Reviewing the 2025 UW Football Goals

Back in February I published a set of goals for UW to achieve this year. As I said back then, competing in the Big Ten Championship game and getting into the CFP should be goals-this year and every year; but I was looking at goals that I thought were more realistic. It turns out that getting into the CFP was a possibility for a while. But now that 2025 is over, how did UW do toward achieving the realistic goals that I outlined?

Football Goals

1. Win a game away from Husky Stadium

If you remember, UW did not win a single game away from Husky Stadium in 2024. They had chances against Rutgers and in the bowl game against Louisville, but they were not very competitive in their other 3 road games.

While it may not seem like it, UW had a winning record away from Husky Stadium. They won at WSU. They won 2 of the 4 Big Ten conference road games. And they won the bowl game. That’s 4 out of 6. But, one of those conference road wins was a come-from-behind game against what turned out to be a 4-8 Maryland team. And one of the road losses will be remembered as the ‘what-if’ game of the season-the loss at Wisconsin.

Goal: Achieved, but in games outside of the Pacific Time Zone, the offense struggled a lot-scoring just 41 points in those 3 games. That will likely be a focus for 2026.

2. Win at least 5 of their home games

Last year they won all 6 of their games at Husky Stadium. This year they play 7 games at home, but going in to the season we knew that at least a couple of the games could be very challenging which is why the goal was at least 5.

UW did win 5 of their 7 home games. Their only two home losses were to two teams that made the CFP. Both of those games were competitive for at least part of the game, but they showed that UW has a ways to go to be in the upper tier of college football.

Goal: Achieved.

3. Win games against teams that they should beat

It’s great to get the occasional upset win, but if that is balanced by an upset loss you haven’t made much progress. Last year UW lost probably 2 games that they should have won. The goal this year was to avoid those. If you have to lose games, then lose them to teams that you should lose to-but win the rest.

If you go by preseason projections, UW’s wins and losses were about what was expected. But if you go by the win projections the week of the game, UW did exactly what they were supposed to (as far as win or lose) in every game-except the one against Wisconsin. The good news is that at least there was only one game like that in 2025 instead of the two in 2024.

Goal: Not achieved, but the goal should be to not have any upset losses in 2026.

4. Be ranked in the CFP (top-25) at some point in the 2025 season

UW was in the first CFP rankings of the 2025 season, coming in at #23. Unfortunately, it was just after that they lost at Wisconsin which dropped them out of the rankings-and they never made it back in.

There is still a chance that UW could be ranked in the final AP rankings after the national championship game. Many of the rankings already have them easily among the top-25 teams in the country-especially after their bowl win and some of the other bowl results (like Illinois beating Tennessee).

Goal: Achieved, but obviously the goal for 2026 should be to be in there for more than 1 week-ideally to be in the final CFP ranking.

5. Be in the top 50 in both scoring offense and scoring defense

In 2024 UW’s defense finished #53 in points allowed per game. In 2025, UW’s defense struggled a bit in their early games but then came on strong. They are currently #16 in scoring defense at 18.7 points per game allowed-an improvement of over 5 points per game.

UW’s offense in 2024 struggled a bit, finishing #104 (at just 23.4 points per game). With an improved offensive line and a second season for Demond Williams Jr., the offense improved in 2025 to average 34.1 point per game-currently #17 in the country. The problem for UW was that their offense was normally either very good or very bad. They averaged over 45 points per game in their wins and less than 10 points per game in their losses.

In 2025, there were 9 teams that were in the top-25 in both scoring offense and scoring defense. Six of those teams made the CFP-Ohio State, Indiana, Texas Tech, Oregon, James Madison, and Ole Miss. The other two teams (besides UW) were Notre Dame and Utah-both of which were in the top-15 in the final CFP poll. So, as far as scoring offense and scoring defense, UW was right up with the best teams in the country in 2025.

Goal: Achieved.

6. Be in the top 75 in Special Teams

UW’s special teams were ‘bad’ in 2024. Realistically they weren’t going to go from #110 to be in the top 50, so the goal was just top 75. Ranking Special Teams is not nearly as easy as ranking offense or defense, especially since there are so many aspects to it. That’s why the goal was that they just be ranked in the top 75 in any one of the rankings that do rank Special Teams.

I think that most Husky fans would say that UW’s Special Teams have improved over last year, although there are still some problems. FEI has UW at #78, so outside of the goal. SP+ has UW at #100. ESPN’s FPI has them at #105.

Goal: Not Achieved, although when the final rankings come out after all of the games are played, UW may sneak into the top-75 somewhere.

7. Win the bowl game

Although the offense struggled a bit early in the game, UW easily handled Boise State in the Bucked Up LA Bowl sponsored by Gronk. While some could argue that the win doesn’t mean that much considering it was against a Mountain West team and not a team from a Power-4 conference, it was still a convincing win; and Boise State has a good enough reputation that it has been seen as a solid win-especially given the margin of victory.

Goal: Achieved.

Recruiting Goals

Coach Fisch has said that he wants to build the program primarily through high school recruiting, so it is important that he can deliver great recruiting classes. The 2025 class paid dividends early as many true freshmen were contributors in the 2025 season, including some that were starters. The 2026 class is now ranked #12, one of-if not the best-recruiting classes in decades. (Technically there is still over a month until the late signing period starts, but most of the top recruits have already signed with a team, so it is unlikely that UW’s ranking will change.)

