Chris Petersen probably thought that he was going to be able to build up the Washington Huskies into a legitimate National Championship contender in just a couple of seasons. Instead, his first season in Seattle was a somewhat drab 8-6 result, while his second season looks like it probably won't even end with a trip to a bowl game.
2015 SCHEDULE
9/4: at Boise State
9/12: vs. Sacramento State
9/19: vs. Utah State
9/26: vs. California
10/8: at USC
10/17: vs. Oregon
10/24: at Stanford
10/31: vs. Arizona
11/7: vs. Utah
11/14: at Arizona State
11/21: at Oregon State
11/27: vs. Washington State
That first game on the schedule feels like it is going to be all or nothing for U-Dub this year. The team knows that it has far too many games that it certainly won't win this year without a huge upset (at USC, vs. Oregon, at Stanford, vs. Arizona, at Arizona State), and that leaves very little margin for error.
Bowl hopes might come down to that opening game against Petersen's former school, Boise State.
SEASON WIN TOTAL
Washington's season win total is set at just five this season, and for good reason. As we outlined before, that's a lot of games on the docket in which the team is going to be a sizeable underdog, and we're not all that sure that there's a game on the schedule after the home game against Utah State in which the team will be favored for the rest of the season.
OFFENSIVE OUTLOOK
Cyler Miles had some real moments of brilliance last season for the Huskies, but he retired due to a hip injury in a surprising announcement over the summer.
There are still some talented pieces in place here at Washington, including Dwayne Washington and Lavon Coleman, the top two rushers on the team, but this quarterback situation is drab at best. Jeff Lindquist figures to have the inside track on the job, but Jake Browning and K.J. Carta-Samuels will be in the discussion as well.
Expect to see a lot of stacked boxes with eight and even nine men this year against Washington, daring Petersen to ask his quarterbacks to throw the football.
DEFENSIVE OUTLOOK
Matters are even worse on defense for the Huskies. They only have one returning starter from what was a very good front seven a season ago, and even though there are two returners in the secondary, Sidney Jones and Budda Baker are both just sophomores now.
The Huskies ranked No. 123 in the nation last year against the pass. We suspect they’ll improve in that department, but not due to the fact that the secondary is really all that much better. There's no way that a very inexperienced front seven is going to hold teams to 124.1 rushing yards per game again this year.
SEASON PREDICTION
The Huskies are in for a tough season, and just getting to a bowl game would be a big accomplishment. There's a reason that this team is 50 to 1 to win the Pac-12 and 200 to 1 to win the National Championship this year.
Maybe one of these quarterbacks turns out to be a stud, and Washington can outscore some teams this year in the Pac-12. More than likely though, the Huskies will struggle badly against good defenses to move the ball, and a young defense won't be able to slow teams down either.
Expect to see a lot of lopsided scores this year out of Seattle. We doubt that U-Dub gets to even four wins.
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