If ifs and buts were candy and nuts...

If ... Jacob Eason has developed behind the scenes. Last we saw the former all-world recruit, Eason was completing 55 percent of his passes with a 55.0 QBR as a true freshman tossed into the deep end for Kirby Smart's first Georgia team. He was in an impossible spot and struggled. He got hurt and backed up Jake Fromm in 2017, then sat out as a transfer in 2018.

Now Eason succeeds, in Jake Browning, a four-year starter who threw for 12,540 yards and won 39 games. UW fans took Browning for granted after a while, but Eason's upside is obvious.

If ... UW is no longer atrocious at finishing drives. Despite Myles Gaskin, Salvon Ahmed and a stellar tight end corps, the Huskies averaged just four points per scoring opportunity (first downs inside the opponent's 40) last year, 116th in FBS. They weren't just bad, they were among the worst in the country.

If ... a new secondary clears a high bar. In open-play situations (which we'll define as snaps that took place between the offense's 10 and defense's 30), Washington allowed gains of 20-plus yards just 4.6 percent of the time, eighth in FBS. The backbone of this defense -- safeties Taylor Rapp and JoJo McIntosh, inside linebacker Ben Burr-Kirven -- was ridiculously sturdy and glitch-free. But all three of those players are gone, as are corners Byron Murphy and Jordan Miller.

UW has gotten used to replacing star defenders without a hiccup, and the Huskies still have stars like corner Myles Bryant and dominant linemen Levi Onwuzurike and Benning Potoa'e. But the secondary has to replace a few stars, and that's always scary.

If ... Chris Petersen finds where he misplaced his close-game karma. Over his first four years and change at Boise State, Petersen's Broncos went 10-2 in one-possession finishes. But starting with BSU's classic loss to Nevada and Colin Kaepernick, he lost six of his last 10 such games in Boise. He's 10-13 in five years at UW; all six of the Huskies' losses the past two years were by a touchdown or less. Just think what they could have done if they could have finished drives.

https://www.espn.com/college-football/story/_/id/27046211/how-top-cfb-contender-win-national-title