UW facing biggest test against no. 17 Utah

Sure, the Huskies faced Stanford when they were ranked seventh in the country. And of course, they turned around and had a rivalry game in Eugene against the Ducks. However, their biggest test of the season comes this Saturday in Salt Lake City against the Utah Utes.

Utah presents a unique challenge that this reincarnation of the Huskies have yet to face this year. Stanford was ranked higher, but we have seen the Cardinal field a completely uncompetitive team against the UW and then turnaround and play just as bad against the Cougars the very next weekend. Therefore, it's apparent that Stanford is not quite the test that they might have been in years past, especially when the Huskies' route occurred at the friendly confines of Husky Stadium, and as the Cardinal have since tumbled out of the top 25.

Utah meanwhile, play host to the Huskies at Rice-Eccles Stadium, where they are yet to suffer a defeat this year. While true that they have yet to face an opponent the calibre of the UW, they showed last Saturday that they have an offense that can put points on the board much like Jake Browning and company. On the road at the Rose Bowl taking on Jim Mora's UCLA Bruins, the Utes escaped Pasadena with a 52-45 win, showing they have more than enough offense to keep Budda Baker and the rest with their hands full. Although on the other hand, they have not faced a defense with the quality of the Huskies, one that could send 10 players to the NFL one day according the the Seattle Times' Adam Jude.

No doubt Chris Petersen is making sure his crew know how big of a game this is, as it could be the difference between sneaking into the College Football Playoff and settling for the Rose Bowl. On the other sideline, Utes head coach Kyle Whittingham is for sure doing the same, getting his football  team pumped up for the fourth ranked team in the nation to come to town. Not that they will need extra motivation, this game will be the only time Utah plays a ranked opponent. 

If all goes according to plan though, no matter which team wins Saturday this should only be a prequel to the Pac-12 Championship game in December. The Utes are first the South division thus far, and the Huskies ditto in the North. Therefore they will both likely have to go through each other again in order to reach the Rose Bowl or the semifinals of the College Football Playoff.

Image: Flickr/McD22

Add comment

Filtered HTML

  • Web page addresses and e-mail addresses turn into links automatically.
  • Allowed HTML tags: <a> <em> <strong> <cite> <blockquote> <code> <ul> <ol> <li> <dl> <dt> <dd><p><br>
  • Lines and paragraphs break automatically.

Plain text

  • No HTML tags allowed.
  • Web page addresses and e-mail addresses turn into links automatically.
  • Lines and paragraphs break automatically.

shout_filter

  • Allowed HTML tags: <a> <em> <strong> <cite> <blockquote> <code> <ul> <ol> <li> <dl> <dt> <dd>
  • Lines and paragraphs break automatically.
  • Web page addresses and e-mail addresses turn into links automatically.