There was a palpable sense of relief among the Washington players who walked off the field at the Rose Bowl on Saturday night.
The 10th-ranked Huskies needed a fourth-quarter touchdown and some clutch defense at the very end to escape with a 31-24 win over underdog UCLA, but the victory might have come with a cost.
In a few weeks, when the College Football Playoff selection committee begins issuing its weekly rankings, a close-call against an 0-5 opponent probably won’t swing many votes in their direction.
“Probably, from the outside, people wouldn’t have expected that,” linebacker Ben Burr-Kirven said of the final score.