The Washington Huskies have had one of the nation’s best college football programs over the last 10 years, even if it hasn’t been typically recognized as such. As one of the four new members of the Big Ten, coach Jedd Fisch’s team will be exposed to a different audience this season.
The Big Ten Network was on the call for the team’s season-opening victory over Weber State, which brought a new broadcast team to Montlake, and among that team was former All-American tight end Jake Butt. After studying the program, the Michigan alum couldn’t have been more impressed with what he saw at Washington.
“What an unbelievable environment,” Butt said on the Locked On Huskies podcast. “Everyone said that when you go out to Washington, it’s going to be one of the coolest environments you’ve been in, and we caught it on the perfect weekend…It checked every box, and at this point of venues that I’ve been to, and I loved playing at Penn State, that is the best setting, college or NFL, that I’ve ever been a part of.”
But it’s more than just the environment; Butt was quick to recognize both the short and long-term of Washington’s storied history.
“I’m coming from the Midwest, and I knew Washington was one of the six teams that made the playoffs twice and a national title once, I knew Washington had been a really good program,” he continued. “In the offseason, you see these Twitter threads going around labeling the blue bloods of college football, and Washington doesn’t get tossed in there the with the Oklahoma, Texas, Alabama, Georgia, Ohio State, Michigan, and those guys.”
While some fans are still wary of the expansion, Butt emphasized one of the biggest positives of conference realignment, which will be Washington’s exposure to the new market and potentially getting the attention it deserves as one of the nation’s top programs.
“What’s really cool about this new landscape is tucked all the way up there in the Upper Northwest, all of a sudden, this is a whole different exposure of your program to the rest of college football. Part of what makes college football great is it’s regional, but that also limits things as well. Going forward, this program, and any program that’s in these major conferences, has national exposure to an extent they’ve never seen before, and that’s one of the biggest things I’m excited about for Washington and fans of the Big Ten in general.”