Huskies picked to finish second in Pac-12 North behind Ducks in preseason media poll
A new Pac-12 football season is approaching, with preseason festivities beginning with the conference’s annual Media Day on Tuesday in Hollywood, but the programs picked as the favorites to top the conference this fall remain the same.
Oregon, the defending Pac-12 champion, has been chosen again by media members in the conference’s preseason poll to win both the North Division and the overall conference championship, while USC is again the favorite in the South Division.
The repeat selection for the Ducks in the poll leaves Washington — which won the division during the shortened 2020 season, but did not play in the conference title game — as the predicted runner-up in the North.
The Huskies finished 3-1 last season, edging out the Ducks and Stanford, which each lost a pair of games, to top the division. They were set to meet USC for the conference title, but had to cancel their appearance in the championship game due to COVID-19, and the season ultimately ended there, as it was later announced UW would not pursue a bowl game. The Huskies were replaced by Oregon to represent the North in the Pac-12 championship game, and went on to top USC for the title.
“There’s really a sense of unfinished business with our football team,” UW coach Jimmy Lake said during his preseason press conference Tuesday morning. “We’ve had a really good offseason. Our guys have trained and had a huge chip on their shoulder for the way our season unfolded and ended in 2020.
“We had a few players that had a chance to go on to the National Football League but decided to come back and wear that gold Washington helmet one more time to end it the right way. We have a bunch of returning starters on both sides of the ball. We have some tremendous depth.
“We still got to put in the work. We put a bunch of work in from January up until July. Now we’re excited to have a very competitive August training camp and let the cream rise to the top at every single position group. We’re excited. We’re ready to get to work.”
The Ducks are considered the heavy favorite in the North, earning 38 first-place votes in the poll, while Washington earned two. USC earned 27 first-place votes in the South, ahead of Utah and Arizona State, which each earned six.
Oregon received the majority of votes to win the conference championship with 27, while USC received 10 and Utah received three.
Here are the full results of the preseason media poll for each division:
North Division
1. Oregon (238 points)
2. Washington (189)
3. California (140)
4. Stanford (137)
5. Oregon State (71)
6. Washington State (65)
Schools receiving first-place votes included Oregon (38) and Washington (two).
South Division
1. USC (223)
2. Utah (183)
3. Arizona State (170)
4. UCLA (135)
5. Colorado (88)
6. Arizona (41)
Schools receiving first-place votes included USC (27), Utah (six), Arizona State (six) and UCLA (one).
8 UW PLAYERS RECEIVE PRESEASON RECOGNITION
Eight Huskies were named to the preseason All-Pac-12 team, as chosen by media members.
Offensive tackle Jaxson Kirkland, tight end Cade Otton and defensive back Trent McDuffie were each named to the first team.
Kirkland was an All-Pac-12 first-team selection last season after starting every game for the Huskies at left tackle. He has been named a preseason second-team All-American by multiple outlets.
Otton, a Tumwater High School product, was also a first-team selection last season after starting every game in 2020 and collecting 258 receiving yards and three touchdowns in his four appearances.
McDuffie was a second-team all-conference pick last season, started every game for UW and finished with 14 tackles, an interception and a forced fumble in four games.
Linebacker Edefuan Ulofoshio was named to the preseason All-Pac-12 second team, while four more UW players were named honorable mention, including center Luke Wattenberg, guard Henry Bainivalu, kicker Peyton Henry and defensive back Kyler Gordon, who earned the nod as an all-purpose and special teams player.
This story was originally published July 27, 2021 at 7:52 AM.
