Kalen DeBoer addresses if he thought Washington should be ranked No. 1
There were some people before the final College Football Playoff rankings that thought Washington should be ranked first, ahead of Michigan. In the end, the Huskies were second and that’s alright with head coach Kalen DeBoer.
As he explained to reporters, DeBoer didn’t put a ton of thought into being ranked ahead of the Wolverines.
“No,” Kalen DeBoer said. “I guess I didn’t really feel like that was probably gonna be the case. I think it was probably more of just a reality than anything that I was understanding.”
As long as a team is in the top four spots, it doesn’t really matter. They’re in and will have a chance to win a championship. However, where they’re seeded does potentially impact things like what team they’re going to be playing against in the first round.
For Kalen DeBoer, he sees an argument for Washington to be ranked first, but he’s not passionate about the difference.
“I think there’s an argument for it, but not one that I need to stand on the table for because I understand that, unless you play each other, head-to-head, there’s people who are going to fight for each program. It is what it is. So, they’ve had a great season there at Michigan and won their conference championship again and really rolled through their schedule for the most part.”
Notably, however, Washington did miss out on the Rose Bowl by being second. Instead, that game went to Michigan while the Huskies head to the Sugar Bowl. That’s a long trip, especially compared to the Texas Longhorns.
Steve Sarkisian on playing Washington
There is a lot of familiarity between Washington and Texas head coach Steve Sarkisian. He, of course, coached the Huskies before coaching against them in the Alamo Bowl last season.
“Kind of ironic, I think, in the sense of Washington still holds a special sense for me. I got my first head coaching opportunity there and had five tremendous years in trying to rebuild that program. And ironically, we played them in the Alamo Bowl a year ago and I think there’s some familiarity there. What Coach DeBoer has been able to do, and what they’ve been able to do over the last couple of seasons, has really been a tremendous run. They’ve got a heck of a team,” Sarkisian said.
“Really talented offense. They’re running the ball extremely well right now with Dillon Johnson. And they’re playing really good defense. We know we’re going to need this extra preparation to get ourselves prepared to play it, but our kids our excited. Any time you get an opportunity to play a team the quality of Washington — undefeated team, Pac-12 champion — it’s a great challenge, but one we’re looking forward to.”