The Washington Huskies are opening the season with a familiar kind of buzz around Jedd Fisch’s program, and the first AP Top 25 poll of 2026 matched it with a No. 17 ranking.
That’s the latest sign that the Huskies’ third year under Fisch is being viewed as a potential breakthrough. Washington is coming off a 9-4 season after going 6-7 in 2024-25, and the upward climb has people around the program expecting the next step to be a big one.
Fisch has already shown what a third-year reset can look like. In his first head coaching job at Arizona, he went from 1-11 in year one to 10-3 in year three.
This Washington team has the same sort of momentum building around it. The defense has said it believes it can be one of the best units in the country this season, and several players - including third-year quarterback Demond Williams Jr. - landed on preseason watchlists.
The Huskies’ place in the AP poll also drew outside attention from The Athletic’s Josh Pate, who said in a video posted to “X”: "Washington could wreck this whole thing," Pate said in a video posted to "X." Got a really good quarterback and you know what else they have?
They got a schedule where they play a lot of the other big boys. They go to USC, they play Iowa but you know what they do in November?
They got Penn State coming to Seattle, they got Indiana coming to Seattle and they play Oregon. There is a world where Washington uses that to thrust themselves into the playoff.
There's another world where, maybe Washington doesn't quite make the playoff, but they're the reason you don't make the playoff. Either way, Jedd Fisch, who can be the ultimate chaos agent in college football this year, he starts at No.
17."
Washington won’t have to wait long to see where it stands. The Huskies open the regular season against in-state rival Washington State at 1 p.m. PT on Sept. 6 at Husky Stadium in Seattle.
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Still, one more name has entered the conversation in Chaze Harris, the former South Alabama guard who was granted a fifth year of eligibility after a court injunction against the NCAA. Washington is among the schools that has been in touch, but adding Harris would not be simple with roster limits and eligibility rules already in play, and the clearest opening may depend on how the Huskies navigate a separate situation involving one of their international additions. [Read more 🡒]
Washington Fall Camp Is Bringing Key Huskies Battles Into Focus
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The early practices are expected to sort out several position battles, and that is where this month should get most interesting for a team trying to turn experience into week-to-week certainty. Dawgman.com will be on the coverage, and for Washington fans, the appeal is less about the broad outlines of camp than the details that emerge as the Huskies start separating incumbents from challengers. [Read more 🡒]