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Washington Huskies ready to turn the corner under Chris Petersen

By Michael Collins

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The Washington Huskies have been searching for that head coach who will bring their program back to prominence seemingly forever. Its safe to say that Chris Petersen might be that guy, and they need to do whatever it takes to keep him around.

Forget what you saw this week when the No. 10 Stanford Cardinal bullied Chris Petersen’s Huskies all over the field. Stanford is a team that’s looking like the class of the Pac-12 this season, and holding their offense to just 31 points was actually a win for Washington.

If you want to point to an benchmark for this Huskies program, go back to the opening week close loss to then No. 23 Boise State, or the 17-12 upset win over USC in the Coliseum. That’s where Petersen has this program headed, and he’s got more young talent than any team in the Pac-12.

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Petersen may be one of of the most underrated coaches in college football. When he was at Boise State and giving the BCS zealots fits, his ingenuity and creativity helped lift the Broncos from just another B-level program to a national power.

But the knock was always there at Boise…you don’t play anybody, at least not on a weekly basis.

The move to take over the Washington program was as much about Petersen getting a chance in a Power-5 school to prove himself as a legitimate top coach as anything else.

His first season at Washington in 2014 (8-6, 4-5 Pac-12) could be looked at as a success, but there were no signature wins, no games that made everyone take notice of what was going on.

This season, more and more people are peeking at the Huskies, and they should. There’s no reason this young team should be playing at the level they are.

The Huskies have 52 freshmen and redshirt freshmen on the current roster, including a true freshman starting quarterback — Jake Browning — who is playing way above his years in a very tough conference. Browning is throwing at a 62 percent completion clip with six touchdowns and five interceptions, and carries a passer rating of 130 for the season.

Not bad for a kid fresh out of high school facing some tough and complex defenses, and if there’s one thing Petersen excels at, it’s coaching up young quarterbacks.

The Huskies defense is among the best in the nation, giving up only 17.8 points per game, and that’s after facing such high-powered offenses as UCLA, USC, Stanford, Oregon and Cal – who are all averaging between 35 to 39 points scored per game.

The 24 points per game Washington is scoring on offense is just the beginning. This young quarterback, offensive line and lead running back Myles Gaskin will only grow and develop as they find a comfort level in Petersen’s complex schemes. When the Huskies get some young wide receiver talent on the field to give Browning some more targets, he’ll be turning the heads of NFL scouts.

No, don’t let the 2015 losses fool you. This is a young Washington team who just needs to learn how to win those close games and finish when the opportunity is presented. This program is ready to take off.

Washington fans should be patient, and the powers that be in Seattle should be sure that they don’t let another program lure Petersen away. If he’s given the time and the resources to do his job at Washington, this program will be competing for Pac-12 titles by 2017, if not sooner.

Petersen’s work at Boise State was no fluke. He was beating good teams anytime he got the opportunity. Now he’s being given the chance to build the same thing in a more competitive conference, and he’s going to get it done.

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