With Chris Petersen in Charge, Washington Is Poised To Go From Awkward To Awesome
In his third season at Washington since leaving Boise State, coach Chris Petersen has a young and talented Huskies squad on the verge of a college football breakthrough.
At the beginning of the 2015 college football season, Washington's Chris Petersen returned to his coaching roots when the Huskies opened at Boise State. Before taking over in Seattle in 2014, Petersen had led the Broncos for eight seasons, guiding a plucky mid-major to pair of BCS bowl wins and a perennial spot among the top 25 teams in college football.Now, he was back in Boise, bringing a Power Five team to the place where he used to crush Power Five opponents. Washington had gone a mediocre 8-6 in 2014, losing to every ranked team it played—an adjustment for a coach known for stunning upsets—and had spent the previous half-decade finishing with seven or eight wins and trips to mid-December bowl games.
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Petersen termed his return well: "awkward." Washington was thoroughly shellacked by Boise State, managing just 11 first downs and 179 total yards in a deceptively close 16-13 loss.Heading into 2016, however, things are different. Petersen won't be dreading his opener, and neither will Huskies fans. Washington might be the most-hyped non-powerhouse in the country. The Huskies were picked by the media to finish second in the Pac-12 North, behind Stanford, and received eight of 33 first-place votes in the division, as well as four votes to win the whole conference. They're also picked to finish ahead of Oregon, a school they've lost to 12 years in a row.
Of course, preseason hype often can be too pronounced. Washington didn't even finish .500 in Pac-12 play last season. Are the Huskies in for more mediocrity?The advanced statistics say otherwise. Despite having an 8-6 record in 2015 and a 4-5 record in conference play, the F/+ ratings at Football Outsiders ranked the Huskies No. 13 in the nation. Those ratings take into account not record or points scored, but how well teams would perform against an average opponent based on their per-play offensive and defensive stats.In other words: if the 2015 season were played again, Washington would likely have a much better record.More evidence that the Huskies are moving in the right direction: their defense ranked 23rd in the country last year based on yards per play. The offense wasn't quite as great, but it still ranked a respectable 43rd nationally. But look more closely. Factor in the quality of Washington's opponents, per Football Outsiders, and Petersen's defense was elite, ranking ninth in the country.
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While the Huskies' play was inconsistent, their potential was reflected in a number of games last season. The defense stifled USC in Los Angeles en route to a 17-12 win, and both units were incredible against Washington State (45-10 win) and Arizona (49-3 win). The offense, which was so miserable in the opener against Boise State, improved down the stretch, posting at least 44 points in each of Washington's final three games, all of them wins.
Like his team, Washington quarterback Jake Browning is young and on the rise. Photo by Jennifer Buchanan-USA TODAY Sports
More exciting still? Most of Washington's talent is coming back, and many of the Huskies' best players are young—which means there's plenty of room for rapid growth. Take quarterback Jake Browning, who showed vast improvement between the first five (FBS) games of the 2015 season and the final six, split by a missed game against Stanford:
Remember, Browning was just a freshman. A former four-star recruit and the fifth-ranked "pro-style" quarterback in the country, he's paired with a coach who turned quarterbacks at Boise State, of all places, into stars. (Kellen Moore was even a Heisman Trophy finalist under Petersen). With a full offseason of work under his belt, Browning heads into 2016 as one of the best quarterbacks in the Pac-12.He's far from the only young star in Seattle. Myles Gaskin, who rushed for 1,300 yards and 17 touchdowns last year, is also a rising sophomore. Last year's two leading tacklers—Azeem Victor and Keishawn Bierria—will both be juniors. In all, 16 of 22 Washington starters return, including nine of 11 on offense.It's possible the Washington hype is a year early—barring injuries, the Huskies should be even better in 2017. But Huskies fans already have gotten a tantalizing glimpse of what they were promised when their school snagged Petersen from Boise State in what looks like the biggest coup of the 2013-14 offseason.Washington has been mediocre or bad since 2000, when the Huskies went 11-1. If any coach can lead them back to those heights, it's Petersen, and what better time for a breakthrough than year three? That's the magic number for coaching breakthroughs, and Petersen—undoubtedly one of the best coaches of this era—has all the talent to make it happen.Upward trajectories are never guaranteed. Losing in sports has its own sort of gravity, and there are always reasons to believe that a coach who wins at one school will have trouble duplicating his success at the next. But Washington appears to be for real, a precocious teenager just coming out of an awkward growth spurt. This September, the Huskies open their season against Rutgers. My guess is that Petersen is a little more excited about this one, and the 11 other games to follow.Want to read more stories like this from VICE Sports?Subscribeto our daily newsletter.
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Remember, Browning was just a freshman. A former four-star recruit and the fifth-ranked "pro-style" quarterback in the country, he's paired with a coach who turned quarterbacks at Boise State, of all places, into stars. (Kellen Moore was even a Heisman Trophy finalist under Petersen). With a full offseason of work under his belt, Browning heads into 2016 as one of the best quarterbacks in the Pac-12.He's far from the only young star in Seattle. Myles Gaskin, who rushed for 1,300 yards and 17 touchdowns last year, is also a rising sophomore. Last year's two leading tacklers—Azeem Victor and Keishawn Bierria—will both be juniors. In all, 16 of 22 Washington starters return, including nine of 11 on offense.It's possible the Washington hype is a year early—barring injuries, the Huskies should be even better in 2017. But Huskies fans already have gotten a tantalizing glimpse of what they were promised when their school snagged Petersen from Boise State in what looks like the biggest coup of the 2013-14 offseason.Washington has been mediocre or bad since 2000, when the Huskies went 11-1. If any coach can lead them back to those heights, it's Petersen, and what better time for a breakthrough than year three? That's the magic number for coaching breakthroughs, and Petersen—undoubtedly one of the best coaches of this era—has all the talent to make it happen.Upward trajectories are never guaranteed. Losing in sports has its own sort of gravity, and there are always reasons to believe that a coach who wins at one school will have trouble duplicating his success at the next. But Washington appears to be for real, a precocious teenager just coming out of an awkward growth spurt. This September, the Huskies open their season against Rutgers. My guess is that Petersen is a little more excited about this one, and the 11 other games to follow.Want to read more stories like this from VICE Sports? Subscribe to our daily newsletter.