2022 Husky Football Schedule Released

The Pac-12 today released the football schedules for every team for 2022 including the Washington Huskies.

Here are some initial thoughts on the schedule:

• Washington gets to start the year with 4 straight home games and you would think they’ll be the favorites in at least 3 of them given how Stanford looked this past year. Frontloading the home slate also means expect to have a lot more sunny days at Husky Stadium as the Dawgs won’t have to go on the road until the calendar turns to October.
• The Michigan State game will be the first Husky home game against a Power conference opponent since Rutgers in 2016 after the UW/Michigan game in 2020 was cancelled. Before that it was Illinois in 2014 and then both Nebraska and Syracuse in 2010.
• It’s tempting to mark down the Kent State game as an easy win but especially after the Montana game they shouldn’t be taken lightly. Kent State’s head coach Sean Lewis was mentioned as a possible candidate for some power conference jobs this cycle if some different spots in the Big 10 or Big 12 had opened. They finished the year 7-6 with a loss in the MAC title game and had to play at Texas A&M, Iowa, and Maryland.
• Back-to-back road games at UCLA and Arizona State will definitely be a huge challenge. Washington’s history in the desert combined with it being a 2nd straight road game means you should pencil that one in as a loss regardless of how the 2 teams look at the time.
• There’s a chance that both Arizona and Cal are much improved next year but playing those 2 teams just before the bye week likely makes them must wins if the Huskies are going to meet their season goals next year.
• Speaking of the bye, it comes in week 9 which is a little late but not egregiously so. I’d probably rather have it before playing at Cal but I’d also rather have it week 9 than week 5.
• The Dawgs get the Oregon schools back-to-back to kick off the month of November. For those who obsess how Oregon was scheduled, the Ducks have a pair of home games before hosting UW on November 12th.
• In a break with recent tradition, the Apple Cup is going back to a Saturday this year in Pullman so there’s a little more time post-Thanksgiving to cross the mountains for Husky fans hoping to travel to the game. There are currently 0 weekday games scheduled for Washington although it appears the conference still reserves the right to move around some of those games in the coming months.

What are your thoughts on Washington’s draw?