Washington Football: Huskies primed to reclaim Pac-12 title

Two years ago Chris Peterson brought Washington Football their first conference title in 16 years. Could he win it again in 2018?

In 2011 the Pac-10 expanded to become the Pac-12. Since the expansion the Pac-12 North has ruled the conference, but Washington had to wait five years behind fellow division members Stanford and Oregon until the Huskies were able to claim their first conference title since 2000.

The Pac-12 North offers little in the way of a challenger to the Huskies this year. Stanford managed to win the division in 2017 with a 9-5 overall record but advanced to the title game over Washington with a tiebreaker. The Cardinal have Bryce Love, but don’t appear to be nearly as well-rounded of a team as the Huskies.

Once they get past the North, Washington will more than likely meet the USC Trojans in a battle for the Pac-12 Title. USC edged out Stanford last season, but without Sam Darnold and Ronald Jones the Trojans might not have enough firepower to withstand the Washington offense in 2018. The Huskies return junior quarterback Jake Browning as well as junior running back Myles Gaskin. Both will be early selections to the Pac-12 All-Conference preseason team for a reason.

ESPN FPI projects Washington to be favored in every game on their schedule.  The closest contest would presumably come in the title game, but that should prove too much of a challenge. USC is projected to finish with three losses and their isn’t another team in the Pac-12 South that looks intimidating.

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If things break the right way for Washington in 2018 they’ll look to parlay the conference championship into a berth in the College Football Playoff. They represented the conference in 2016, falling to Alabama in their opening game. Washington will be looking to avenge those bad memories, and that starts with another conference championship next season.