Skip to main content
Inside The Huskies

Huskies Find Themselves in 11 Heaven, an Elite Victory Grouping

The UW's sparkling record is exceeded by a very few.
Dan Raley|
Huskies Find Themselves in 11 Heaven, an Elite Victory Grouping
Huskies Find Themselves in 11 Heaven, an Elite Victory Grouping

In this story:

Washington Huskies

As we pause this overly interesting college football season for a day, and crunch the escalating numbers, a couple of things have become abundantly clear for the nation's finest teams.

No one — and we reiterate no one — plays taunt defense anymore at the FBS level. Not the University of Washington. Not Michigan. Not Ohio State. Not TCU. Not even Georgia. 

Or did you not notice the 179 points collectively rung up by the four teams in Saturday's CFP semifinal games, an average of 44.7 points per team?

That other thing?

Before the delayed New Year's Day games are played out on January 2, just four teams across the nation currently hold a better football record than the Huskies at 11-2 — a sparkling ledger Kalen DeBoer's crew shares with five other schools and has a win total reached only five times in school history.

In terms of FBS wins and losses, the UW still finds itself staring up at CFP finalists Georgia (14-0) and TCU (13-1), plus ousted Michigan (13-1) and, get this, Sun Belt-tested Troy (12-2).

UW remains part of college football's well-attended elite 11-2 club (a 84.6 winning percentage), though this group is still subject to change for some of them that are still playing. 

These teams currently include the equally accomplished Alabama, Ohio State and Tennessee, which are done, plus Tulane and USC, which meet in the Cotton Bowl, with the loser of the Pasadena game falling behind the Huskies and the winner separating itself from the purple and gold.

Looking at it league-wise among the Power 5 entries, the Huskies have finished with a better slate than all fourteen ACC teams, a league topped by Clemson (11-3) and Florida State (10-3), whose seasons are all complete.

The UW has a better record than all 10 of the Big 12 teams except TCU, with Kansas State (10-4) the next-best entry behind the Horned Frogs.

In the 14-team SEC, the Huskies have a better record than 11 of the members, again trailing Georgia and matching Alabama and Tennessee.

In the 14-team Big Ten, the UW currently is better than a dozen of them, trailing only Michigan, sharing the same ledger with Ohio State and still one win ahead of Penn State (10-2), which must beat Utah in the Rose Bowl to catch up. 

Eleven and two, indeed, is a landmark season for the 2022 Huskies.

COLLEGE FOOTBALL'S RECORD BEST

1. Georgia 14-0

2. TCU 13-1

2. Michigan 13-1

4. Troy 12-2

5. UW 11-2

5. USC 11-2

5. Ohio State 11-2

5. Alabama 11-2

5. Tennessee 11-2

5. Tulane 11-2

11. UTSA 11-3

11. Clemson 11-3

13. Penn State 10-2

14. Florida State 10-3

Go to si.com/college/washington to read the latest Inside the Huskies stories — as soon as they’re published.

Not all stories are posted on the fan sites.

Find Inside the Huskies on Facebook by searching: Inside Huskies/FanNation at SI.com or https://www.facebook.com/dan.raley.12

Follow Dan Raley of Inside the Huskies on Twitter: @DanRaley1 or @UWFanNation or @DanRaley3

Have a question, direct message me on Facebook or Twitter.

Add us as a preferred source on Google

Loading recommendations... Please wait while we load personalized content recommendations

Published
Dan Raley
DAN RALEY

Dan Raley has worked for the Seattle Post-Intelligencer, Atlanta Journal-Constitution and Fairbanks Daily News-Miner, as well as for MSN.com and Boeing, the latter as a global aerospace writer. His sportswriting career spans four decades and he's covered University of Washington football and basketball during much of that time. In a working capacity, he's been to the Super Bowl, the NBA Finals, the MLB playoffs, the Masters, the U.S. Open, the PGA Championship and countless Final Fours and bowl games.

Home/Football