Washington football sits inside top 25 in ESPN's first SP+ ranking

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As the Washington Huskies gear up for their third year under Jedd Fisch, there is a lot of intrigue heading into the 2026 season.

Although they have to replace some top-flight contributors like wide receiver Denzel Boston and running back Jonah Coleman, the Huskies have a lot to like on their roster heading into spring practice. With plenty of returning production to lean on and a lot of promising talent, Washington is sitting at No. 21 in the first installment of ESPN’s SP+ rankings.

That places the Huskies as the de facto No. 7 team in the Big Ten in the metric, behind No. 1 Ohio State, No. 2 Oregon, No. 5 Indiana, No. 13 USC, No. 14 Michigan, and No. 17 Penn State. As the Huskies look to take a step forward in the Fisch era, they’ll need to break through against some of the programs sitting ahead of them, as they’ll host both the Hoosiers and Nittany Lions this year, and hit the road for matchups with the Ducks and Trojans.

Washington’s offense and defense rank No. 22 and No. 19, respectively, in the SP+ metrics, but the Huskies should have a great opportunity to move up the list on both sides of the ball.

Offensively, if quarterback Demond Williams Jr. can level up his play in big games behind an offensive line that could wind up as one of the best groups in the conference, while breaking in a largely untested group of wide receivers, the Huskies should be able to hang with anyone in the conference.

Defensively, with coordinator Ryan Walters freshly extended, the Huskies should take another step forward on that side of the ball, thanks to a high-end linebacker corps and one of the best safety duos in the conference in All-Big Ten honorable mention Alex McLaughlin and Freshman All-American Rylon Dillard-Allen. If Walters can also unlock his pass rush, which finished No. 12 in the Big Ten last season with 24 sacks, Washington’s defense could be dominant once again in 2026.

NOTE: ESPN defines SP+ as “a tempo- and opponent-adjusted measure of college football efficiency. It is a predictive measure of the most sustainable and predictable aspects of football, not a résumé ranking. Along those same lines, these projections aren’t intended to be a guess at what the AP Top 25 will look like at the end of the season. These are simply early offseason power rankings based on the information we have been able to gather.”

This article originally appeared on Huskies Wire: Washington Huskies sitting at No. 21 in ESPN’s first 2026 SP+ ranking

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