10 Power 5 National Championship dark horse contenders
By John Buhler
2016 might be the year the Washington Huskies return to national prominence, as Chris Petersen has the Huskies eking towards a Don James-caliber team. While the Stanford Cardinal are probably the favorites to win the Pac-12, Washington has an outside shot at making the third annual College Football Playoff.
The Huskies will have an easy time in non-conference play, with the lowly Rutgers Scarlet Knights qualifying as Washington’s lone Power 5 foe outside the Pac-12. Barring the catastrophic, Washington should go undefeated until the final day of September, when they face juggernaut Stanford at home.
In-state rival Washington State should be a bowl-caliber team as well, but knocking off Stanford and Oregon early would put Washington in the Pac-12 North driver’s seat by mid-October. A huge if, we know, but not out of the realm of possibility.
Luckily, Washington won’t have to play UCLA out of the Pac-12 South this year, but still faces a tough out-of-division battle at Utah (Oct. 29), who along with the Bruins will likely vie for the South division title. After that, Washington will get a talented — but still rebuilding — USC Trojans team at home on Nov. 12.
If Washington tops Oregon and Stanford in back-to-back weeks, the Huskies can afford a loss at Utah and still play for a Pac-12 Championship. Led by their best head coach in years and their best quarterback since Jake Locker, the Huskies are looking at a potential renaissance season in Seattle.
The Pac-12 is always at risk of cannibalizing itself, why with nine conference games and a mandatory Power 5 opponent in the non-conference. But if there’s a true dark-horse capable of representing the West in the College Football Playoff, it’s these Washington Huskies.
Next: 1. Iowa Hawkeyes.