Washington has a tricky draw in the College Football Playoff. The Huskies are the fourth and final seed in the field, which means they’re playing a de-facto road semifinal against No. 1 Alabama at the Peach Bowl on New Year’s Eve in Atlanta. That’s about a three-hour drive from Tuscaloosa or a four-and-a-half-hour flight from Seattle.
Chris Petersen sounds pretty chill for someone who’s about to play Alabama
The Huskies have a brutal task on their hands in New Year’s Eve’s Peach Bowl (3 p.m. ET, ESPN). There’s no reason to treat it like any other game.
Kyle Terada-USA TODAY Sports
A bigger problem than the cross-country travel is what’s waiting at the end of it. Alabama is the best team in the country by a not especially close margin, coached by a legend and powered by four- and five-star talent at every position on the field. But at least in public, Peterson’s been pretty relaxed about what’s in front of him.
There’s this, from a session with media on Tuesday:
Calling Alabama “probably the best college team I’ve ever seen” likely isn’t hyperbole. This could be the Tide at the peak of the greatest college football dynasty ever.
At the beginning of the season, a Washington fan at a Huskies home game held up a sign that, shall we say, conveys some ambition.
Well, Washington now has Bama, but Petersen’s response isn’t what you’d think. As he explained it to ESPN’s Rece Davis right after hearing the matchup:
“Sometimes you’ve gotta be careful what you wish for,” Petersen said. “I didn’t hold that sign up.” And then everyone burst into laughter, because the best thing you can do while staring down an existential threat like Nick Saban’s Tide is to be cool about it.
Petersen’s joked about scrimmaging the hometown Seattle Seahawks to get ready for Bama. That won’t happen, but Pete Carroll sounds down with it, and it’s fun to bat around because Alabama is scary.
There’s no sense in pretending Alabama is some normal opponent, or that you can beat the Tide by playing your game and being physical and not making mistakes. Conquering this opponent will require something like the performance of the decade, so why not acknowledge it and be chill about it? It beats the hell out of being a nervous wreck.
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