The Huskies come into the Ohio State game riding a wave of confidence after starting the season 3-0. Their offense is raking in points, while the defense remains solid. Despite their form, Washington enters Week 5 as an underdog. And you can’t fault it when you are playing the defending champions and the No. 1-ranked team in the country. The Buckeyes are 8.5-point favorites, but that’s not the story. Despite their brilliant start, Jedd Fisch’s team has failed to gather national spotlight. To a point that they didn’t get a single vote in the AP Poll. If that disrespect wasn’t enough. ESPN analysts chime in.

In an ESPN podcast on September 25, College GameDay host Rece Davis and Pete Thamel discussed the upcoming matchup between Penn State and Oregon. Out of nowhere, the Huskies entered the discussion. Davis talked about his Venn diagram of tested and untested teams among undefeated ones that he showed on College GameDay last year. While it featured some big names, there were glaring misses when it came to all undefeated teams.

Pete Thamel stopped Davis midway to say that one of the head coaches who didn’t make it to Davis’ final cut actually texted him about the snub. “I did get a text, Ree, from a certain head coach with an undefeated team. That diagram was used as motivation for their team heading into the game last week,” Thamel said. Rece Davis took some guesses as to who the head coach could be, but he couldn’t land on the correct answer. Ultimately, Thamel gave in.

“I don’t know if I’m allowed to say that it was Jedd Fisch,” Thamel said. There you have it! The Huskies’ second-year head coach saw his team getting snubbed from Davis’ Venn diagram, and he used it to motivate his team. The result? A 59-24 thrashing of Washington State. The poor Cougars had to take the brunt of Rece Davis disrespecting Washington.

Even before that, the Huskies’ offense dominated Colorado State in their season opener as they ran for 283 yards and passed for 192. Jonah Coleman ran for 177 yards and 2 TDs, while their defense held the Rams to 265 yards. Washington cruised to a 70-10 win over UC Davis. Jonah matched the modern school record of scoring 5 rushing TDs. They held UC Davis to a total of 193 yards. In the third, they faced Washington State for the Apple Cup. The Cougars could manage just 33 rushing yards as Demond Williams ran riot.

But these convincing victories and the performances of Demond Williams Jr. and Jonah Coleman have evaded the attention of the national media. When the Huskies are discussed, it happens as a footnote to another discussion. The team has taken note of that, and it may end up hurting Ryan Day’s Buckeyes in Week 5.

The criticism may become an issue for Ryan Day’s Ohio State

Ohio State enters Week 5 as the favorite over Washington, with the over/under set at 52.5 points. But we must remind you that they’re traveling to the Huskies’ home field. Washington currently has the second-longest home win streak in college football at 22 games. They haven’t lost at home since 2021. That’s what Ryan Day is facing this week.

Although the Buckeyes faced Texas in Week 1, their defense has yet to be challenged. Huskies’ mobile QB Demond Williams Jr. won’t be an easy test for Matt Patricia’s defense. Add to that all the bulletin board material that Jedd Fisch has been getting lately, and it makes for a compelling watch.