When it comes to ESPN’s college football power index ahead of the 2025 season and where the Washington Huskies sit…the water on Lake Washington is murky but trending upward.
On Tuesday, the network updated its annual FPI and placed the Huskies at No. 27 with an 8.8 FPI — a computer scale that factors in schedule, roster, and on-field production that won’t be adjusted until the season begins in late August — and projected the team to have an 7-5 record in year two under Jedd Fisch,
While UW sits seventh in the Big Ten behind Ohio State, Penn State, Oregon, Michigan, USC and Nebraska, the program moved up 16 spots from its previous FPI rank at the end of the 2024 season and a 35-34 loss to Louisville in the Tony The Tiger Sun Bowl, the second biggest rister in the Big Ten behind Michigan State who moved up 23 spots but still rank 32 spots below UW at No. 59 in the updated FPI. Although the 7-5 record would be an improvement from Fisch’s first season on Montlake, which saw the team finish 6-7, it would mark an underwhelming return on what is anticipated to be a better overall product than the mish-mash squad the long-time NFL assistant coach was able to compile going into last season.
Sophomore quarterback Demond Williams Jr., who outperformed Cornhuskers’ Dylan Raiola and nearly every other freshman signal-caller in terms of efficiency despite not being a full-time starter in 2024, is now the unquestioned man leading Fisch’s offense with a replenished offensive line and a strong stable of running backs and receivers to make a legitimate jump this coming fall.
On defense, where the Huskies didn’t appear among the top 20 based on ESPN’s FPI, first-year defensive coordinator Ryan Walters is expected to feature an eclectic unit with a bevy of veterans in the front seven — many of which are transfer additions that may not have had as much success last season at their previous school that they may have in purple and gold — at his disposal.
ESPN college football reporter Paolo Uggetti is a believer in UW, choosing the school as one that is not in the initial top 25 but may play its way in by the end of the ’25 season.
“Washington had a disappointing 6-7 season in its first year in the Big Ten under new coach Jedd Fisch. The Huskies finished ninth in the conference and seem to have quietly stumbled into the shadow of their more successful Pacific Northwest neighbor, Oregon. But Fisch, like he showed at Arizona, can build a successful team over time. Washington brought in a top-25 recruiting class this past year and added some much-needed defensive reinforcements in the portal. Starting quarterback Demond Williams Jr., who showed some flashes last season, could be primed for a breakout,” Uggetti wrote.
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