3 Things You Need to Know about the Washington Huskies

Game week is here as the top ranked Alabama Crimson Tide and No. 4 Washington Huskies get set to clash Saturday inside the Georgia Dome.

Both teams clinched their conference championships early in December and are looking to advance with a win in the semifinal round.

Before Alabama kicks off the College Football Playoff, find out the three things you need to know about the Washington Huskies.

Alabama’s First Ever Bowl Opponent

While two teams have met just four times in series history, the first ever meeting took place in the 1926 Rose Bowl and helped shape the course of college football.

In Wallace Wade’s third season as Alabama’s head coach, the Crimson Tide finished the regular season undefeated for the first time in program history and headed to the Rose Bowl for Alabama’s first ever bowl game.

While the Huskies took a 12-0 advantage into halftime, Alabama stormed back in the third quarter with 20 unanswered points thanks to two touchdown catches from Johnny Mack Brown and a “Pooley” Hubert scoring run en route to a 20-19 upset win. The victory gave Alabama their first national championship and put southern football on the map.

The Crimson Tide’s win over Washington opened the flood games for the south as Alabama made five more trips to Pasadena while Duke, Tennessee, Georgia, Georgia Tech and Tulane each appeared in the Rose Bowl over the following two decades.

Washington Returns to the Spotlight

This year’s Chick-Fil-A Peach Bowl for the Huskies marks the 36^th bowl appearance in program history.

The Huskies enter Saturday’s game having won their first Pac 12 title since 2000 and with a win can set a new school record for wins in a single season.

Saturday also begins their quest for the program’s second national championship. The Huskies won their first national title in 1991 as they split the title with the Miami Hurricanes. Since that time, the 2000 season has been the only season that Washington won 10 or more games in a year.

Head Coach Chris Petersen

As Nick Saban has established himself as one of the top coaches in college football history, Chris Petersen has built an impressive resume as one of college football’s brightest young coaches.

He has 119 career wins and a .826 winning percentage which is second among active college football coaches. In his 11 seasons as a head coach, Petersen has won 10 or more games in a season eight times. During his time at Boise State, Petersen’s set an FBS record for first year coaches with 13 wins in 2006. In 2014, Petersen won his 100^th career game and reached that mark in the fourth fewest number of games in college football history.