Inside The Huskies

Here's One Top 25 Poll That Won't Dismiss the Start-Over Huskies

The presence of a veteran quarterback, albeit a new face, keeps the UW in the mix.

Dan Raley

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As Michael Penix Jr. demonstrated in Montlake, everything in college football begins with the quarterback.

If you have one, anything is possible. 

So while most mock pollsters have banished the University of Washington football team from their top 25 rankings this offseason, noting that only two starters remain from the national championship run, the presence of quarterback Will Rogers from Mississippi State brings confidence to some that the Huskies still have something left in the tank.

CBSsports.com is one of those unable to totally dismiss the UW, with new coach Jedd Fisch on board, until it sees otherwise on the football field.

In its pre-spring football top 25 released on Monday, this online outlet ranks the Huskies as the No. 16 team in the land, dovetailed between Tennessee and Clemson.

Again, it all comes down to the presence of Rogers, who will follow Penix into Seattle looking for a similar flourish to his already productive college career. The CBS reasoning reads like this:

"Quarterback Will Rogers, who transferred in from Mississippi State following the 2023 season, decommitted after DeBoer left before ultimately deciding to remain in Seattle. You know, just your normal portal chaos. The ex-Bulldogs QB quarterback led the country in passing completions, attempts and yards three years ago for the late, great Mike Leach. Here's a hunch there is enough talent left for Fisch to guide an impressive follow-up to the Huskies earning a spot in the CFP National Championship last season."

While Oregon considers itself a legitimate national title contender after landing Oklahoma quarterback Gabriel Harrell through the portal, the Huskies found a guy behind center in Rogers who has no equal in career passing stats (12,315 yards, 94 touchdowns) and college experience (43 games, 40 starts), and comes to Seattle looking to improve on his win-loss rate (23-17) as a starter.

With an established quarterback, you can do just about anything in college football, even cover up some gaping holes.

Clearly, the Huskies, as a top priority, need to fill out an offensive line. All five of their 2023 starters ended up at either the NFL Scouting Combine, Alabama or Mississippi. If this was comparable to a baseball trade, the UW acquired the 6-foot-2, 204-pound Rogers for a stiff price — in exchange for center Parker Brailsford and guards Nate Kalepo and Julius Buelow — giving up hitting for pitching.

The downside to most preseason polls is they tend to have the same old teams winning the national championship and filling out the top 10 ad naseum. Yes, Georgia, for what seems like the 20th year in a row, is predicted to win it all again. OK, name the Bulldogs starting quarterback? No clue.

Yet CBS has unconventional picks in placing Mississippi and Missouri at No. 6 and 8, as rising SEC teams, and Pac-12 alumni Utah and Arizona, Fisch's old team, show up No. 12 and 14.

Former Husky coach Kalen DeBoer, after finishing last season No. 2, finds his Alabama team currently ranked fifth in this mock list.

National champion Michigan, in losing a lot of talented players similar to the Huskies, slips to No. 11 and Florida State, prevented from CFP semifinal glory, finds itself No. 20.

The complete CBS top 25 goes like this: 1, Georgia; 2, Ohio State; 3, Texas; 4, Oregon; 5, Alabama; 6, Mississippi; 7, Notre Dame; 8, Missouri; 9, Penn State; 10, LSU; 11, Michigan; 12, Utah; 13, Oklahoma; 14, Arizona; 15, Tennessee; 16, Washington; 17, Clemson; 18, Kansas State; 19, SMU; 20, Florida State; 21, Kansas; 22, Miami; 23, North Carolina State; 24, Oklahoma State; 25, Virginia Tech.

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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.

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