Inside The Huskies

Athlon Has Its Say, Projecting 7-5 UW Season; Too Low or Too High?

All forecasters will treat the Huskies cautiously this time after last year's flameout.
Dan Raley|
Athlon Has Its Say, Projecting 7-5 UW Season; Too Low or Too High?
Athlon Has Its Say, Projecting 7-5 UW Season; Too Low or Too High?

In this story:

Washington Huskies

Everyone had the University of Washington football team all wrong last season. It wasn't a top 20 team, a conference contender or a bowl entry, which is what everyone thought. And had every reason to believe. 

Of course, no one could foresee all of the injuries that would cripple this group, particularly on defense, knocking out both edge rushers and a linebacker — all first- or second-team All-Pac-12 selections — and the turmoil that would lead to a coaching suspension and then a couple of in-season firings.

That's a lot of stuff to deal with, all at once. 

A year later, the college football prognosticators have forecast improvement for the Huskies, but cautiously so. 

Athlon Sports, which has the longest-running college preview magazine, projects a 7-5 season for the UW, pegging it behind both Oregon schools in its Pac-12 divisional race, and slotting it 52nd among all teams nationwide.

Any arguments with that? Too high or too low? Are you happy or discouraged with that?

Having watched 15 spring practices and a more veteran Husky coaching staff take charge, and the roster undergo a significant weeding-out process, the general feeling here is 2021 was an anomaly. A historic disaster event, such as Hurricane Katrina, something none of us should see again any time soon.

(Full disclosure, I've been an Athlon Sports contributor for 17 years now, covering UW football and basketball for the magazine, plus the Seahawks, yet I don't have a hand in compiling their league or national forecasts.)

As he stated in the accompanying video, new coach Kalen DeBoer says he only plays for championships, not to rebuild, which is admirable. 

A lot of Chris Petersen-recruited football players remain in the mix for DeBoer, sufficiently talented individuals who came to Montlake for success and they should leave feeling good about their stay here.

With any college football coaching change, early bumps along the way are expected. The legend Don James went 6-5 and 5-6 in his first two seasons at the UW before everything got turned around. Petersen had 8-6 and 7-6 teams in his first two Husky seasons before he got it rolling.

DeBoer won't go unbeaten, but he was left with a considerable amount of talent and should know what to do with it. We think he'll be better than a near break-even season.

Athlon says 7-5 for the Huskies, cautiously so. Looking at a UW schedule that leaves out USC and Utah, we think 8 or 9 regular-season wins is reasonable.

Realistically, what do you think?

Go to si.com/college/washington to read the latest Husky FanNation stories as soon as they’re published.

Not all stories are posted on the fan sites.

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

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

Loading recommendations... Please wait while we load personalized content recommendations

Published
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.

Home/Football