Washington’s season ended with a disappointing 35-28 loss to Penn State in the Fiesta Bowl. But despite the loss, UW finished the season with a 10-3 record. Here are five takeaways from the season.

1. Huskies get to 10 wins in back-to-back seasons

There will be some that consider this year a disappointment after winning the Pac-12 Championship and making the College Football Playoff a season ago. Even though the Huskies didn’t win the Pac-12 or return to the playoff, they won 10 games. It was UW’s first time of winning at least 10 games in consecutive seasons since 1990-91.

So if winning 10 games is a disappointment for this team, then that just shows you how far this program has come. The loss to Penn State in the Fiesta Bowl won’t leave a good taste for UW, but 10 wins is never a bad thing. The program continues to trend upwards.

2. Washington must get better at the wide receiver position

Injuries definitely played a role in UW struggling to find consistency at the WR position. But we will talk about injuries later on. Without John Ross this season, UW struggled at the position. Teams took away Dante Pettis most games and made other UW wide receivers beat them and they couldn’t do it for the most part.

The good news is UW will return Chico McClatcher and Hunter Bryant (tight end) assuming they are healthy. Washington will also get back Ty Jones, who will be expected to take a big jump in his sophomore season.

But maybe most exciting is what Washington did in recruiting at the WR position. The Huskies will welcome three 4-star recruits into the mix. Marquis Spiker, Austin Osborne, and Trey Lowe will all have an opportunity to get heavy playing time in 2018.

This might be Washington’s biggest need heading into next season.

3. “Death Row” has another great year

Washington’s “Death Row” defense didn’t end the season like they should’ve, surrendering 35 points to Penn State in a Fiesta Bowl loss. But overall, UW finished with the No. 6 ranked scoring defense in the nation – allowing 16.1 points per game. Even more impressive was UW’s defense played multiple games without starting cornerbacks Byron Murphy and Jordan Milller.

This defense will lose key starters Keishawn Bierria and Vita Vea but return almost everyone. Assuming Jojo McIntosh returns, UW will return everyone in their secondary. The front seven returns key starters Greg Gaines and Ben Burr-Kirven.

There’s no reason to think that Washington won’t be one of the best defenses in the country once again in 2018.

4. Offense still needs to take the next step

The offense as a whole needs to take the next step. At times, UW’s offense was great and at times it was poor. Washington’s seven points against Arizona State might have cost the team a Pac-12 Championship. Against Stanford, UW’s offense went cold until it was too late. And then there was the fiesta Bowl, where UW at one point was being out gained by Penn State 170 yards to 1.

It’s not to say Washington has a bad offense, because they don’t. UW’s 36.1 points per game was good enough to rank No. 18 in the country. The Huskies also lost almost every starting wide receiver. That list included: Chico McClatcher, Quinten Pounds, and star freshman tight end Hunter Bryant. They also lost their best offensive lineman Trey Adams for the season against Arizona State. So there’s plenty of reasons why this offense struggled at times outside of what they could control.

But despite all the injuries, UW’s offense will need to take the next step next year in order to get over the hump. Jake Browning has a full off season to get better for his last as a Husky. The offensive line will lose Coleman Shelton and Andrew Kirkland but will get Trey Adams back. If the Huskies get Myles Gaskin back, they will have a two-headed monster backfield with Salvon Ahmed. This offense has the tools to be really good in 2018 if all the pieces fall into place.

5. Coach Petersen welcomes best class to Montlake

When the second signing day hits in February, Washington head coach Chris Petersen will likely sign his best class since taking over at Washington. Right now, the Huskies have the No. 12 ranked recruiting class in the country. UW has nine signed 4-stars and 10 three-star players signed. Recruiting rankings can be skewed a bit but coach Petersen has proven he’s one of the best coaches at developing talent in the country.

The impact of Washington making it to the College Football Playoff a season ago had an obvious positive impact on recruiting. Winning games is something that coach Petersen has done his entire career and he continues to at Washington. With UW returning a lot of talent and bringing in their best recruiting class, all things seem to be just fine on Montlake despite the bowl loss.