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2002 Washington Huskies football
Sun Bowl, L 24–34 vs. Purdue
Conference	Pacific-10
Record	7–6 (4–4 Pac-10)
Head coach	Rick Neuheisel (4th season)
Offensive coordinator	Keith Gilbertson (3rd season)
Offensive scheme	Spread
Defensive coordinator	Tim Hundley (4th season)
Base defense	Multiple
MVP	Cody Pickett (O) Ben Mahdavi (D)
Captain	Paul Arnold Ben Mahdavi Jafar Williams Elliot Zajac
Home stadium	Husky Stadium
Seasons← 20012003 →

The 2002 Washington Huskies football team was an American football team that represented the University of Washington during the 2002 NCAA Division I-A football season. In its fourth season under head coach Rick Neuheisel, the team compiled a 7–6 record, finished in a four-way tie for fourth place in the Pacific-10 Conference, and outscored its opponents by a combined total of 398 to 342. Cody Pickett and Ben Mahdavi were selected as the team's most valuable player offensive and defensive players, respectively.

Northwest Championship

Following the UCLA game, the Huskies had a 4–5 record, 1–4 against Pac-10 opponents, and had lost 4 of the last 5 games. The Huskies were at serious risk of a losing season, their first since 1974, and of missing a bowl game.

Through rare happenstance, Washington was scheduled to play the three other Pacific Northwest schools in order to end the season. Neuheisel, sensing an opportunity to motivate his team, declared that despite the thus far disappointing season the Huskies were still fighting to win the "Northwest Championship" by sweeping Oregon State, Oregon, and Washington State in their remaining games.

It was a successful rallying cry, and the Huskies first beat Oregon State. The next week they won at Autzen Stadium, their first win against Oregon at home since 1996. The Huskies capped the season with a triple-overtime victory over No. 3 Washington State in the Apple Cup, claiming the Northwest Championship with back-to-back-to-back wins over the other northwest schools.

Schedule

Roster

Source:

Team players in the NFL

No Washington players were selected in the 2003 NFL draft.

The following finished their college career in 2002, were not drafted, but played in the NFL.

References

1. "Washington Yearly Results (2000–2004)". College Football Data Warehouse. David DeLassus. Archived from the original on December 22, 2015. Retrieved December 15, 2015.
2. Condotta, Bob (October 12, 2004). "Huskies eyeing mythical Northwest title". The Seattle Times. Retrieved January 8, 2022. Fans of other schools cried that the Northwest Championship was strictly mythical, just another devious Neuheisel ploy. But the Huskies didn't care, and proudly laid claim to it again last year when, in the midst of one of the most chaotic seasons in school history, the lone highlight was beating Oregon State, Oregon and Washington State by a combined 61 points.
3. Maisel, Ivan (November 25, 2002). "Tale Of Two T-Shirts". ESPN.com. Archived from the original on December 25, 2020. Retrieved January 8, 2022. Washington is content with its unofficial Northwest Championship. "It had to be enough," quarterback Cody Pickett said Sunday. "Everybody left us for dead. We had to rally around something."
4. Condotta, Bob (November 21, 2012). "Ten years ago, Huskies won a wild Apple Cup in Pullman". The Seattle Times. Retrieved January 8, 2022. Washington had meandered through the first three-quarters of the season at 4-5 before Neuheisel said his team's new goal was to sweep its last three games against Oregon State, Oregon and WSU and win what he coined the "Northwest Championship." Washington had two-thirds of that title in hand as it headed to Pullman.
5. Jude, Adam (October 5, 2016). "Silence was Golden, and purple: Remembering when UW last won at Oregon in 2002". The Seattle Times. Retrieved January 8, 2022. That completed what Neuheisel had dubbed the Northwest Championship, with the Huskies closing out the season with successive victories over Oregon State, Oregon and WSU (after losing to USC, Arizona State and UCLA the three weeks prior). Neuheisel even had T-shirts made up with blank boxes to check off after each win. The Huskies wore those T-shirts as they marched back onto the Autzen Stadium turf for their postgame brouhaha.
6. "Today's lineups". Eugene Register-Guard. (Oregon). November 16, 2002. p. 4D.
7. "Apple Cup preview: WSU". Spokesman-Review. (Spokane, Washington). November 23, 2002. p. C15.

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