Pat McAfee: Washington facing 'nightmare week' vs. Utah in pivotal Pac-12 game

Washington has a “nightmare” of a challenge against Utah, according to Pat McAfee. Coming off a win over USC, the Huskies don’t get a cupcake down the stretch.

Utah, which is still in the Pac-12 race, can knock off the Huskies from the ranks of the undefeated and really shake things up. The Utes are to not be taken lightly by Washington.

In fact, McAfee sent a warning to Washington and the program ahead of the game against Utah.

“You’re talking about like Oregon, Oregon went into Utah and did what they did to Utah, and since then Utah has reminded themselves of who they are,” McAfee said on College GameDay. “This would be the last team that I would want to see if I was this Washington Huskies football program … Michael Penix Jr. is in the Heisman conversation for good reason … Jonah Elliss doesn’t care about any of that. He is the number one sack man in the country. 

“He can disrupt this entire game if he wants to. (Kyle) Whittingham is gonna want them to do that. This is a nightmare week for Washington, especially coming after that USC game. We’ll learn a lot about them in football judgment today, I think, whenever you’re talking College Football Playoff ranking.”

Kirk Herbstreit broke down the matchup, but noted this is a very intriguing game and one that could maybe go either way.

“They have the corners that I think they feel confident that they can match up,” Herbstreit said of Utah. “So it’s a good matchup, the line of scrimmage, the big playability. The fact that Washington just had USC, they had Oregon earlier. They have to show the abilities to sustain excellence when when they beat Oregon, they had a couple of weeks that were down. Can’t afford to do that. 

“USC last week, Utah today, Oregon State next week, Apple Cup’s coming, Pac-12 Championship. They gotta show consistency.”

If Penix Jr. has a clean pocket for Washington, he could certainly carve up the Utah defense. This season, he has 3,201 yards, 26 touchdowns, seven interceptions and a 69.4% completion percentage.

But on the flip side, Elliss is ready to go. In nine games this season, Elliss has 35 total tackles, 21 solo tackles, 16 tackles for loss and 12 sacks. He had four sacks in his first two seasons.

Washington takes on Utah at home at 3:30 p.m. ET.