How Huskies Fared In Some Of Earliest Top 25 Polls

There appears to be a wide disparity in how the UW football team is viewed.

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

Phil, meet George.

They hold the distinction of being among the first to drop a Top 25 college football ranking as the Fourth of July holiday came and went.

That would be Phil Steele, a football magazine publisher for nearly three decades, and George Wrighster, a former NFL player and host of the podcast The Unafraid Show.

Their polls resonate in Montlake because both included the University of Washington football team, though with a wide disparity in placement -- at No. 25 and 13, respectively.

Steele almost randomly threw the Huskies into his poll in the final slot behind a lot of blue bloods, which is fair enough until Jedd Fisch's team shows itself capable of beating those long-time stalwarts.

Yet where this Ohio man left people shaking their heads some is by putting Navy at No. 20 and Boise State at No. 23 ahead of the UW.

With Power 4 programs paying large sums of money for talent, it's almost ridiculous to think a service team such as Navy is going to be better than even the 25 best entries in just the Big Ten and SEC combined.

The academy primarily is paying for military officer talent with its assortment of appointments and personnel stockpiling rather than 4- and 5-star football recruits.

Consider that Steele has Navy ranked higher than Tennessee, LSU, Boise State, Utah and the Huskies.

Who's going to pick the Midshipmen over those SEC schools and the UW in a head-to-head match-up?

Maybe Steele was just feeling patriotic.

PHIL STEELE	GEORGE WRIGHSTER
1. Notre Dame	1. Oregon
2. Georgia	2. Notre Dame
3. Ohio State	3. Ohio State
4. Texas	4. Miami
5. Indiana	5. Texas
6. Oregon	6. Indiana
7. Miami	7. Georgia
8. Alabama	8. LSU
9. Texas Tech	9. Texas A&M
10. BYU	10. Texsa Tech
11. USC	11. BYU
12. SMU	12. USC
13. Oklahoma	13. WASHINGTON
14. Ole Miss	14. Ole Miss
15. Michigan	15. Penn State
16. Texas A&M	16. Oklahoma
17. Clemson	17. Alabama
18. Louisville	18. SMU
19. Penn State	19. Michigan
20. Navy	20. Iowa
21. Tennessee	21. Missouri
22. LSU	22. Virginia
23. Boise State	23. Houston
24. Utah	24. Illinois
25. WASHINGTON	25. Arizona

Speaking of Boise State, Steele has the Broncos two slots higher than the Huskies.

However, it's hard to imagine that those teams have changed their personnel much since they met seven months ago in the LA Bowl, which the UW won 38-10.

As for Wrighster, we'll get right to the point.

He's a former Oregon tight end who, while being overly generous in his ranking of the rival Huskies at 13, couldn't help himself and put the Ducks No. 1 in his poll.

Nothing dilutes a poll faster than partisanship.

Now the team from Eugene typically is highly competitive and it's not out of the question to think it might win a national title someday.

Yet Wrighster needs to show some restraint if he's going to stick his neck out with some supposed expert analysis. Steele, for that matter, has Oregon No. 6.

My Preseason College Football Top 25 Rankings

No Bias… Just the real! pic.twitter.com/uCNUNOmuCQ

— George Wrighster III (@georgewrighster) July 5, 2026

In his poll, Wrighster has the Huskies ranked four slots higher than Alabama and former UW coach Kalen DeBoer, which is a bold suggestion. DeBoer, however, is still looking for a starting quarterback, which could be a problem.

To his credit, Wrighster didn't put Boise State ahead of the Huskies. In fact, he didn't vote for the Broncos at all.