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Best to Worst Power 5 Non-Conference Games Since 2000
WoolleyDoog
Member, Swaye's Wigwam Posts: 3,339 
In honor of our impending let down of a big non-conference game coming up against Michigan, I went through all of the non-conference games Washington has had in this Millennium against power five opponents and ranked mid-majors and ranked them in order of most enjoyable to least enjoyable. Spoiler – almost none of them were enjoyable!
Most Enjoyable
1. 2000 Miami – The game that made me truly fall in love with Husky football as a young teenager. Nothing else needs to be said about this. Best experience of my life.
2. 2001 Michigan – Remember stringing together big non-conference games/wins in back-to-back years? Also, what about actually beating a good team even if you get out played by making big plays? Nah, neither do I really.
3. 2013 Boise State – How sad is it we’re three games deep and already celebrating beating a mid-major, but for one magical night in August of 2013 it looked like Sark had finally put everything together and his hurry-up implementation was going to roll after beating Boise like the high school team they were.
4. 2007 Boise State – For a minute it felt like the Huskies might truly step up with St. Jake Locker after starting 2-0 with a 14-point win over a ranked Boise State team. Little did we know is all this meant was Chris Petersen teams would struggle against more-talented teams when said teams weren’t overlooking them.
5. 2007 at Syracuse – This was the most truly fun Jake Locker game to watch. For a fleeting moment it looked like he was going to be a crazy electric player instead of just a pretty good player.
6. 2009 LSU – Now we’re six games in and at a loss. An eight-point loss where they scored as time expired at that too. There was a great feeling at this game though after Willingham and 0-12. It felt like new life and too be fair, it was new life. Good loss guys.
7. 2009 at Notre Dame – Another loss. Hell yeah! At least with this one UW could legitimately say they got screwed out of winning at Notre Dame, which even just taking to overtime was a huge accomplishment a year away from 0-12.
8. 2018 BYU – BYU came in ranked #20 and the Huskies beat them like the shit program they are. Nothing too much here other than just a thorough ass beating of a ranked team, even if it was BYU.
9. 2016 Rutgers – Rutgers was absolute trash but this sure was a fun game to watch them knock out any power five team early in the first round and we saw how electric the 2016 offense and John Ross could be against shitty teams.
10. 2000 at Colorado – Remember when Colorado was a real program and they weren’t in the conference with Washington? Better days. This was an ugly win but still a nice one, especially given it was Neuheisel coming back to Boulder and getting a win to keep the team undefeated a week after beating Miami. Could you imagine having this kind of non-conference scheduling now?
11. 2019 at BYU – Apparently programs called the Cougars were the only teams Washington could punish in 2018 and 2019. This one was especially fun to think Jacob Eason was going to be a dangerous quarterback to other teams for a fucking week.
12. 2018 Auburn – This was a painful ugly game and a loss, but it felt good to feel important for a week and during the game with the country Washington. The Huskies were #6 going in. Fuck. What a blown opportunity.
13. 2002 at Michigan – A lot like Auburn. Being a relevant program playing in big national games was fun even if you won the game, but Neuheisel fucked it all away. The beginning of the end for Neu here.
14. 2015 at Boise State – Were getting into minor cuck territory here, celebrating a loss to Boise State. Keep in mind how low expectations were going into 2015 here and how close they were to winning this game against a ranked team with a true freshman QB starting his first game.
15. 2003 Indiana – Is Indiana power five? Yeah. The Huskies won a ho hum game to bounce back after getting throttled by Ohio State. Take that Big 10!
16. 2014 Illinois – Beat the shit out of a crap Big 10 program in Seattle the way you’re supposed to Shaq Thompson was fun. Let’s get another one of those.
17. 2013 at Illinois – Ugly win but a win over a crap Big 10 program. Should have been an easier win though. Nice little patch here against bad Big 10 programs.
18. 2010 Syracuse – A win over an ass program at home by 21 felt good here after a pathetic loss to BYU we’ll get to later. The wins over the basement of other power conferences continues.
19. 2006 at Oklahoma – Was not getting shelled by this Oklahoma team in Norman one of the biggest accomplishments of the Willingham era? A 10-point game late in the third quarter. Great job boys
20. 2007 Ohio State – This one was fun for about a quarter and change and at least showed what Jake Locker should have been as a runner and is a reminder that at this time Ohio State was laughed at for not having speed. Not getting embarrassed here by Ohio State was another big accomplishment by Willingham sadly.
21. 2017 at Rutgers – This was a win but what the fuck was it ugly. Biggest positive might have been Browning almost getting decapitated. No wait…it was the hot tub.
22. 2007 at Hawaii – Fuck Willingham for losing this game somehow. Also fuck the universe for Willingham not getting fired after losing the Apple Cup and an interim coach leading this Husky team to a 42-28 win here to give some fun to a painful season.
23. 2008 BYU – A loss to BYU at home and the closest the team got to this not being an 0-12 probably that could at least be blamed on the refs.
24. 2005 Notre Dame – Willingham some how only lost this totally forgettable game by 19 points. Maybe Notre Dame and his ex-players felt sorry for him.
