No. 3: Washington

pete

If Washington hires anyone (feasible) besides Chris Petersen, no way do they crack the preseason top 25, but the former Boise man has Huskies fan pumped even after their program savior Steve Sarkisian departed.

A loss in their first four (Hawaii, Eastern Washington, Illinois and Georgia State) would be stunning but good luck telling me they have any one of the next eight in the bag.

Home dates with Stanford, Arizona State, UCLA and Oregon State are sandwiched with trips to Cal (meh), Oregon, CU (meh), Arizona and Washington State. Sure, Petersen could go 9-3 in his first season and basically own the city of Seattle but he could also run into 1st-year trouble and win five games.

 

Photo Courtesy: Ted S. Warren/AP