5 reasons Washington makes the College Football Playoff

1. The best secondary in the country

Washington faced two of the top five passing offenses and six within the top 50 last season. Even with their schedule, the Huskies held opponents to 16.1 points per game and gave up only 10 passing touchdowns all year.

Among the players Washington has sent to the NFL Draft since 2015, four defensive backs have been taken in the first two rounds. None was drafted in 2018 though because the top eight players at the back-end of the 2017 defense all return in 2018.

As a freshman, Byron Murphy (5-feet-11, 185 pounds) was a day-one starter in 2017 and he became one of the most dominant shutdown corners in college football before an injury forced him to miss seven games. On the other side, Jordan Miller (6-feet-1, 180 pounds) may have been even better. Miller also went down with an injury that caused him to miss most of the season. Murphy and Miller should both return, fully healthy this season and will be two of the best corners in the country.

Sophomore Myles Bryant filled in last season and received All-Pac-12 Honorable Mention honors. He returns as a junior along with Austin Joyner and a pair of highly touted rising sophomores in Elijah Molden and Keith Taylor.

All that said, safety is actually the stronger position in the defensive backfield. Washington might have the best duo of safeties in the country in junior, Taylor Rapp (6-feet, 205 pounds) and senior, JoJo McIntosh (6-feet-1, 210 pounds). Rapp Was a first-team All-Pac-12 performer last season and  McIntosh was a second-team all-conference performer.

All four starters are future pros and as good as the Huskies were on defense last year, they have the potential to be even better in 2018.