Washington has faced a rough season, is 2-4 in the Pacific-10 Conference and faces a tough stretch to stay at .500 this year. The Huskies sit with Oregon State in a tie for seventh in the conference, and they may not see a bowl this year.
What Washington will see this season is most of its record book rewritten.
Junior quarterback Cody Pickett leads that charge. Pickett has broken almost every passing record the Huskies have this season, and he is working his way to the top of the Pac-10 in the process.
In his seventh game of the season, against Oregon State on Saturday, the junior broke two records. Pickett set a new single-season Washington passing-yards record with 3,502 yards and advanced to No. 1 on Washington’s career passing-yards list with 5,927. Pickett still has at least 13 games left in his college career.
Pickett needs just 136 yards to break the Pac-10 record for single-season passing yards. He ranks third behind Washington State’s Ryan Leaf, who holds the record — 3,637 yards in 1997.
Players also could break single-season Husky records in pass attempts, pass completions, passing yards, first downs by pass and first downs by penalty.
“I think Cody would trade all those numbers for more wins,” Washington head coach Rick Neuheisel said. “We’re really focusing on that. Maybe sometime down the future we’ll have some time to reflect on that. But right now we are just trying to do everything we can to seek out victories.”

Another record-setter is senior placekicker John Anderson, who has raised the bar for all kickers in the conference.
In 1999, Anderson’s freshman year, he led the team with 73 points. Anderson converted a 50-yard field goal against Oregon State that season, the longest Washington kick since 1989.
Anderson would raise the standard even more by putting one through the uprights from 56 yards out, tying the school record. Anderson would do it again from that distance, and became only the second true freshman in NCAA history to boot three 50-yard field goals in a single season.
Four years later, Anderson is tied for sixth in the nation with 1.60 field goals per game. The senior converted four of five kicks against California on Oct. 5, the second-most field goals ever in a game in Washington.
Anderson’s total of 50-yarders is now at six, and he holds the fifth-best percentage in school history at .696 in his career.
The Huskies will have to continue their tear through the record books on the road. Washington faces No. 23 Oregon on Saturday and No. 3 Washington State in Pullman next week.
The Huskies snapped a three-game losing streak with a 41-29 victory over OSU last weekend.
Without the help of Husky cornerback Derrick Johnson, that may not have been possible. Johnson racked up two of Washington’s five interceptions and returned one 42 yards for a touchdown. The sophomore from Riverside, Calif., also posted six solo tackles. Johnson was one of three athletes named Pac-10 Player of the Week.
“I’m excited for Derrick,” Neuheisel said. “Hopefully this is a sign of things to come. He certainly is a great kid and I am excited for him to have more and more success as we continue to go forward. He is only a sophomore, so hopefully he will have a productive career.”
So as the Huskies move forward, they have an arm in Pickett that can’t be stopped, a foot in Anderson that can boot one from any distance and a recovered Johnson who is back and better than ever. As Washington continues its pursuit through the records, it could see a bowl game, after all.