3 most important games for Washington football in 2024

What a season it was for Washington football in 2023.

Kalen DeBoer took the Huskies to the national title game and they fell short against the Michigan Wolverines in what was a close game until a late touchdown proved to be the nail in the coffin. Now DeBoer has moved on to Alabama and Michael Penix Jr. is in the NFL with the Atlanta Falcons.

Jedd Fisch has taken over the program after leading Arizona back to relevance and the expectations have lowered slightly with the roster looking completely different.

The schedule won't be a walk in the park, either, and these three games will be the most important.

3. at Iowa (Oct. 12)

No, I don't think Iowa is the third-toughest game on the schedule, but if you're looking at it in terms of strictly importance, it has to be in the top three.

Why?

As the schedule lays out, beating Iowa on the road could break up a potential losing streak for the Huskies and give them momentum heading into another road game against Indiana and then a big home game against USC before going to Penn State. I think USC and Penn State could both be tougher games, but losing at Iowa could extend a losing streak to 2-3 games and give the Huskies a "no end in sight" feeling in terms of a skid.

Plus, Iowa is a team that will be in the top half of the conference standings and a win over the Hawkeyes on the road would prove to everyone that Washington is for real -- again.