UW’s DeBoer expects ‘smooth’ dive to Big Ten

• Heather Dinich, ESPN Senior WriterJan 3, 2024, 05:49 PM ET

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  • College football press reporter
  • Joined ESPN.com in 2007
  • Graduate of Indiana University

The College Football Playoff championship game game between No. 1 Michigan and No. 2 Washington will be a preview of two future Big Ten opponents, as the Huskies will join the 18-team superconference in August, and Washington coach Kalen DeBoer stated on Wednesday there’s already lots of familiarity with their new home.Washington and Oregon

will sign up with the Huge Ten in 2024 in addition to USC and UCLA, which will make the conference the greatest in the country.

“Our staff has a lot of ties and connections, both to the Midwest and the Big 10, whether it be coaching there in the Big Ten, or simply from that region of the country,” DeBoer stated when asked on a CFP teleconference about hiring for the Big Ten. “I think it will be a shift that will be pretty smooth for us that way. We have lot of familiarity with the kind of football they play, the various designs of each program.

“We still need to keep our footprint in the West Coast, but we will not hesitate to venture off and find the ideal fit, the guys we have contacts with, head coaches, and we’re extremely familiar recruiting currently,” he said. “There’s definitely a lot that we currently feel we have in this program that fits well with what can complete well in the Big 10.”

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In 2019, DeBoer was on Indiana’s staff as offending planner and quarterbacks coach, where he met quarterback Michael Penix Jr. They helped direct the Hoosiers to an 8-5 record and a berth in the Gator Bowl. IU’s eight wins that season matched their greatest win overall in 26 seasons, and the Hoosiers ranked No. 3 in the Big Ten in total offense.In 2020, after DeBoer left IU to end up being the head coach at Fresno State, Penix Jr. beat Michigan throughout the COVID-19-ravaged season. He tossed for 342 yards and 3 touchdowns in the Hoosiers ’38-21 win against the Wolverines, however he said it won’t be a factor in his preparation or frame of mind heading into the national title game.”I don’t remember much, I just keep in mind winning, actually,” Penix Jr. said. “It’s an absolutely various ballgame. But I’m always confident in myself and this team and the preparation that our coaches provide entering into each game.”

Michigan coach Jim Harbaugh hasn’t forgotten how good Penix Jr. is.

“He’s a super excellent player,” Harbaugh stated. “My impressions of him when he dipped into Indiana were the very same. Big-time arm skill, tremendous existence in the pocket, sees the field truly well. He is so polished. Seeing him and his precision, his decision-making, timing. He has actually just continued to have this incredible existence of going through development, feels pressure, will drop it off to a checkdown. Yeah, it’s at an elite level.”

That’s why Harbaugh said he’s believing “more about the here and now” than playing Washington more frequently as a future conference opponent. The 2 groups will play once again on Oct. 5 this fall in Seattle.

“They’re an outstanding football team,” Harbaugh said, “simply a very one-track mind of today, getting our group prepared, get them back walking around, however also schematically onto what Washington does and initial prepare for putting in our strategy.”

In addition to establishing itself as the very best group in the country on Monday night, Washington also has a possibility to set the bar for preseason expectations as a member of the Big 10 by knocking off the unbeaten conference champs.

“Physically, you get to this point in a playoff, you’re facing the best of the very best,” DeBoer stated. “Certainly we’ll learn more about that when we step on the football field against them and where we match up as far as being the best in the Big Ten as well.”