Skipped through the highlights of the FBS playoff announcement (recorded, or it would have been excruciating). The talking heads and "experts" kept coming back, again and again, to the weak OOC schedule Washington played. Then, after the selection went UW's way, they threw it up to Petersen during that interview. The coach handled it well and did not, exactly, say they would try to do anything about it in their future scheduling. But his expression and tone of voice said he'd just like to see the issue go away.
I see it two ways. First, the fact they even bring it up says, IMO, as much about their disrespect for the strength of the Pac12 as it does for weak OOC games. After all, many (most?) SEC teams play at least one FCS opponent every single year. Example: Next year, Alabama plays Mercer -- a truly wretched FCS team! Yet no one talks about how these games waters down the SOS for those teams. So the reality is that SEC teams can get away with it and, it would appear, Pac12 can't (or at least take more of a risk).
Because of that perception, I do believe UW will at least consider rethinking the game with the Griz.
This subject came up before on another thread. And someone suggested it would be too late for UW to change their 2017 schedule ... everything was all set. I made a quick check then, and just now a more extensive one, and that does not appear to be the case. Searching through announced schedules I found six Power-5 teams that still show a TBD for September 9, 2017. Among those were Louisville and North Carolina. So that end of the deal would not even need to come up with a buy-out.
There were eight P-5 teams who have games against FCS teams scheduled for that date. One of those is Delaware against Virginia Tech, while another has Towson at Maryland (probably been scheduled for awhile so the Big Ten let it ride). The other six are all SEC teams, including, BTW, Northern Colorado at Florida. It looks like four of those are SEC home openers, so they obviously want to keep the fans happy with a cupcake.
These 14 P-5 programs might not want to tackle Washington early in the season, but could perhaps use the boost to their SOS.
If UW chose to go outside the P-5, these are currently 12 teams that still show a TBD for that date in their posted schedules. Even a weak FBS team like Central Florida would do more for the UW SOS than a game with the Griz. I also found 10 teams that have scheduled an FCS opponent for that date, (including Idaho State at Utah State). Would any of them pay a buyout to go to UW? Who knows. Of course, if UW was willing to give up a home cupcake to up their SOS, getting a stronger FBS matchup becomes a lot easier.
