Washington Football: On the Pac-12 Title, the Playoffs, and Jake Browning

Published Jun. 30, 2017 6:28 p.m. ET

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December 2, 2016; Santa Clara, CA, USA; Washington Huskies linebacker Psalm Wooching (28) hoists the championship trophy after the Pac-12 championship against the Colorado Buffaloes at Levi

Washington football has won its first Pac-12 title since 2000 in a 41-10 romp of the Colorado Buffaloes, but does it mean the playoffs are a sure thing?

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The No. 4 Washington Huskies (12-1, 8-1 Pac-12) sent a message to the College Football Playoff Committee with a resounding 41-10 thumping of the No. 8 Colorado Buffaloes (10-3, 8-1 Pac-12) at Levi’s Stadium.

But will the message be received and was it enough to ensure that the Huskies don’t fall from the sacred top four after the rest of the conference championship games have been completed?

There’s certainly room for interpretation, and for some concern for Husky fans, as the committee has already shown with their No. 2 ranking of the Ohio State Buckeyes (who aren’t even playing in their conference title game) that winning your conference may not carry a lot of weight.

The game wasn’t typical Washington football in terms of what we’ve seen on offense. The Huskies posted only 118 passing yards (although effective ones) against a gaudy 265 rushing yards, and it was the Washington defense who really stole the show against the Buffs.

The stingy Husky defense forced three turnovers, including a Pick-6 by Taylor Rapp to open the second half. Just as they were against Washington State, the defense was impenetrable near the goal line, turning the Buffs away time and again.

Game Balls go to tailbacks Myles Gaskin (29 carries, 159 yards) and Lavon Coleman (18 carries, 101 yards, 1 touchdown), and defensive back Taylor Rapp who picked off two passes, score a touchdown and was a force in the secondary all night.

Now that the Pac-12 championship is secure, the Huskies will begin their preparation for a bowl game (hopefully one of the national semifinals) to cap off one of the most successful seasons in Washington history.

Now, about those playoffs…

Dec 2, 2016; Santa Clara, CA, USA; Washington Huskies players and coach Chris Petersen hoist the championship trophy after the Pac-12 championship against the Colorado Buffaloes at Levi

Does the Pac-12 Championship Put Washington in the Playoffs?

The Huskies have a single loss – to USC, in what was a terrible game – and they’ve played an admittedly weaker schedule than some of the other playoff contenders.

However, 12 wins and a Power-5 conference championship should add up to lot in the eyes of the committee. Washington has beaten two ranked teams in the last two weeks, and has victories over four ranked teams (at the time games were played) all season.

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What are the negatives (besides the loss to USC)?

The opening non-conference games against Rutgers, Idaho and Portland State (FCS) won’t do anything to build up the Huskies in the eyes of the committee. There was also an unnecessarily close overtime win against a poor Arizona team.

All of these things will be taken into consideration when the committee is comparing the resumes of Washington, Ohio State, and whoever wins the Big Ten , SEC, Big 12 and ACC title games.

A scenario where Wisconsin blows out Penn State, Virginia Tech upsets Clemson, and Oklahoma boat-races Okie State could spell trouble for the Huskies playoff hopes. Beyond that and some really poor judgement by the committee, its safe to say that Washington’s number four ranking is fairly secure.

December 2, 2016; Santa Clara, CA, USA; Washington Huskies quarterback Jake Browning (3) celebrates after the Pac-12 championship against the Colorado Buffaloes at Levi

Who Is Jake Browning?

In the Pac-12 Championship Game, we saw a Jake Browning we hadn’t seen since Nov. 12 against USC.

It wasn’t pretty.

All season, the accolades for Browning have poured in, and deservedly so. When you break the single-season touchdown record set by Jared Goff, you’ve had a pretty good year. He’s clearly a winner, and a great quarterback. But we also got to see a little glimpse of what Jake Browning isn’t.

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Browning isn’t ready for the NFL, he isn’t ready for a trip to New York and the Heisman presentation, and he isn’t unflappable.

But that’s okay. The Huskies proved they were able to beat a quality team even when their star quarterback wasn’t having his typically stellar game. Props must also be given to the Colorado defense, who has stifled more than one premier passer in the conference this season.

But Browning was nervous, and it showed. This was by far the biggest game he’s played at Washington, and his adrenaline was clearly pumping in overtime early in the game. His passes sailed, they floated, they were not typical Jake Browning lasers.

But in typical Browning fashion, he realized his arm wasn’t going to win this game, and he did everything he could to make sure he didn’t make a mistake that would hand the game over to the Buffs.

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He’s mature beyond his years, and by the end of the 2017 season, it’s almost certain that we’ll be talking about the “probable Heisman winner” when we mention his name.