Chris Petersen could have retired in Boise, Idaho.
A lot of us were convinced he would. Petersen had everything he wanted: power, prestige and anonymity. In developing the Boise State brand, the coach decidedly did not crave the limelight.
It wasn't that he disliked the media, what little there was at the foot of the Boise Mountains. It was more the size (population: 215,000) , comfort and remoteness of Boise fit him perfectly.
So the surprise this week is not that Petersen -- No. 5 Washington's third-year coach -- has guided the Huskies to their highest ranking since 1992. Or that he has them on the fast-track for the College Football Playoff.
It's that he left Boise at all.
"My comfort level was Boise," Petersen said this week. "Anytime you're leaving a place you know can be real successful for a long period of time, you get out of your comfort zone. That's what I needed to do."
The size of the city, the media horde and -- really -- the expectations are all larger. But halfway through his third season, Petersen essentially has Washington at the level he left Boise. That is, dominating everyone his team plays.
At 6-0, Washington is off to its best start in 24 years. That's after Petersen spent eight years (2006-13) developing that Boise brand as a BCS buster.
"I think, ultimately, he was real careful about moving," a former Washington assistant said of Petersen. "I think he was waiting for the right job, specifically the Pacific Northwest. He wanted to go to a place where he could win, not just make a lot of money. I think he realized Boise wasn't going to win 10 every year, eventually."
The rewards are bigger at U-Dub, too. There was plenty of buzz to go along with a No. 14 preseason ranking, but little that would suggest the Huskies would be one of only of 11 undefeated teams left in mid-October.
So when asked this week if he could have envisioned himself retiring at Boise, Petersen said, "Yeah, absolutely."
Petersen had spent his entire career on the West Coast, including one year as Mike Bellotti's receivers coach at Oregon. Washington was the next logical step.
Huskies sophomore quarterback Jake Browning has blossomed into the nation's most efficient passer. (Kellen Moore had twice been No. 1 in that category under Petersen at Boise.)
Sophomore tailback Myles Gaskin gives the Huskies a physical element that harkens back to those dominant Don James' teams. The nation's No. 1 defense has allowed only 11 touchdowns in six games.
Texas A&M athletic director Scott Woodward is not surprised. Thirty-four months ago, Woodward hired Petersen while in the same position at Washington. The 53-year-old Woodward can now claim partial credit for two top 10 programs this week. The Aggies are off to their own 6-0 start, the program's best in 22 years.
When Petersen arrived in 2014, Washington had loads of tradition, most of it dated. James won a national championship in 1991, got the Huskies to six Rose Bowls and won 212 games from 1975-92.
Since then, the job had been revolving door from Jim Lambright to Steve Sarkisian. When Petersen showed interest after Sark left for USC, Woodward jumped.
"We had a two-hour meeting and we were done," Woodward recalled. "We had to make sure we were comfortable with each other face to face. It was love at first sight."
Petersen remains the third-winningest active FBS coach (.822 winning percentage). His Huskies remain the interlopers at the top.
Ohio State and Alabama are a given. Lamar Jackson sort of announced himself last season with Louisville. Clemson was a playoff team. Michigan won 10 and was picked by many to take the Big Ten.
U-Dub? Win out and it most certainly is in the playoff. One loss and its chances become a talking point for the CFP Selection Committee. Its nonconference schedule already has a Charmin-soft Baylor feel to it. Rutgers, Idaho and Portland State? Really?
The Pac-12 has done it no favors. What may turn out to be the conference's game of the year started at 10 p.m. ET on the last Friday in September. Washington beat then-No. 7 Stanford 44-6 in a statement game.
That statement was muted after a weekend of football. To be fair, the 2.4 rating marked was the highest for a regular-season Friday night game since 2012. The point being, you wouldn't see the Big Ten or SEC put its game of the year on a Friday night.
(For that matter, you wouldn't see those leagues start four games at 9:30 p.m. ET or later, either. That happened Saturday in the Pac-12, too.)
There is still that Pac-12 After Dark thing that seems to haunt the league. Sometimes the conference doesn't give the nation incentive enough to watch it. Petersen put his players off limits to the media last week prior to the Oregon game.
You can almost feel the payoff coming at Washington, though.
