The Washington Huskies are the Pac-12 Champions

Coming into the Pac-12 Championship on Friday night, the Washington Huskies and the Colorado Buffaloes had a ton to play for. The Pac-12 Championship was on the line, a playoff berth, and getting a shot at getting into a major bowl game. The Huskies came in as the favorite and Colorado was looking to play spoiler for any playoff berth thought the Huskies may have had.

Being in a high profile game like this was new territory for both teams. Washington had not seen a game like this for years and Colorado, well, hadn’t been relevant since coming to the Pac-12.

My thoughts coming into the game were pretty simple. I thought Washington had the better overall team. Browning was better the Sefo, the Husky defense was quicker and more of a ball hawking defense, but that Colorado had something in greater quantities than the Huskies. The Buffaloes had the belief that destiny was theirs.

When you have to deal with a team that believes that destiny is all theirs, you deal with something that you can’t necessarily control if you’re the Huskies.

Destiny can be fickle dance partner.

Washington comes out on their first possession and scores to make it 7-0. The Huskies quickly put Colorado on notice that they were at Levi’s Stadium to compete.

Colorado had to wait to score until their second possession when Phillip Lindsay took it in from three yards out. The score was then tied at seven.

As the second quarter wore on, it was becoming apparent that Washington could run the ball at will on the Buffaloes. However, if you were asking Husky quarterback Jake Browning to throw the ball that may have been asking too much out of the sophomore quarterback.

Jake Browning was 4-12 for 38 yards. Not exactly what the Husky fans had become familiar with when it came to the Husky passing game.

The Huskies were using the Colorado defense as their own punching bag when it came to the run game. At the half, Washington had 148 yards on the ground and they also had the lead. The Huskies were up 14-7, but were not exactly in total control of the game.

The third quarter starts and the bottom fell out of the boat for the Colorado Buffaloes.

Colorado quarterback, Sefo Liufau, takes the opening second half possession and promptly throws a pick-six to Washington defensive back Taylor Rapp.

Just like that, the Huskies were up 21-7 and any thought of a Colorado victory may have slipped right through their fingers.

By the end of third quarter, Washington had thoroughly taken control of the ball game and had a lead of 31-10. The game was over at this point and all we had left was the post-ceremony for the Huskies.

At the end of the game the Washington Huskies proved that they deserve the number four ranking by convincingly beating the Colorado Buffaloes 41-10.

Washington will more than likely enter into the football playoff as the number four seed. Maybe a number three seed, but four seems more likely.

I will ask the question now. If Washington gets the four seed, are the Huskies any more than chopped liver for Alabama?

If Washington can find their passing game, the playoff match up may be a bit closer than people think. However, until Alabama shows the rest of the country that they are beatable, then it’s going to be a major task for the Huskies to pull off the upset.

What Washington can revel in right now is that the program is back on the right path. They are the 2016 Pac-12 Champs and nobody can tell them differently. It’s the Year of the Dawg in the Pac-12 right now. Everybody else in the conference has been put on notice.