25. 2004 at Notre Dame – I didn’t even watch this game I think instead going to the Central vs. Western game. I’m glad I didn’t. A guy in a memorabilia shop I was in at the time said Washington football was officially dead. He realized it 17 years before a lot of us.
26. 2008 Notre Dame – The worst of the forgettable beatings by Notre Dame. Props for only giving up 33 points in this one.
27. 2008 Oklahoma – Oklahoma, Notre Dame and BYU came to Husky Stadium in one season, and they didn’t have the program ready to actually play football. What a complete failure by this never-ending failure of an athletic department.
28. 2003 at Ohio State – This was a thud of a game back when we expected Washington to compete with non-conference powers. This game wasn’t as close as the 9-28 final score. This was the end of Washington competing in real non-conference games for a long time.
29. 2011 at Nebraska – How the hell did they give up 51 points to this Nebraska team? I don’t remember much about this game because I was blacked out pre-gaming at the Coug/San Diego State game, which was a better choice. Wait…they were down 44-17 against this shit Nebraska team at what point. What the fuck Sark, the drinks in Lincoln couldn’t have been that strong.
30. 2012 at LSU – Any hope that Washington was going to turn the corner under Sark in 2012 died a horrible humid death in the bayou at LSU beat Washington like a high school team.
31. 2001 at Miami – Some credit here for this Miami team being a team in a legit argument for best of all-time, it being on the road and Washington having nothing to really play for while Miami was playing for a natty. I would actually say blowout losses at UCLA and the Beav were much more concerning and embarrassing than this one even if the score was worse, and oh boy was the score bad.
32. 2010 Nebraska – This one was horrifying for how shockingly horribly the Huskies got beat at home by an unremarkable Nebraska team. It looked like they were playing 1994 Nebraska and Taylor Martinez looked like Tommy Frazier instead of Taylor fucking Martinez. It seemed their backfield could run for a touchdown on almost any play and Locker was 4/20 for fucking passing. Oh my God how was he a Top 10 pick?
33. 2010 at BYU – I’m not sure exactly why this one enraged me so much. Washington went into the season with Locker coming back as a senior, momentum at the end of 2009, a nice chunk returning, Sark in his second year, and then went out and lost to BYU, whose best playmaker was J.J. DiLuigi and only scored 17 points. Shameful. Just so shameful.
34. 2021 Montana – This wasn’t against a power conference team or a ranked team. Does ranked in FCS count? Either way. Worst loss ever.
Most Enjoyable
1. 2000 Miami – The game that made me truly fall in love with Husky football as a young teenager. Nothing else needs to be said about this. Best experience of my life.
2. 2001 Michigan – Remember stringing together big non-conference games/wins in back-to-back years? Also, what about actually beating a good team even if you get out played by making big plays? Nah, neither do I really.
3. 2013 Boise State – How sad is it we’re three games deep and already celebrating beating a mid-major, but for one magical night in August of 2013 it looked like Sark had finally put everything together and his hurry-up implementation was going to roll after beating Boise like the high school team they were.
4. 2007 Boise State – For a minute it felt like the Huskies might truly step up with St. Jake Locker after starting 2-0 with a 14-point win over a ranked Boise State team. Little did we know is all this meant was Chris Petersen teams would struggle against more-talented teams when said teams weren’t overlooking them.
5. 2007 at Syracuse – This was the most truly fun Jake Locker game to watch. For a fleeting moment it looked like he was going to be a crazy electric player instead of just a pretty good player.
6. 2009 LSU – Now we’re six games in and at a loss. An eight-point loss where they scored as time expired at that too. There was a great feeling at this game though after Willingham and 0-12. It felt like new life and too be fair, it was new life. Good loss guys.
7. 2009 at Notre Dame – Another loss. Hell yeah! At least with this one UW could legitimately say they got screwed out of winning at Notre Dame, which even just taking to overtime was a huge accomplishment a year away from 0-12.
8. 2018 BYU – BYU came in ranked #20 and the Huskies beat them like the shit program they are. Nothing too much here other than just a thorough ass beating of a ranked team, even if it was BYU.
9. 2016 Rutgers – Rutgers was absolute trash but this sure was a fun game to watch them knock out any power five team early in the first round and we saw how electric the 2016 offense and John Ross could be against shitty teams.
10. 2000 at Colorado – Remember when Colorado was a real program and they weren’t in the conference with Washington? Better days. This was an ugly win but still a nice one, especially given it was Neuheisel coming back to Boulder and getting a win to keep the team undefeated a week after beating Miami. Could you imagine having this kind of non-conference scheduling now?
11. 2019 at BYU – Apparently programs called the Cougars were the only teams Washington could punish in 2018 and 2019. This one was especially fun to think Jacob Eason was going to be a dangerous quarterback to other teams for a fucking week.
12. 2018 Auburn – This was a painful ugly game and a loss, but it felt good to feel important for a week and during the game with the country Washington. The Huskies were #6 going in. Fuck. What a blown opportunity.
