2016 Washington Huskies football team

2016 Washington Huskies football
Pac-12 champion
Pac-12 North Division champion
Peach Bowl (CFP Semifinal), L 7–24 vs. Alabama
ConferencePac-12 Conference
DivisionNorth Division
Ranking
CoachesNo. 4
APNo. 4
Record12–2 (8–1 Pac-12)
Head coach
Offensive coordinatorJonathan Smith (3rd season)
Offensive schemeSingle set back
Defensive coordinatorPete Kwiatkowski (3rd season)
Co-defensive coordinatorJimmy Lake (1st season)
Base defense3–4
MVPs
Captains
Home stadiumHusky Stadium
2016 Pac-12 Conference football standings
Conf.Overall
Team W L  W L 
North Division
No. 4 Washington xy$^  8 1   12 2  
Washington State  7 2   8 5  
No. 12 Stanford  6 3   10 3  
California  3 6   5 7  
Oregon State  3 6   4 8  
Oregon  2 7   4 8  
South Division
No. 17 Colorado xy  8 1   10 4  
No. 3 USC  7 2   10 3  
No. 23 Utah  5 4   9 4  
Arizona State  2 7   5 7  
UCLA  2 7   4 8  
Arizona  1 8   3 9  
Championship: Washington 41, Colorado 10
  • ^ College Football Playoff participant
  • $ Conference champion
  • x Division champion/co-champions
  • y Championship game participant
Rankings from AP Poll

The 2016 Washington Huskies football team represented the University of Washington in the 2016 NCAA Division I FBS football season. The team was led by Chris Petersen in his third season as head coach of the Huskies. Washington competed as a member of the North Division of the Pac-12 Conference and played their home games on campus at Husky Stadium in Seattle.

Washington finished the season with a 12–2 overall record and went 8–1 in conference to win the Pac-12 North Division, the program's first division title since the Pac-12 expanded and split into divisions in 2011. Most notable was defeating Stanford and Oregon, two of the toughest annual opponents for the team in recent years, by a combined 114–28. The Stanford game took place in front of a sold out crowd on ESPN and the Oregon game snapped a 12-game losing streak to the Ducks. The Huskies earned a berth in the Pac-12 Championship Game where they defeated Colorado to win their first conference title since 2000. They were selected as the #4 seed in the College Football Playoff and played in the Peach Bowl, where they lost to #1 seed Alabama. Washington was ranked #4 in the final AP Poll of the 2016 season. The 2016 Huskies were the last Pac-12 team to represent the conference in the College Football Playoff until 2023.