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Inside The Huskies

Not Quite Over The Hump, Here's Where UW Sits In Preseason Poll

The Huskies still need a signature win in the Big Ten to be taken seriously by everyone.
Dan Raley|
Xe'ree Alexander and Demond Williams Jr. show off their MVP awards at the LA Bowl.
Xe'ree Alexander and Demond Williams Jr. show off their MVP awards at the LA Bowl. | Dave Sizer photo

Seven is the magic number for the University of Washington football team moving forward and looking backward.

The annual Big Ten preseason media poll has the Huskies picked to finish just outside the upper third of the conference hierarchy behind, in this order, Ohio State, Oregon, Indiana, USC, Michigan and Penn State.

The immediate reaction to all of this late July prognostication is Indiana, as the defending national champion, has been shortchanged if not a little disrespectd and USC, Michigan and Penn State, with either previously underperforming or new coaches, are overrated.

As far as finishing seventh in the Big Ten, the UW knows this position in the standings well.

Last year, the Huskies (9-4 overall, 5-4 conference) finished tied for seventh with Illiinois (9-4, 5-4) and Minnesota (8-5, 5-4).

Jedd Fisch's team beat the then 23rd-ranked Illini 42-25 in Seattle and didn't face Minnesota, which will change this coming fall.

In a year's time, the Huskies at least have made progress.

The 2025 preseason media pollsters pegged Fisch's guys for a 10th-place Big Ten finish, this after the UW (6-7, 4-5) finished tied for ninth in the final 2024 standings with USC (7-6, 4-5) and Rutgers (7-6, 4-5) in Fisch's first season in Montlake.

The Huskies still don't have any blue-blood status in their new football surroundings rather they continue to be looked at as a rebuilding entity.

It will remain that way until the UW comes up with a signature win over someone such as Penn State, Indiana or Oregon, each of whom is on the Husky schedule coming up.

The Huskies appear to have a lot of talent returning at quarterback, tight end, on the offensive line and throughout the defense, but they don't have enough proven players at running back or wide receiver to merit exalted status.

It's specifically up to Fisch whether his team takes a big jump in everyone else's estimation or remains slotted middle of the pack.

Doubling as offensive coordinator, the Husky coach needs to find ways to use quarterback Demond Williams Jr.'s high-end speed to beat people, as promised. Williams might be the fastest starting quarterback across the Power 4 landscape.

However last season, Williams and the offense were held in check by the better defenses faced by the Huskies from Ohio State, Michigan and Oregon, with each of those games leading to 6-, 7- and 14-point offensive showings.

It's time for Fisch to unleash a player he's been pumping up for three years now and will be paying $4 million to perform this coming fall.

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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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