Quarterback Jake Browning led the Huskies offense in the 2016 season
1 BACK ON THE BIG STAGE THE FOOTBALL PROGRAM AT THE UNIVERSITY OF WASHINGTON WAS ON THE RISE AGAIN WHEN THE 2016 SEASON BEGAN SOPHOMORE QUARTERBACK JAKE BROWNING WAS BACK AFTER GAINING VALUABLE EXPERIENCE AS A TRUE FRESHMAN STARTER COACH CHRIS PETERSEN WAS BEGINNING HIS THIRD SEASON WITH THE HUSKIES AFTER BUILDING A STRONG RÉSUMÉ AT BOISE STATE Washington fans had high hopes Popular opinion in the state and around the sport was that the Huskies were probably a year away from fully realizing their potential Four games in they were undefeated and ranked No 10 in the country Up to that point though none of their victories had been especially impressive Then came the matchup with seventh-ranked Stanford on September 30 The Cardinal had won their last three games against the Huskies They had Heisman Trophy candidate
Wide receiver Aaron Fuller makes a touchdown catch against Stanford Christian McCaffrey in the backfield And they had averaged 11 wins a year for the past six seasons But the Huskies had home-field advantage The campus along the shores of Lake Washington was buzzing with excitement for a rare Friday night game Fans throughout the city of Seattle and all over the Pacific Northwest settled in to watch
Huskies That drama quickly disappeared Browning threw three touchdown passes Myles Gaskin rushed for two scores The Huskies cruised to a 44 6 victory showing their home crowd of 72,000 and a viewing audience on ESPN that they belonged back on the national stage Washington produced its largest winning margin ever against a team ranked in the top 10 How did the Huskies do it For one thing they limited McCaffrey to only 49 rushing yards his lowest total in two years For Stanford the loss was its most lopsided in nine seasons Huskies fans rushed onto the field in celebration after the final second ticked off the clock The signature victory didn’t lead to a letdown either The following week the Huskies went on the road to beat Oregon 70 21 ending CHAMPION TITLES The National Collegiate Athletic Association NCAA used to decide its Division I national championship on paper not on the gridiron Media organizations and coaching associations once conducted polls of their members to determine the national champion In 1992 the NCAA began taking steps to ensure that the No 1 and No 2 teams would face off in a bowl game to determine the national title on the field After trying other methods the College Football Playoff CFP began in 2014 It was the first system to include more than two teams The 13-member CFP committee ranks the top 25 teams in each of the last six weeks of the season The final four is revealed after the conference championship games are played Semifinals are played on the site of two of the six major bowl games The winners meet a week later to determine the national champion BACK ON THE BIG STAGE
