The Washington Huskies football team will be entering its third season under head coach Jedd Fisch this year, and there's major expectations for the program to do something special.

At Fisch's previous and first head coaching stop, the Arizona Wildcats, the third year marked the final step of a top-to-bottom rebuild. He finished 1-11 his first year with Arizona and 10-3 in his final one.

The Huskies have seen similar year-over-year improvements under Fisch. Washington finished 6-7 in the 2024-25 season and 9-4 in his previous one.

There's been a lot of anticipation this offseason both internally and externally that the third year in the Pacific Northwest could lead to similar results for Fisch. The defense has shared its belief that it can be one of the top groups in the country this season. Several individual players, including third-year quarterback Demond Williams Jr., were also featured on preseason watchlists.

The Associated Press also views UW in a positive light. In its first preseason AP Top 25 poll from the publication, the Huskies were ranked 17th.

Following the release of the list, college football analyst Josh Pate had a lot of complimentary words for Washington.

"Washington could wreck this whole thing," Pate said in a video posted to "X." Got a really good quarterback and you know what else they have? They got a schedule where they play a lot of the other big boys. They go to USC, they play Iowa but you know what they do in November? They got Penn State coming to Seattle, they got Indiana coming to Seattle and they play Oregon. There is a world where Washington uses that to thrust themselves into the playoff. There's another world where, maybe Washington doesn't quite make the playoff, but they're the reason you don't make the playoff. Either way, Jedd Fisch, who can be the ultimate chaos agent in college football this year, he starts at No. 17."

The Huskies won't have to wait long to see if it can be the wrecking ball in the college football landscape that Pate believes they can be.

Washington will begin its regular season against in-state rivals, the Washington State Cougars at 1 p.m. PT on Sept. 6 at Husky Stadium in Seattle.

-- Notes, observations from UW's first fall training camp scrimmage:

-- True freshman left tackle Kodi Greene is continuing to develop in his first full college football offseason