There is Something About UW Football

The University of Washington's Football team just obliterated the University of Oregon Ducks (quick side note, the Ducks uniforms had "webfoots" written on the front center. I am not one to make fun of Oregon's constantly changing garb, but that nickname is stupid.) in Eugene at Oregon's home stadium. The final score was 70-21. It was like the UW was playing  a Division 1AA team. This win for the Huskies followed a blowout win the previous week against the nationally ranked Stanford Cardinal. The score was 44-6 in this one. After these two wins the Huskies have catapulted themselves into the College Football Playoff talk. Nationally sports writers and commentators are talking about the UW and their chances at playing for a national title.

Despite these impressive wins and national attention heaping praise of the Dawgs I struggle to view them as a legitimate contender for the National Championship Title. The team has a great defense, probably the best in the Pac-12, and possibly the best in the country. Huskies Quarterback Jake Browning and Runningback Miles Gaskin are both young and super talented, which lets the offense score with ease. There just doesn't seem to be an obvious weak spot on the team. Yet, I still struggle to see them as a national power.

I thought a little more about this and I realized it is because the Huskies wear purple as their primary color. Personally I have nothing against the color purple. My favorite color is blue, but purples are just fine. The thing is purple isn't a color that screams college football power. When you think about the traditional powers in the sport red is the dominate color.   The next closet is blue, but there aren't even half as many historically powerful teams in blue as there are red. Take a look at the color wheel in figure 1. Of all the primary and secondary colors red stands out by far as the most common.

Figure 1: Color Wheel of College Football Power

By wearing the color purple the Huskies are joining by only two other perennially great teams, LSU and TCU. Despite their years of success nobody expects to see TCU playing for a National Title anytime soon, so really there is just one team up there beside the Dawgs, the Louisiana State University Tigers, who aren't a bad team to be compared to. LSU has a couple of National Titles of their credit and they routine sit in the AP Top 25 teams. But that is it. There are no other purple college football powers.

This lack of familiarity with the color pallet the University of Washington has chosen to don has made it hard for me to envision them playing on the biggest stage. My minds I just can't place them lined up against Ohio State or Alabama. Teams wearing purple aren't on Sports Center. They don't get big time praise. It just isn't a thing that is seen.

All that being said I hope the UW continues to roll. An undefeated season, or even one loss, and a Pac-12 Championship would be a great way to demand entrance into the College Football Playoff. We a defense as good as Washington's they would stand a chance against anyone. Fans should get caught up in the hype. They should dream about them playing for their second National Title. Just make sure the Huskies are wearing the blackout uniforms in your dreams.