BRENT STECKER

Chris Petersen ready for Huskies to be tested by ‘best college team I’ve seen’ in top-ranked Alabama

Dec 13, 2016, 3:31 PM

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UW coach Chris Petersen (AP)

(AP)

Chris Petersen’s first comments at Tuesday’s Peach Bowl press conference on the Washington campus were telling of just how much he respects his No. 4 Huskies’ opponent in that New Year’s Eve game, the undefeated, top-ranked Alabama Crimson Tide.

“We’re extremely excited to be going. We’re not so thrilled about the matchup,” Petersen quipped while sitting at table with Peach Bowl president/CEO Gary Stokan and Washington athletic director Jen Cohen.

Pete Carroll compares Petersen, Alabama’s Saban ahead of Peach Bowl

Petersen was joking, of course. But there was a lot of truth in that crack he made about head coach Nick Saban’s defending national champions, which the Huskies coach made clear while talking later about the Tide.

“Probably the best college team I’ve seen, so what can you do but keep (a sense of) humor about it?”

Well, it doesn’t get much more complimentary than that.

Petersen certainly is impressed with the caliber of program Saban has put together, not that there was ever much doubt considering Alabama has won 25 straight games dating back to Sept. 2015, is ranked first in both scoring defense and total defense, and is 13th in scoring offense in the country.

“Top to bottom, there’s no weaknesses out there. There’s no players like, ‘Well, he’s a freshman.’ If he’s a freshman, he’s a freshman All-American, a whatever-star recruit,” Petersen said. “They’re good, they’re coached well, and the thing that I’m as impressed with as anything in that program is how they recruit. They get great talent and then (Saban) does a great job with the culture of their program, playing hard and all of those things.”

And Petersen isn’t just impressed. Contrary to his joke, he’s actually quite excited for the opportunity to measure his team up against Alabama in a national championship semifinal.

“There are no weaknesses, you know? But that’s OK. It’s going to challenge us to be at our best and see what we look like when we’re at our best and where we are in our evolution of playing against the best.”

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