Jedd Fisch has helped Washington embrace its role as the underdog, the overlooked, the underestimated. During the 2023 season, the team clawed its way to the top even though the national media gave reasons they shouldn’t be there every week.
And, in the end, even though the bid for the national championship fell one game short, Washington proved them all wrong.
When the way-too-early preseason AP Top 25 list came out, no one expected the team from Montlake to be on it. After Kalen DeBoer left for Alabama, 15 players joined the ranks of the NFL, and 34 players entered the transfer portal, leaving just two starters from the historic team.
That left a lot for Fisch’s team to prove after spending all of the 2023 season inside the rankings, with most of that coming inside the top 10.
Washington opened up their 2024 season and time as members of the Big Ten with an easy 35-3 win over Weber State, with the team and coaching staff showing off plenty of promise on both sides of the ball.
Quarterback Will Rogers showed he can command the field, running back Jonah Coleman emerged as one of the nation’s best backs, and wide receivers Giles Jackson and Denzel Boston made themselves big targets all over the field.
At the end of the day, the Huskies showed they had overcome all the obstacles that they faced in January after leaving Houston, and that 2024 wasn’t going to be a rebuild.
With all of the effort put forward, it appeared as if the Huskies had done enough to put themselves in consideration to find their names among the AP Top 25. With schools like Florida State, Clemson, and LSU losing and Oregon struggling against Idaho, there were spots to be had, but Washington was left off.
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That just leaves the Huskies, who checked in at No. 33 with 23 points, behind schools like Memphis, SMU, and Iowa State. Fisch’s team will have another opportunity to prove it belongs inside the top 25 on Saturday against Eastern Michigan.