Washington football has been one of the strongest programs in the Pac-12 over the last few years. One notable former Pac-12 star sees them taking a big leap forward in 2021.
The Huskies went 3-1 in the extremely shortened 2020 season, Jimmy Lake’s first stepping in as head coach after the resignation of Chris Petersen at the end of 2019. They beat Oregon State, Arizona, and Utah, lost to Stanford, and had games against Cal, Wazzu, and Oregon deemed no contests due to COVID-19. The team also had to back out of the Pac-12 Championship against USC, leading Oregon to get the shot. The Ducks won the conference title without winning their division, and wound up in the Fiesta Bowl.
With that extremely small sample six, it’s hard to make any definitive statements about the Huskies. That is, unless you’re former Washington State star Ryan Leaf, apparently. He thinks the Huskies will run the table this fall.
Leaf tweeted his Pac-12 predictions for the 2021 season on Thursday afternoon. He believes the Huskies will edge out Oregon and Cal, and get that showdown with USC in the Pac-12 title game. The Huskies and Trojans don’t meet in the regular season.
.@pac12 Preseason Predictions
South-
1. USC 10-2
2. Utah 11-1
3. ASU 10-2
4. UCLA 5-7
5. Arizona 4-8
6. Colorado 3-9North-
1. UW 12-0
2. Oregon 9-3
3. CAL 9-3
4. WSU 6-6
5. Oregon St 6-6
6. Stanford 5-7— Ryan D Leaf (@RyanDLeaf) August 19, 2021
He admits he’s taking a pretty big “leap” in going with Washington at 12-0. That didn’t stop him from making the bold call, though.
HUGE leap!!
— Ryan D Leaf (@RyanDLeaf) August 19, 2021
The Washington schedule features a prominent non-conference game against Michigan on Sept. 11. The Huskies also face the two Arizona schools, Colorado, and UCLA out of the Pac-12 South.
It’s a relatively workable schedule, though there are plenty of challenges, especially in a pretty balanced North Division, with another potential College Football Playoff contender in Oregon, though the Huskies draw the Ducks at home this season on Nov. 6.
Washington remains the last Pac-12 program to reach the Playoff, making the four-team field back in 2016 as a one-loss conference champion. The Huskies fell to Alabama in the semifinal at the Peach Bowl that season.
The post Ryan Leaf Predicts Pac-12 Team Will Go Undefeated appeared first on The Spun.
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