The Washington Huskies’ 42-25 victory over the No. 23-ranked Illinois Fighting Illini on Saturday was the Huskies’ sixth win of the season, which is all they need to qualify for a bowl game this postseason.
This is the Huskies’ second-straight season of bowl eligibility under coach Jedd Fisch. Last year’s Huskies earned a berth in the 2024 Sun Bowl after finishing 6-6 during the regular season, but fell 34-35 to Louisville following a failed two-point conversion.
Saturday’s win also marks the third consecutive six-win season for Fisch, who won the 2023 Alamo Bowl with Arizona after finishing his final regular season in Tucson with a record of 9-3.
“[I’ll] start by saying that we are bowl-eligible,” Fisch said to begin his postgame press conference. “Always a great feeling to be able to be eligible to play in the postseason.”
Fisch has made it clear that his priorities are winning conferences and national championships. His Huskies still have a chance to do both if they win out, but they’ve reached a significant season milestone by achieving bowl eligibility.
The 2025-2026 bowl schedule features 35 non-playoff bowl games, which means 70 FBS teams will be selected to take part. Teams need six wins, including five against FBS opponents, to become eligible.
In rare cases, enough teams achieve six wins that some miss out on bowl games. However, it hasn’t happened since it occurred to Toledo in 2019, and it’s more common that a deficit of six-win teams means that some five-win teams are included.
A seventh Washington win would essentially guarantee the Huskies a bowl berth, but Huskies fans can rest easy today knowing that a postseason of some kind is almost certainly in their future.