5 reasons Washington makes the College Football Playoff

SEATTLE, WA - NOVEMBER 04: Washington's (8) Dante Pettis (WR) pumps up receivers and running backs before the game between the Washington Huskies and the Oregon Ducks on November 04, 2017 at Husky Stadium in Seattle, WA. (Photo by Jesse Beals/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images) /

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Washington offensive players line up at the line of scrimmage against the Washington State defense (Photo by Jesse Beals/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images) /

4. The schedule

The concept of easing into the season is a foreign one for Washington in 2018. Their Week 1 matchup against Auburn in the Chick-fil-A Kickoff Game is arguably the biggest game of the opening weekend, pitting the No. 6 Huskies vs. No. 9 Auburn. It’s a monumental challenge to kickoff the year but if Washington wins, they’ll have a signature win on their resume well before they get into the thick of their conference schedule.

A win against Auburn should be enough to offset one conference loss in the eyes of the College Football Playoff selection committee, especially if they still win the Pac-12 title. Even if they start 0-1 with a loss to Auburn, they still have a chance to make the playoff. They’d likely have to win out and win the Pac-12 but it’s hard to imagine only one quality loss to Auburn being enough to keep Washington on the outside looking in with so many other contenders facing challenging schedules.

Washington dodged USC in 2018 but the schedule does include the other two Pac-12 teams in the preseason top 25. The conference games the Huskies will play this season have the potential to add several quality wins but they should be favored/very capable of winning all nine.

Key conference games include:

Game 3: at Utah, Sept. 15
Game 7: at Oregon, Oct. 13
Game 10: Stanford, Nov. 3
Game 12: at Washington State, Nov. 23

The disadvantage Washington has from a schedule standpoint this season is that most of their crucial games are on the road. The opening weekend game against Auburn is a neutral site technically but it’s 110 miles from Auburn and 2,400 miles from Eugene, Oregon, so might as well be an away game.

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