A brief history of Washington vs. a defending national champion

The Huskies will see Ohio State in September. How often has UW faced a defending champ?

Ohio State’s 34-23 victory over Notre Dame in Monday’s CFP national championship game means that for a second consecutive season, the Washington Huskies will host the defending national champs.

Near as I can tell, UW’s 27-17 victory over Michigan this season marked the third time in 25 tries — dating to 1921 — that the Huskies defeated the reigning national champions. And next season’s game against Ohio State won’t be the first time the Huskies have faced the defending champ in consecutive seasons; it actually happened each year from 2003-05, thanks to a trip to Columbus and USC’s run under Pete Carroll (it also happened in 1968-69, thanks also to the Buckeyes and Trojans).

Obviously, there have been many seasons in college football in which multiple teams claimed a national championship. That expands the pool a bit, so to speak, though we do have to draw the line somewhere. So I’m going strictly off the NCAA’s list of recognized national champions, which you can reference here.

Here’s how the Huskies have fared when facing a defending national champion.