College Football Preview 2024: Washington Huskies win projections, strengths and weaknesses, quarterback spotlight and more

Head coach: Jedd Fisch (first season)
2023 record: 14-1 (lost national championship)
PFF power ranking: 9th
Chance to win the Big Ten: 8%
Strength of schedule: 26th
Projected win total: 8.1
FanDuel win total: 6.5
2024 recruiting rank (On3): No. 49 nationally, No. 15 in the Big Ten

Washington won the Pac-12 conference in its farewell season and made it to the first national championship game in program history. While most programs would use a magical season like that as a foundation for the future, the Huskies need to essentially build from the ground up again.

Head coach Kalen DeBoer was hired as Nick Saban’s successor at Alabama, and star offensive coordinator Ryan Grubb departed for the same role with the Seattle Seahawks. Washington also returns just eight of the 32 players who played at least 300 snaps last year, and none come from its electric offense. Jedd Fisch proved he can turn around a program while at Arizona and the Huskies made some nice additions in the transfer portal, but it could take Washington a few years to recover from this kind of attrition, especially in a more difficult Big Ten conference.

Click here for more college football:

NCAA Power Rankings | NCAA Premium Stats | NCAA Betting Dashboards 2024 CFB Schedule | News and Analysis | The PFF College Football Show

Biggest Strength: The second and third levels of the defense

The few returning key contributors from last year’s team are mostly at linebacker and in the secondary. Safety Kamren Fabiculanan and linebacker Carson Bruener earned 75.0-plus PFF grades on about 400 snaps each in 2023, while cornerback Elijah Jackson and linebacker Alphonzo Tuputala are returning starters. Arizona cornerback Ephesians Prysock was a major addition in the transfer portal, as well, after placing fifth among Pac-12 cornerbacks with 10 coverage stops last season.

Biggest Weakness: A brand-new offense

Simply put, Washington’s offense will be unrecognizable from the one that torched defenses over the past two years. All 11 starters from last season are gone, including first-round picks Michael Penix Jr., Rome Odunze and Troy Fautanu. Not to mention, two offensive masterminds in head coach Kalen DeBoer and offensive coordinator Ryan Grubb are no longer roaming the sidelines.

The Huskies made some nice additions in the portal, as evidenced below, but this unit likely won’t be nearly as effective as it was over the past two years.

2023 Team Overview

Offense
EPA per play	Yards per play	Successful play rate	Explosive run play rate	Explosive pass play rate
0.181	7.0	41.5%	12.4%	21.4%
8th	7th	6th	114th	4th
Defense
EPA allowed per play	Yards allowed per play	Successful play rate allowed	Explosive run rate allowed	Explosive pass rate allowed
0.040	5.9	37.4%	17.4%	12.8%
94th	88th	111th	111th	39th