@Wisconsin: W 35-20 (7-2)
I don’t know if it's just me, but I have a personal agenda for Washington to beat Wisconsin to prove that we are the superior UW. I think that is exactly what the Huskies do here, marching into Madison to take down a team that they’re quite simply better than on paper.
Wisconsin didn’t have a great campaign last season, and it could be more of the same this season with a tough early schedule. Washington will be fired up after its win against Illinois, and could prey on a Wisconsin team that may be dysfunctional by this point in the season.
vs. Purdue: W 34-9 (8-2)
The Boilermakers could very well be winless in conference play at this point, and I don't expect them to get their first one on the road against the Huskies.
Washington should honestly win by a lot more than I am predicting, but I will give Purdue some grace and say that the Dawgs took it easy on them in the second half.
@UCLA: L 37-41 (8-3)
Road night games against UCLA scare me for some reason. Riding the momentum after three straight wins scoring more than 30 points, this is where I think the Huskies will drop one that they should win on paper.
For what it’s worth, I don’t think it will be the offense’s fault – Demond Williams will get in a shootout with Nico Iamaleava. Although far from a complete team, UCLA does have plenty of weapons on offense – and at this point late in the season, they will all be fine tuned to perform.
Of course I don’t want it to happen, but a loss here would be catastrophic for UW’s playoff hopes, with the following week’s game against Oregon becoming a must-win for more than one reason.
vs. Oregon: L 27-38 (8-4)
I know this isn’t what Husky fans want to see, but when I’m writing this I have to remove my bias and see just how good Oregon has been in recent years. Dan Lanning has proven that it doesn’t matter who he has at quarterback – he’s going to put together a deadly all-around team.
The Ducks once again project to have a star-studded roster this season, with making the playoffs a bare minimum expectation. By this point in the season, the Ducks could very well be 10-1 (or even undefeated) and will be hungry to secure their playoff spot and beat up on the Dawgs who beat them three times in a row from 2022 to 2023.
The Huskies, on the other hand, would be fresh off a draining loss to UCLA. This game is at home, so I’m certainly not putting it past them to pull off the upset (and you know I hope they do), but I unfortunately have Washington ending the regular season on back-to-back losses here.
So there you have it, I have Washington finishing the regular season 8-4, bowl eligible. I know Husky fans are certainly hoping for better, but this finish would be a huge improvement after last year’s losing season.
Especially when you consider this will be Williams’s first full season as a starter and Fisch’s second as head coach, an 8-4 record in a competitive Big Ten is a significant place to build off of moving forward.