Entering the final month of the 2018 regular season Washington has allowed fewer points in its three defeats than 14 schools that made the inaugural College Football Playoff top 25 this week.
At 6-3 overall and 4-2 against teams in the Pac-12 Conference the Huskies were left out of the first round of rankings. A trio of three-loss teams did find their way in however; No. 24 Iowa State, No.20 Texas A&M and No. 18 Mississippi State.
With the stage set TheDawgReport.com has our Fast Five storylines heading into week 10:
No. 5 – Washington has two projected first-round picks in the latest Pro Football Focus 2019 NFL Mock Draft. It should come as no surprise that both players are on defense, two of the five starting defensive backs for the Huskies to be precise.
Redshirt sophomore cornerback Byron Murphy going No. 19 overall to the Philadelphia Eagles, and junior safety Taylor Rapp to the Kansas City Chiefs at No. 31. Since the NFL regular season is still going on the likelihood that both teams will be picking at those two exact slots are unlikely.
However, should the pair decide to leave the Death Row defense early after this season they would become the fifth and sixth players from the Huskies secondary to be drafted under defensive coordinator Jimmy Lake.
Murphy, a former four-star recruit who spurred the expected in-state choice, Arizona State, to come to UW back in 2016 came into this season as one of the top DB’s in the country.
Rapp has turned into the all-around defender that Lake expected when he recruited him out of Sehome High School in Bellingham, Washington back in 2015. The three-star athlete turned down offers from Oregon, Stanford, Notre Dame and several other Power Five programs to stay home.
During the second half against Utah, a 21-7 victory on the road in Salt Lake City back in September, ESPN NFL Draft analyst Todd McShay said that all five starters in the secondary will be drafted over the next few years.
No. 4 – The Huskies are hosting a 2020 four-star wide receiver for an unofficial visit this weekend. Jalen McMillan, a 6-foot-2 and 175-pound recruit out of San Joaquin Memorial HS (Fresno, California) is the No. 121 overall prospect in the 2020 class according to Rivals’ rankings.
All but three Pac-12 schools have already offered the talented junior; Oregon, Stanford and Washington State. In total, McMillan has 20 scholarship offers to date including national powers Alabama, LSU, Notre Dame and Oklahoma among others.
Most of the recruits that UW has signed under Chris Petersen took at least one unofficial visit during their junior year, allowing for more flexibility for a potential official visit next fall with an in-season trip not as necessary.
Getting McMillan on campus should help the Huskies down the road as his recruitment continues to accelerate. With rain in the forecast on Saturday, even though it might not seem to be a benefit, it will give the 2020 prospect a real understanding for what to expect.
For most prospects weather does not factor into their final decision. Rather it provides fodder for useless banter between rival fan bases on social media.
If playing on a cold, rain soaked night at Husky Stadium or needing to battle unpredictable winter elements on the Palouse means a ticket to the Pac-12 Championship Game, likely the latter will be the more important factor when it comes time to choosing a school for any recruit.
Expect no different for McMillan.
No. 3 – Final trio of opponents will keep UW confined to the Evergreen State in November. That starts Saturday in the first of two home games left on the 2018 regular season schedule.
Stanford and Oregon State will close out the home slate for the Huskies over the next three weeks with their bye-week sandwiched in between. The regular season finale is a 45-minute flight across the state to Pullman for a showdown with Washington State, one of only two teams from the conference in the initial CFB Playoff rankings at No. 8.
It might seem insignificant in the grand scheme of things, but not having to travel or play in a road game outside the Pacific Northwest is a benefit to UW.
Petersen said during his Monday press conference that sophomore tight end Hunter Bryant and senior running back Myles Gaskin are “close” to returning but did not confirm their status vs Stanford beyond that.
Bryant has not played this season after recovering from offseason knee surgery after being the second-leading receiver as a freshman. He played in nine of 13 games last season and finished with 331 receiving yards, 22 receptions and one touchdown while being one of only four returning players with at least one receiving TD in 2017.
Gaskin has missed the last two games against Colorado and California after suffering a shoulder injury against UCLA on October 6. He rushed for 69 yards on 15 carries the following week in the 30-27 overtime loss at Oregon while being held out of the end zone for only the third time all season.
UW is undefeated (4-0) this season when Gaskin scores at least one rushing TD. When he doesn’t score they are 1-2 with the 27-20 victory over Arizona State being the lone outlier. None of the four backs who took at least one carry found the end zone against the Sun Devils.
The stable consisting of Gaskin, Salvon Ahmed, Kamari Pleasant and Sean McGrew ran for 171 yards on 39 combined carries. Only three teams – Auburn, ASU and Cal – have not allowed a rushing TD against the Huskies.
Simply put: UW needs offense. Bryant showed his pure raw ability as a freshmen and since then he’s had nothing but time to improve his mental approach to the game, study film and wait.
Whether the offensive duo returns Saturday against Stanford, or in two weeks for Oregon State, having both players available as the season comes to a close only helps UW’s chances. Playing all three remaining regular season games without having to leave the state also benefits the Huskies.
No. 2 – Three painful defeats for 10, Alex. UW has lost all three of its games away from Husky Stadium in 2018 and by only a combined 10 points. The five-point loss (neutral site; Atlanta, Georgia) to Auburn in week one equals the amount the Huskies have lost their two conference games by, a three-point defeat at Oregon and most recently a two-point loss at Cal.
However, three teams in the inaugural CFB Playoff Top 25 have allowed more points with the same amount of losses.
No. 24 Iowa State has lost its three games (at TCU, vs Oklahoma and at Iowa) by a combined 23 points. No. 21 NC State has lost only twice this season, both games on the road at Clemson and at Syracuse, by 44 points.
Of the trio of teams with three defeats two are from the Southeastern Conference, No. 18 Mississippi State and No. 20 Texas A&M, outscored by 44 points and 39 points respectively in those games.
Now should UW sweep through the month of November and win it’s second Pac-12 North Division title under Petersen, then none of the rankings matter. Since the conference has an automatic tie-in with the Rose Bowl the conference champion would go to Pasadena this season.
The Rose Bowl served as one of two semi-final CFB Playoff matchup's in 2017 with the game returning to its traditional Pac-12 vs Big 10 pairing this season. UW’s last appearance came in 2000, a 34-24 win over Purdue under then-second year head coach Rick Nehueisel.
No. 1 – Going back to the subject of Hunter Bryant . . . one possible scenario that could prove to be a blessing in disguise for UW is if the sophomore TE does not play this Saturday he would have the ability to redshirt under the new four-game redshirt rule.
Back in June the Division I Council approved the change that would allow a player, most notably freshmen, to play in up to four games without burning a redshirt. Since Bryant played last season he still has a redshirt year to use and with three defeats UW isn’t going to be one of the final four.
So that would leave four games – if Bryant does not play vs Stanford – against Oregon State, Washington State, the Pac-12 Championship Game, and whichever bowl game UW ends up playing in for the sophomore to play in this season.
If Bryant is 100 percent healthy and goes through the full pregame warmups Saturday then it would point to him playing, and effectively ending the chance of using 2018 as a redshirt year.