1. Have an average recruit rating (on 247Sports) of at least 89

The ratings on 247Sports (or any other recruiting site) are not perfect, but they do give us a good idea of which are some of the best recruits. If UW wants to compete with teams like Ohio State, which get many of the best recruits in the country, then having at least some of those top recruits can be helpful.

After a few late flips, UW has 25 signees, and on 247Sports the average rating for those 25 is 89.46. That average could change as the ratings on the recruits get updated, but it seems unlikely that it will drop enough to get it below 89-even if they add one or two commits that are 3-stars.

Goal: Achieved.

2. Get at least 9 blue chip (4-star or 5-star) commits

This goes largely hand-in-hand with the previous goal. These blue chip recruits are the best-of-the-best, and needed. Obviously it is not a perfect indicator of which recruits will end up as the best players, as we have seen from Dezmen Roebuck and Raiden Vines-Bright, neither of which were a blue chip recruit. But, John Mills was (barely); so were Rylon Dillard-Allen, Dylan Robinson, Chris Lawson, and Zaydrius Rainey-Sale.

According to the 247Sports Composite, UW has signed from one 5-star (Kodi Greene) and ten 4-stars, for a total of 11. UW was helped at the end with JD Hill surging up the rankings to get a 4th star and with the flips of Jordan Clay and Trez Davis.

Goal: Achieved.

3. Sign at least one recruit from outside of Washington that is rated in the top 100 (247Sports Composite)

Getting the top in-state players is great, but there are usually not enough of them to fill a recruiting class. So it is important to attract not just the best in-state recruits, but also get some of the top recruits from outside of the state.

UW has signed from two of the top-100 recruits: OT Kodi Greene and RB Brian Bonner. There is an argument that Kodi Greene isn’t really from outside of Washington since he was from Sammamish before moving to California last year. But, between getting him to flip from Oregon and that he’s a 5-star recruit, I, for one, can let that slide. And with Brian Bonner also being a top-100 recruit, UW definitely met that goal even if you don’t count Kodi Greene.

Goal: Achieved.

Summary

UW achieved 8 of the 10 goals for the year-only missing out by losing to Wisconsin and with their improved, but still not good enough, special teams play. While a bit disappointing, UW has undoubtedly set themselves up for a great 2026 season-assuming that they don’t lose any more key contributors to the Transfer Portal and they can bring in a few at some key positions.

One thing to watch as the season concludes is whether UW is ranked in the top-25 in the final AP poll. Comparing UW’s performance against Oregon to the two teams that Oregon has faced in the playoffs, it could be argued that UW is better than both of those teams. However, it is unlikely that Texas Tech will drop enough that UW would be ranked above them. The same is not true of James Madison, even though the Dukes did put up a decent performance (against a lot of backups) in that game. There are a couple of more bowl games on Friday that could determine where UW ends up in the final rankings. But here is a summary of some of the teams that were ranked ahead of UW in the last AP poll.

• #17 Tulane (11-3), lost to Ole Miss in the first round CFP game
• #18 Michigan (9-4), lost to Texas in their bowl game
• #19 James Madison (12-2), lost to Oregon in the first round CFP game
• #20 Virginia (11-3), beat Missouri in their bowl game
• #21 Arizona (9-3), playing SMU on Friday
• #22 Navy (10-2), playing Cincinnati on Friday
• #23 North Texas (12-2), beat San Diego State in their bowl game
• #24 Georgia Tech (9-4), lost to BYU in their bowl game
• #25 Missouri (8-5), lost to Virginia in their bowl game
• #26 Houston (10-3), beat LSU in their bowl game
• #27 Iowa (9-4), beat Georgia Tech in their bowl game
• #28 Tennessee (8-5), lost to Illinois in their bowl game
• #29 New Mexico (9-4), lost to Minnesota in their bowl game
• #30 Duke (9-5), beat Arizona State in their bowl game
• #31 Boise State (9-5), lost to UW in their bowl game
• #32 UNLV (10-4), lost to Ohio in their bowl game
• #34 South Florida (9-4), lost to Old Dominion in their bowl game
• #35 SMU (8-4), playing Arizona on Friday
• #35 Louisville (9-4), beat Toledo in their bowl game
• #35 Arizona State (8-5), lost to Duke in their bowl game
• #37 UConn (9-4), lost to Army in their bowl game
• #38 Washington (9-4), beat Boise State in their bowl game
• #39 Kennesaw State (10-4), lost to Western Michigan in their bowl game
• #39 Pittsburgh (8-5), lost to East Carolina in their bowl game
• #41 Illinois (9-4), beat Tennessee in their bowl game

Seven teams ranked between #26 and #38 (where UW was ranked) have lost, so UW could move in to the top 30. Whether they move into the top-25 will depend on a few factors. First is what happens with the teams playing in bowl games on Friday. For example, if Arizona beats SMU then it is likely that UW moves up another spot-but a win by SMU may not move UW up. The second is how much of a boost UW gets for beating Boise State-especially considering how dominant UW was over a team that had been ranked #31. Another factor is how much the voters punish previous top-25 teams like Tulane, James Madison, Georgia Tech, and Missouri based on their losses. And the final factor is whether some teams like Iowa and Illinois will get a bump based on their bowl wins.

Even if UW does not finish in the top-25 in the final AP poll, UW will definitely finish in the top-25 in many rankings including ESPN’s FPI, FEI, and SRS. That plus their recruiting class may be enough to get them into the 2026 preseason top-25 rankings.

How do you think UW did in 2025? Are there other goals that UW achieved in 2025 that should be highlighted, or ones that they missed (other than the ones mentioned above) that should be noted?