13. 2002 at Michigan – A lot like Auburn. Being a relevant program playing in big national games was fun even if you won the game, but Neuheisel fucked it all away. The beginning of the end for Neu here.
14. 2015 at Boise State – Were getting into minor cuck territory here, celebrating a loss to Boise State. Keep in mind how low expectations were going into 2015 here and how close they were to winning this game against a ranked team with a true freshman QB starting his first game.
15. 2003 Indiana – Is Indiana power five? Yeah. The Huskies won a ho hum game to bounce back after getting throttled by Ohio State. Take that Big 10!
16. 2014 Illinois – Beat the shit out of a crap Big 10 program in Seattle the way you’re supposed to Shaq Thompson was fun. Let’s get another one of those.
17. 2013 at Illinois – Ugly win but a win over a crap Big 10 program. Should have been an easier win though. Nice little patch here against bad Big 10 programs.
18. 2010 Syracuse – A win over an ass program at home by 21 felt good here after a pathetic loss to BYU we’ll get to later. The wins over the basement of other power conferences continues.
19. 2006 at Oklahoma – Was not getting shelled by this Oklahoma team in Norman one of the biggest accomplishments of the Willingham era? A 10-point game late in the third quarter. Great job boys
20. 2007 Ohio State – This one was fun for about a quarter and change and at least showed what Jake Locker should have been as a runner and is a reminder that at this time Ohio State was laughed at for not having speed. Not getting embarrassed here by Ohio State was another big accomplishment by Willingham sadly.
21. 2017 at Rutgers – This was a win but what the fuck was it ugly. Biggest positive might have been Browning almost getting decapitated. No wait…it was the hot tub.
22. 2007 at Hawaii – Fuck Willingham for losing this game somehow. Also fuck the universe for Willingham not getting fired after losing the Apple Cup and an interim coach leading this Husky team to a 42-28 win here to give some fun to a painful season.
23. 2008 BYU – A loss to BYU at home and the closest the team got to this not being an 0-12 probably that could at least be blamed on the refs.
24. 2005 Notre Dame – Willingham some how only lost this totally forgettable game by 19 points. Maybe Notre Dame and his ex-players felt sorry for him.
25. 2004 at Notre Dame – I didn’t even watch this game I think instead going to the Central vs. Western game. I’m glad I didn’t. A guy in a memorabilia shop I was in at the time said Washington football was officially dead. He realized it 17 years before a lot of us.
26. 2008 Notre Dame – The worst of the forgettable beatings by Notre Dame. Props for only giving up 33 points in this one.
27. 2008 Oklahoma – Oklahoma, Notre Dame and BYU came to Husky Stadium in one season, and they didn’t have the program ready to actually play football. What a complete failure by this never-ending failure of an athletic department.
28. 2003 at Ohio State – This was a thud of a game back when we expected Washington to compete with non-conference powers. This game wasn’t as close as the 9-28 final score. This was the end of Washington competing in real non-conference games for a long time.
29. 2011 at Nebraska – How the hell did they give up 51 points to this Nebraska team? I don’t remember much about this game because I was blacked out pre-gaming at the Coug/San Diego State game, which was a better choice. Wait…they were down 44-17 against this shit Nebraska team at what point. What the fuck Sark, the drinks in Lincoln couldn’t have been that strong.
30. 2012 at LSU – Any hope that Washington was going to turn the corner under Sark in 2012 died a horrible humid death in the bayou at LSU beat Washington like a high school team.
31. 2001 at Miami – Some credit here for this Miami team being a team in a legit argument for best of all-time, it being on the road and Washington having nothing to really play for while Miami was playing for a natty. I would actually say blowout losses at UCLA and the Beav were much more concerning and embarrassing than this one even if the score was worse, and oh boy was the score bad.
32. 2010 Nebraska – This one was horrifying for how shockingly horribly the Huskies got beat at home by an unremarkable Nebraska team. It looked like they were playing 1994 Nebraska and Taylor Martinez looked like Tommy Frazier instead of Taylor fucking Martinez. It seemed their backfield could run for a touchdown on almost any play and Locker was 4/20 for fucking passing. Oh my God how was he a Top 10 pick?
33. 2010 at BYU – I’m not sure exactly why this one enraged me so much. Washington went into the season with Locker coming back as a senior, momentum at the end of 2009, a nice chunk returning, Sark in his second year, and then went out and lost to BYU, whose best playmaker was J.J. DiLuigi and only scored 17 points. Shameful. Just so shameful.
34. 2021 Montana – This wasn’t against a power conference team or a ranked team. Does ranked in FCS count? Either way. Worst loss ever.
Comments
@Miami in 1994. We beat the shit out of them. First time Miami had lost in the Orange Bowl in 50-some games. Washington physically beat them too.
I was excited for 2010 Nebraska. We got plundered. It was obvious right away. Big Holiday win in the rematch tho. I went to both Nebraska games that year.
I think the Auburn loss was pretty bad. Supposed to be a big dawg program at the time and lost to the 4th best SEC team
Browning option play anyone?