The Washington Huskies, who finished last season 9-4 after a 31-16 victory over Brigham Young University in the Fight Hunger Bowl, start the 2014 season ranked No. 25 in the USA Today/Coaches poll. The Huskies, playing their first campaign under new head coach Chris Petersen, are one of six Pac-12 schools ranked by the coaches.
Oregon is No. 4, followed by UCLA (7th), Stanford (11th), USC (15th) and Arizona State (18th). Oregon State (four points) was the only other conference school to receive votes.
Florida State topped the rankings with 56 first-place votes and 1,453 points. The Seminoles are followed by No. 2 Alabama and No. 3 Oklahoma.
The Huskies open Aug. 30 at Hawaii and then play four consecutive games in Seattle against Eastern Washington (Sept. 6), Illinois (Sept. 13), Georgia State (Sept. 20) and Stanford (Sept. 27).
In addition to the Cardinal, the Huskies play three ranked Pac-12 teams from the USA Today/Coaches poll: at Oregon (Oct. 18), vs. Arizona State (Oct. 25) and UCLA (Nov. 8).
Washington finished 2013 unranked in the Associated Press and USA Today/Coaches polls. The Huskies haven’t had a national ranking since Oct. 19 when they were 20th in the AP poll heading into a game at Arizona State. UW lost 53-24.
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That’s pretty respectable considering the players the team lost from last season. Shows the respect Coach Pete has across the US.