Huskies appear far more formidable, but it's still unclear how much of a jump they'll make.

The offensive line is better, but how much better? The defense has been rebuilt, but can it stop the elite teams?

Certainly the Huskies will be better than 6-7, which actually was the UW's second losing record in four seasons.

Consider that three different Husky coaches have supplied 4-8, 11-2, 14-1 and 6-7 records, beginning with Jimmy Lake's program meltdown of 2021 and followed by Kalen DeBoer's fast fix in the two ensuing seasons.

A year ago, the Huskies began a challenging season with just one returning starter in linebacker Alphonzo Tuputala, a bleak situation indeed.

This time, the UW returns nine players that opened the Sun Bowl against Louisville, giving it a fighting chance to be improved.

It should be noted the degree of difficulty for the UW in the coming season is a little higher because the Huskies will face Michigan and Ohio State in the same season for only the second time in their program annals stretching over 13 decades.

In 1969, Jim Owens' team opened that campaign with a suicide schedule against Michigan State, Michigan and Ohio State -- and lost all three of them.

Considering that historical obstacle, sixth or eighth place in the Big Ten standings looks encouraging for the next Huskies.

IN CASE YOU MISSED IT:

10 Things We Learned About UW Offense in Spring Game

10 Things We Learned About UW Defense in Spring Game

Interceptions and Youth Highlighted Husky Spring Game

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Dan Raley
DAN RALEY

Dan Raley has worked for the Seattle Post-Intelligencer, Atlanta Journal-Constitution and Fairbanks Daily News-Miner, as well as for MSN.com and Boeing, the latter as a global aerospace writer. His sportswriting career spans four decades and he's covered University of Washington football and basketball during much of that time. In a working capacity, he's been to the Super Bowl, the NBA Finals, the MLB playoffs, the Masters, the U.S. Open, the PGA Championship and countless Final Fours and bowl games.

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