College Football: Preseason Top 25 Projections

Washington was tabbed as a top-six team by the Coaches Poll, and they could get similar treatment from the AP Top 25. The Huskies enter the new season as the favorites in the Pac-12 North and look poised to make another run at returning to the College Football Playoff one more time with their core group of stars in the backfield. They get a chance to consolidate position in the AP Top 25 right away with a key non-conference showdown against Auburn.

Both Jake Browning and Myles Gaskin are back for the Huskies. Chico McClatcher looks ready to return to the field after his nasty injury last year, and he needs to be at full speed for the Huskies to have a balanced attack. Losing Coleman Shelton puts a hole at the center spot, but this should be another productive offense in Seattle.

Where the bigger question marks fall are once again on defense. We’ve seen this game before, as Washington sends a bunch of talent to the NFL and somehow only seems to get better on defense. The team’s core up the middle of the front seven was obliterated, though, with defensive tackle Vita Vea and inside linebackers Azeem Victor and Keishawn Bierria all getting picked in the 2018 NFL Draft. Even with those losses, though, pollsters will give Chris Petersen’s team the benefit of the doubt and put them in the bottom half of the top 10.