The 2016 Washington Huskies football team represented the University of Washington in the 2016 NCAA Division I FBS football season. The team was led by Chris Petersen in his third season as head coach of the Huskies. Washington competed as a member of the North Division of the Pac-12 Conference and played their home games on campus at Husky Stadium in Seattle.
Washington finished the season with a 12–2 overall record and went 8–1 in conference to win the Pac-12 North Division, the program's first division title since the Pac-12 expanded and split into divisions in 2011. Most notable was defeating Stanford and Oregon, two of the toughest annual opponents for the team in recent years, by a combined 114–28. The Stanford game took place in front of a sold out crowd on ESPN and the Oregon game snapped a 12-game losing streak to the Ducks. The Huskies earned a berth in the Pac-12 Championship Game where they defeated Colorado to win their first conference title since 2000. They were selected as the #4 seed in the College Football Playoff and played in the Peach Bowl, where they lost to #1 seed Alabama. Washington was ranked #4 in the final AP Poll of the 2016 season. The 2016 Huskies were the last Pac-12 team to represent the conference in the College Football Playoff until 2023.
Recruiting class
Personnel
Schedule
Rankings
Game summaries
Rutgers
Idaho
Portland State
At Arizona
Stanford
At Oregon
Coming off of a 44–6 win against No. 7 Stanford at Husky Stadium, No. 5 Washington traveled to Autzen Stadium to face a 2–3 Oregon team. Prior to this game, Oregon had beaten Washington twelve straight times, ten of which were by a margin of 20 points or more. This was the longest winning streak by either team in the Oregon–Washington football rivalry.
The Oregon winning streak was finally snapped after a 70–21 Washington rout. On the first play from the line of scrimmage, Washington safety Budda Baker, a one-time commit to the Oregon Ducks, intercepted the pass from Oregon's true freshman Justin Herbert. The Huskies took the lead on a Jake Browning touchdown run with 13:23 left in the first quarter and never relinquished it. The Huskies led 35–7 by halftime, 42–7 after the first possession of the third quarter, and 70–21 with 9:58 left in the fourth quarter.
The Washington offense racked up 682 yards of total offense, averaged 10.1 yards per play, amassed 6 passing touchdowns by quarterback Jake Browning, and scored 70 points, the most scored by either team in the rivalry. The Huskies’ 70 points were the second-most an opponent has ever scored on Oregon in Eugene.
Oregon State
At Utah
At California
USC
Arizona State
At Washington State
vs Colorado (Pac-12 Championship Game)
vs Alabama (Peach Bowl - CFP Semifinal)
Awards and honors
Coaches Chris Petersen - Head Coach Eddie Robinson Coach of the Year : Finalist Bobby Dodd Coach of the Year Award : Finalist
Tim Socha - strength and conditioning coach FootballScoop.com strength and conditioning coach of the Year : Winner
Offense Jake Browning - Quarterback - Sophomore Manning Award (quarterback) : Finalist Walter Camp Award (player of the year) : Finalist Davey O'Brien Award (quarterback) : Semi-Finalist Maxwell Award (player of the year) : Semi-Finalist
John Ross III - Wide receiver - Junior Biletnikoff Award (wide receiver) : Semi-Finalist
Jeff Lindquist - Tight end - Senior Wuerffel Trophy (community service and academic excellence) : Semi-Finalist
Defense Budda Baker - Safety - Junior Chuck Bednarik Award (defensive player of the year) : Semi-Finalist Lott IMPACT Trophy (defensive player of the year) : Semi-Finalist Jim Thorpe Award (defensive back) : Semi-Finalist
All-Americans First team Budda Baker - The Sporting News, FWAA, ESPN, Sports Illustrated John Ross III - ESPN Second team Budda Baker - AFCA, The Associated Press, CBS Sports Sidney Jones - Sports Illustrated John Ross III - FWAA, The Associated Press, CBS Sports Trey Adams - FWAA Freshman Taylor Rapp - FWAA, USA Today, ESPN, Pro Football Focus
All-Pac-12 Individual awards Offensive Player of the Year Jake Browning - Quarterback - Sophomore
Freshman Defensive Player of the Year Taylor Rapp - Safety - Freshman
Football Scholar-Athlete of the Year Jake Eldrenkamp - Guard - Senior
Pac-12 All-Conference Team First team Jake Browning - Quarterback - Sophomore Myles Gaskin - Running back - Sophomore John Ross III - Wide receiver - Junior Trey Adams - Offensive tackle - Sophomore Jake Eldrenkamp - Guard - Senior Elijah Qualls - Defensive tackle - Junior Azeem Victor - Linebacker - Junior Budda Baker - Safety - Junior Sidney Jones - Cornerback - Junior
Second team Coleman Shelton - Center - Junior Vita Vea - Defensive tackle - Sophomore Keishawn Bierria - Linebacker - Junior Dante Pettis - Return specialist - Junior
Honorable mention Darrell Daniels - Tight end - Senior Greg Gaines - Defensive tackle - Sophomore Kevin King - Cornerback - Senior Drew Sample - Tight end - Sophomore Psalm Wooching - Linebacker - Senior
NFL draft
NFL Scouting Combine
Seven members of the 2016 team were invited to participate in drills at the 2017 NFL Scouting Combine held between February 28 and March 6, 2017 at Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis, Indiana.
DB04 Budda Baker S 5'10" 195 " 9" 4.45* 15 reps 32.5" 115" 6.76* 4.08* N/A Budda Baker Combine profile TE04 Darrell Daniels TE 6'3" 247 " " 4.55* 17 reps 32" 116" 7.09 4.47 N/A Darrell Daniels Combine profile DB28 Sidney Jones CB 6'0" 186 " " 4.47 N/A 33.5" 123" 7.02 4.28 N/A Sidney Jones Combine profile DB31 Kevin King CB 6'3" 200 32" " 4.43 11 reps 39.5"* N/A 6.56* 3.89* 11.14* Kevin King Combine profile LB20 Joe Mathis OLB 6'2" 266 33" 9" N/A 24 reps* N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A Joe Mathis Combine profile DL39 Elijah Qualls DT 6'1" 313 " " 5.13 33 reps* 31.5" 105" 7.65 4.66 N/A Elijah Qualls Combine profile WO42 John Ross III WR 5'11" 188 " " 4.22† N/A 37" 133"* N/A N/A N/A John Ross Combine profile Top performer
† New combine record
2017 NFL draft
The 2017 NFL draft was held at the Philadelphia Museum of Art in Philadelphia on April 27 through April 29, 2017. The following Washington players were either selected or signed as free agents following the draft.
Player Position Round Overall pick NFL teamJohn Ross IIIWR19Cincinnati BengalsKevin KingCB233Green Bay PackersBudda BakerS236Arizona CardinalsSidney JonesCB243Philadelphia EaglesElijah QuallsDT6214Philadelphia EaglesBrandon BeaverSUDFA—Arizona CardinalsDarrell DanielsTEUDFA—Indianapolis ColtsJake EldrenkampOGUDFA—Los Angeles RamsJoe MathisOLBUDFA—Houston Texans
References