Browning accounted for eight touchdowns Saturday (vs. Oregon), just like Louisville's Jackson did against Charlotte on opening night. Who knew going into Saturday's halfway point in the season Browning has accounted for two less touchdowns (26) than Jackson (28)?
Turns out Petersen and his quarterback are simpatico. Both are fine staying out of the limelight.
"He just flew above or below the recruiting radar," the coach said of Browning. "I think all the teams knew about him ... He wasn't into going to Elite 11, he wasn't in to going to camps. I think he came to one camp, ours at Boise. He's not really in this thing for headlines."
Meanwhile, Washington can't help but keep creating them.
Recruiting revelation: Trevor Lawrence is 247Sports' No. 1 recruit in the Class of 2018. The 6-foot-6 quarterback from Cartersville, Georgia, is being courted by the likes of Clemson, Alabama and Georgia.
Lawrence -- and those like him -- have a chance to make history based on sweeping early-signing proposals announced this week from the NCAA Council.
If the proposals go through, Lawrence would be able to sign as early as June, almost 15 months before he would take a snap in the fall of 2018. If his college coach was fired within that 15-month window, Lawrence most likely could get out of his National Letter of Intent, according to council chair Jim Phillips.
Phillips, also Northwestern's AD, told CBS Sports that 978 of 1,047 prospects (93.4 percent) have recently been granted requests to get out of NLIs. Among the top reasons: a coaching change. For a signing process criticized for being restrictive, this is a revelation.
"That [coach firing] is a poor excuse not to let kids have choices on when they want to sign," Phillips said in a text.
There are already early signing periods in basketball that seem to work. The number of football appeals (1,000) are miniscule compared to the number of signees (40,000).
All of it suggests there is no need for waiver language to be written into the NLI that is overseen by the 32 Division I conference commissioners.
Over the last decade, roughly a quarter of Division I basketball coaches turn over annually, Phillips said. That's approximately the same rate as in FBS.
Take note, recruits: Essentially, you are not bound to your letter of intent if your coach is fired.
"There has to be some form of relief for those kids," Phillips said.
Mark your calendars: Blake Barnett could be back in the SEC playing against Alabama by 2017. The former Bama quarterback has reportedly enrolled at a California JUCO with his sights set on signing with a major Power Five program.
Texas A&M is said to be one of schools hot on his tail. Because of the so-called 4-2-4 transfer rule, Barnett would be eligible one calendar year from the time of his transfer from Alabama.
The Aggies will be looking for an experienced quarterback with Trevor Knight graduating. Consider this: A week after Barnett would be eligible -- Oct. 7, 2017 -- Alabama plays at Texas A&M.
You're way ahead of me if you're wondering if there has ever been a Bama quarterback to start both for against the Crimson Tide.
Baylor bluster: If the Baylor assistants are going to keep going with this #truthdontlie Twitter campaign, sooner or later they need to speak publicly instead of hiding behind a keyboard.
Missing Mike: A tear was shed this week for Mike VI, LSU's tiger mascot who passed from cancer. There aren't many real-life mascots. This one was humanely treated and was an inspiration for at least one hack sportswriter. The tradition of Mike taking a lap around the Tiger Stadium field (in a cage) before games is decades old. And cool as heck. To say that Mike was dearly loved at LSU isn't an exaggeration.
Short gains: Texas A&M missed 31 tackles Saturday vs. Tennessee. Alabama has missed 24 tackles all season. (Pro Football Focus) ... Going into the Bama game, Butch Jones is 0-11 against top 10 teams in his career, 0-9 at Tennessee ... How far has Stanford fallen? It has allowed more points in its last two games (86), than Christian McCaffrey had total yards Saturday against Washington State (83) ... Oregon's 70-21 loss to Washington was its worst since Dec. 6, 1941 -- the day before Pearl Harbor. ... The last time Washington and Washington State both beat Stanford and Oregon in the same season was 2003 ... Washington's average margin of victory is slightly more than five touchdowns per game (35.3 points). Buffalo has scored eight touchdowns all season ... Texas Tech leads the country with 96 passing plays of at least 10 yards. Its defense is 88th nationally giving up 54 such plays ... Minnesota and Nevada are tied for the most balanced offenses in the country. Each has three more yards rushing than passing on the season ... Texas A&M is No. 1 averaging 553 yards vs. ranked teams. Only one other team has played as many AP Top 25 opponents (Florida State, three).