Huskies Beat Oregon — In SI Preseason Top 25 Rankings

Pat Forde puts the UW much higher in this poll than most prognosticators.

Pat Forde of Sports Illustrated now can probably get a dinner table anywhere from Blaine to Vancouver, Washington. From the Peace Arch to the northern banks of the Columbia River.

From Medford to Portland, not so much.

In selecting SI's preseason top 25 teams, the senior writer did the unthinkable in setting the landscape.

He put the Ducks behind the Huskies. 

Well behind Jimmy Lake's team. 

He added further fuel to a Northwest college football fire that burns 12 months a year, every year, going with a fury for seven of its 12 decades now.

While doing what everyone does in anointing Alabama No. 1, even with a totally rebuilt offense, Forde saved his creative skills for out little quadrant of the country.

He picked the Huskies No. 12, five slots higher than their most fearsome rival — with Oregon more often times than not over the past couple of decades always ranked higher.

Forde, for a long time college football's most respected writer, came up with the following assessment of the UW:

The schedule sets up gloriously for the Huskies, who return almost everyone of significance from a 3–1 squad. They could get a disproportionate credibility bump by winning at Michigan on Sept. 11 (big name, questionable ability), then roll into a manageable start to Pac-12 play. The toughest opponent is Oregon, which comes to Seattle. The opportunity is there for second-year coach Jimmy Lake, if he has the right quarterback in Dylan Morris (that remains to be seen, though the job is his to start the season). Washington has had a winning record for 11 straight seasons. It also has had a plus-turnover margin in all those seasons. Those things are not coincidental.

Consider that the UW has lost just one game over the past 21 months, as shown in the video with linebacker Edefuan Ulofoshio sizing up a 31-26 setback to Stanford— yes, that's a bit of a stretch considering the pandemic intrusions — but the fan base has been spared much gloom.

The Huskies, however, don't rate at the Pac-12's best in Forde's prognostication. He saves that for USC, slotting the Trojans at No. 9. 

It should be noted that former UW coach Steve Sarkisian is projected to finish 23rd at Texas.

A surprising addition to this listing is Nevada, squeaking in at No. 25. Must be that offseason transfer-portal pick-up of former Husky wide receiver Marquis Spiker.

As for the UW and the Ducks, they have just under three months to argue who's better before they meet  on November 6 for the 113th time in what arguably is one of the nation's top five rivalries that crosses state lines.  

May Pat Forde will show up.

SI's Preseason Top 25

1. Alabama

2. Ohio State

3. Georgia

4. Clemson

5. Oklahoma

6. Cincinnati

7. Iowa State

8. Wisconsin

9. USC

10. Texas A&M 

11. Notre Dame

12. Washington 

13. North Carolina

14. Indiana

15. Miami

16. Iowa

17. Oregon

18. Florida

19. Penn State

20. Coastal Carolina

21. LSU

22. Louisiana

23. Texas

24. UCF

25. Nevada

Find Husky Maven on Facebook by searching: HuskyMaven/Sports Illustrated

Follow Dan Raley of Husky Maven on Twitter: @DanRaley1 and @HuskyMaven