1976 Duck

It's interesting that the elimination of divisions has hurt UW. Last year, they would have played USC in the championship game instead of Utah. This year, they would be playing Arizona instead of the Ducks (if we beat OSU). I opposed doing away with divisions (still do), especially since the schedules were established with the divisions in mind. At the same time, it makes me kind of happy to see the Huskies get hosed.

As I understand the chart Pennsylvania Duck posted. we can lose to OSU and still be in if UCLA beats Cal. The only way we are not in, even with a loss, is if UW beats WSU *and* Cal beats UCLA. The key would be our beating the highest common opponent (i.e., UCLA) with UW. If Cal beats UCLA (and we lose to OSU), then OSU becomes the highest common opponent. Even though UW beat us, in this scenario it would be a three-way tie for 2nd with UO, UW, and Utah. Head to head is not factored in because UW did not play Utah. Utah also lost to UCLA. No one wants to back in, but it would be better to make the championship game than not.