Washington football: 5 best seasons in Huskies’ history, ranked

3. Washington football makes the College Football Playoff in 2016.

During the 2016 season, the Washington football team tied its record for the most wins in a single season. Had the Huskies not run into the ridiculously talented Alabama Crimson Tide, there’s a chance that Chris Petersen could have broken that record and competed in a national championship game.

Washington started the year off strong and had plenty of opportunities to show off. Rutgers, Idaho, and Portland State all went down without much of a fight. The Arizona Wildcats gave Washington a challenge, but the Huskies still won 35-28 to advance to 4-0.

No. 10 Washington carried that 4-0 record back home and hosted the No. 7 Stanford Cardinal, who simply had nowhere near enough firepower to be able to keep up with what Washington did. The Huskies easily won against Stanford and clearly demonstrated that they were a team to fear.

With easy wins coming against Oregon and Oregon State, Washington wasn’t truly challenged again until the No. 4 Huskies hit the road and face off against No. 17 Utah. But Utah wasn’t enough to take down the Huskies, and Washington advance to an 8-0 record.

Just two weeks later, the 9-0 No. 4 Huskies fell flat against unranked USC as the Trojans handed the Huskies their first defeat of the season.

Washington would go on to beat Arizona State and No. 23 Washington State seemingly with ease. When No. 4 Washington met up with No. 9 Colorado as the two faced off for the Pac-12 championship, Washington again won with ease.

And then against Alabama, the Crimson Tide handled Washington, winning 24-7 in a game that felt remarkably more lopsided than it actually was on the scoreboard. But at the end of the day, the Huskies won 12 games, claimed a conference championship, and proved to be a solid team.