Dot Dot Dawg: Next Stop, Pasadena

The Seattle Times — Washington and Ohio State to square off in traditional New Year’s pairing

Adam Jude gives a quick preview of the Washington vs. Ohio State Rose Bowl game that was made official yesterday, noting that the game will pit Ohio State’s top-10 offense versus Washington’s top-10 defense, and that the Jan. 1 game will represent UW’s first trip to the game since 2001.

The Athletic — Before it even studies Ohio State, Washington knows this Rose Bowl ‘will be a tall challenge’

Christian Caple focuses on the challenges Ohio State will pose to Washington, saying that the Buckeyes field “without question, the best offense to face the Huskies this season”:

Led by star quarterback and potential Heisman finalist Dwayne Haskins, the Buckeyes rank eighth nationally in scoring (43.5 points per game), 12th in yards per play (6.72) and third in passing efficiency (175.7).

Haskins leads the nation in passing yards (4,580) and touchdown passes (47). He has completed 70.2 percent of his 496 attempts and has thrown only eight interceptions.

The Seattle Times — Myles Gaskin and Ben Burr-Kirven named Huskies’ most valuable players; JoJo McIntosh awarded most inspirational

Jude tallies the hardware given out at yesterday’s Washington football awards banquet. In addition to the awards mentioned in the headline, Jude notes that Jake Browning and Taylor Rapp won the Husky Excellence Award, and that Greg Gaines won the L. Wait Rising Defensive Lineman of the Year Award for the third year running, among others.

The Athletic — Why the Playoff selection committee eschewed controversy

Stewart Mandel delves into the perspective of the College Football Playoff selection committee to divine how its members decided to rank Oklahoma, Ohio State and Georgia, all of whom had legitimate claims to the No. 4 seed and with it a date against Alabama:

I can tell you this: Behind the scenes, at least a couple of the founding commissioners were not thrilled with the lack of credit given to the conference champions that finished No. 5 the last two years. They intended for that written protocol to be used more as charging instructions, not, as Hocutt referred to it at times, “a tiebreaker.” That feedback presumably made its way to the committee during its meetings over the offseason.

The Seattle Times — Three impressions from UW Huskies’ 67-63 win over Santa Barbara

Percy Allen reflects on Washington’s win last night over the Gauchos, and wonders if the Huskies have shown enough to think that they can hang with No. 1 Gonzaga when the programs meet Wednesday night in Spokane.

Dots

• After beating the Utes to claim the conference title, the Dawgs have risen one spot to No. 13 in Chris Vannini’s latest national power rankings.
• The women’s basketball team scored a 29-point victory yesterday over George Mason.
• Dan Wolken says that with the same teams making the Playoff each and every year, college football’s postseason is starting to get a bit stale.