Inside The Huskies

Huskies Winning Mid-Winter Prognostication Battles

The experts appear to be optimistic about the coming UW football team.
Dan Raley|
Demond Williams Jr. and Dante Moore embrace after the UW-Oregon game.
Demond Williams Jr. and Dante Moore embrace after the UW-Oregon game. | Dave Sizer photo

Halfway between the end of the CFP national championship game and the beginning of spring practice for most teams, the analysts are coming out of the woodwork with their forecasts for the coming college football season.

For the most part, everyone is viewing the Washington Huskies through a fairly optimistic lens for 2026.

A 9-3 regular-season record.

A top third Big Ten power ranking.

Only Jedd Fisch gets sort of a short shrift in the conference coaching circles, pegged at No. 11 out of 18 leaders.

The presumption that the Huskies will be a three-time loser, based on the teams slotted ahead of them that they play, likely means Fisch's crew will lose to Indiana and Iowa in Seattle and take it on the ear again against Oregon in Eugene.

What this also means is expectations are such that the UW will beat USC on the road, and Penn State and Nebraska at Husky Stadium this coming fall.

What's been a bit overly optimistic is everyone seems to be planning for an immediate UCLA resurgence, suggesting the Bruins, who don't face the UW this season, will also finish 9-3 with a new coach in Bob Chesney.

Chesney hails from James Madison, which sent Curt Cignetti to Indiana and a national championship, and people seem to think some of the same sort of instant magic could happen again.

For that matter, one of the analysts has Chesney already slotted as the Big Ten's No. 10 coach, which is, again, one spot higher than Fisch in this mid-winter prognosticating.

Of all the early rankings, ratings and guesswork, the one suggesting the Huskies deserve a No. 6 Big Ten power ranking might be the most impressive one.

After two years in the conference, the idea the UW trails only Indiana, Oregon, Ohio State, USC and Michigan in overall program health is a definitive selling point.

This suggests the Huskies steady rebuild following Kalen DeBoer's flash moments of success and abrupt departure to Alabama have been making positive strides.

It means Fisch's team might be on the cusp of playoff contention in the now 12-team bracket that has become bigger than any bowl game.

The Huskies clearly have some talented pieces with young offensive lineman John Mills beginning to emerge in All-America conversations and teams trying to pry dual-threat quarterback Demond Williams Jr. away from Montlake.

It's just all a reminder that February to August guesswork can be entertaining before everything gets real again.

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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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