Washington Football: Huskies defense leads the way over Utah

3. The Pac-12’s Playoff hopes are still very much alive

When Washington fell to Auburn in Week 1 the national media tuned out the Pac-12. With the focus placed on the Big Ten (who had an absolutely abysmal Week 3) and the SEC, teams like Washington and Stanford have quietly marched along, picking up a few wins along the way.

USC’s utter dismantling at the hands of a not-so-good Texas squad on Saturday night makes it seem even more likely that the Pac-12 Title will come down to a round robin between Oregon, Stanford and Washington. With all three of those games starting strong in 2018, it’s impossible to discount this conference’s ceiling at the end of the season.

For Washington, they’ll continue to hang around the Top 10 for a few weeks as they wait for their big games later in October. A statement win (or two) plus a narrow loss to Auburn will be enough to get this team into consideration.

If Washington can’t do it, the odds of Stanford or Oregon taking up the charge are well within the realm of possibility. Either way, the Pac-12’s College Football Playoff hopes are decidedly still legitimate.