I happened to be listening to former Washington coach Rick Neuheisel on satellite radio the other day. And he said the Huskies game with Auburn in the College Football Kickoff Classic is much more important to Washington than Auburn. The former coach reasons the Huskies are under more pressure to represent their conference after the Pac-12 went 1-8 in the bowl season.
But even more importantly, if Washington should lose, they will be out of the college football playoff picture, according to Neuheisel, while an Auburn loss would not necessarily keep Auburn out if the Tigers were to post a good SEC record in 2018.