No Pac-12 team ranks in Si.com’s top ten in schedule difficulty, but the 2022 Washington Huskies play someone that does. There’s a compliment in there somewhere, I’m sure of it.
One of the Huskies out of conference opponents, Michigan State, ranks on the SI.com difficulty list. The Spartans are one of three Big Ten teams to make the list, along with Maryland and Ohio State. Michigan State ranks ninth on the list, the Terrapins seventh, and the Buckeyes fourth.
In the article SI estimates that the Spartans could be playing no less than five Top 25 teams. The Huskies close out their out-of-conference schedule with Michigan State after facing Kent State and Portland State in the first two games of the year. Hence the omission on the list.
SI.com’s college football HQ team wrote:
There’s a road tilt at Washington and a home date with Minnesota before a three-game stretch starting with OSU, then hosting Wisconsin, and going to Michigan.”
The Huskies face nine Pac-12 opponents but do not play USC or Utah. Michigan State’s out-of-conference schedule will include Western Michigan and Akron. The team at SI was clearly more impressed with the Spartans’ conference schedule. They play both Maryland and Ohio State, and close out the season against Penn State.
Matchup Renewed
The last time the Huskies played the Spartans was in the 1997 Aloha Bowl when Washington routed a Nick Saban-coached Michigan State 51-23. The 2022 game marks only the fourth time the two schools have played one another. The Spartans were 11-2 in 2021, and were unbeaten after eight games.