Apparently, a team that lost 20 of 22 starters and its head coach from the previous season can be considered overrated. As CBS Sports goes through their most overrated and underrated Big Ten teams ahead of the 2024 season, somehow, the Washington Huskies fell into their overrated category.
“We saw TCU fail to make a bowl game in 2023 just one season after playing for the national championship,” CBS Sports’ David Cobb said. “The same thing could happen with Washington, which lost head coach Kalen DeBoer and nearly every starter from a 14-1 squad. The Huskies made a great hire in Jedd Fisch from Arizona, but they have too many new faces to be competitive in a new conference during a transition for the roster, staff, and program.”
CBS Sports’ expert poll went on to have three writers pick Washington to finish No. 10 in the Big Ten this season, with two others slotting them at No. 11, which feels like a far cry from being overrated.
While Michael Penix Jr. and Rome Odunze won’t be walking out of the tunnel anymore, the Huskies still have an exciting supporting cast for fifth-year senior Will Rogers to work with, including running back Jonah Coleman and wide receivers Denzel Boston and Jeremiah Hunter.
Defensively, Fisch made an impressive hire in defensive coordinator Steve Belichick, who should give the Huskies the ability to be competitive immediately thanks to his installation of one of the nation’s best schemes on his side of the ball.
Even though a trip to the College Football Playoff feels like more than a longshot in Fisch’s first year at the helm, Washington has had a much better rebuild, despite all the turmoil, than last year’s TCU team.
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