SEATTLE -- One of the national storylines this season has been the hefty number of matchups of ranked teams -- 26! -- both in conference and as marquee nonconference games. The Pac-12, however, offered just two of these showdowns, and those games produced a lasting impact of embarrassment (USC vs. Alabama) and unmasking (Stanford at Washington).

Being an afterthought probably isn't a good thing for the Pac-12 in the gimlet eyes of the College Football Playoff selection committee. Yet No. 4 Washington's visit to No. 17 Utah on Saturday is a game with some meat on its bone, even if the teams have arrived at their perches in vastly different ways.

The Huskies, other than an overtime win at Arizona, have stomped their foes. Their 33.7-point average margin of victory is tops in the nation, and the team ranks fourth in scoring offense and sixth in scoring defense. The Huskies have overcome a less than scintillating schedule by being cold-blooded in their efficient domination.

Utah? Grimed by hard manual labor, it has pushed a hand plow for eight weeks, twisting and thrashing to a 7-1 record despite crushing injuries by winning four of five games decided by a touchdown or less. Over the past two weeks, the Utes won by a total of 12 points, once by scoring 19 and once needing 52.

Washington rolled past Oregon State 41-17 on Saturday and made it clear well before halftime that the undermanned Beavers had no shot. The victory extended the Huskies' win streak to 10 games (tied for second-longest among FBS teams). The Huskies, well-balanced between the run and pass, have scored at least 35 points each of those 10 games, a school record and the third-longest run in conference history (16 is the record set by Oregon from 2011-12, so that's another thing the Huskies could take from the Ducks this season).

The Huskies are doing pretty much everything well, including featuring a quarterback in Jake Browning who's squarely in the Heisman Trophy hunt, with 26 touchdown passes and just two interceptions.

"I think they are as good as people build them up to be," Oregon State safety Devin Chappell said.

The Huskies also seem to be doing a good job of remaining chill, focused and unimpressed with themselves -- pretty much staying on point with coach Chris Petersen's marching orders. As word began circulating that ESPN's College GameDay might be on hand Saturday in Salt Lake City -- it will be -- Washington's players allowed no more than a slight facial twitch to reveal satisfaction about their improving Q-rating.

"I got that question earlier. What did I say?" running back Myles Gaskin said. "It doesn't really matter. That's media stuff. That's for the fans. That's outside noise. Whoever shows up to the game, we don't care. It's all about what we do on the field on Saturdays."

As for Utah, it won 34-23 in Seattle last season for the Utes' first victory in nine meetings with the Huskies. Three first-half turnovers put the Huskies in a huge hole. One fumble was returned 54 yards for a touchdown. A fourth turnover, a fumble from Browning with 2:52 remaining, iced the game for the Utes.

The reason that's relevant is because Utah wins by forcing turnovers better than anyone else, while the Huskies are about the best team when it comes to avoiding them. The Huskies have turned the ball over just five times this season, second fewest in the nation, and the Utes lead the country with 22 takeaways. Here's a guess that Petersen and Utah's Kyle Whittingham will bring up winning the turnover battle this week.

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No. 4 Washington travels to No. 17 Utah in the Pac-12's marquee game. However, let's reserve this week's highest praise for Colorado.

There's also the matter of Utah QB Troy Williams, a former Husky who transferred because he and Petersen didn't click. And there's Utes running back Joe Williams, who went from banged up, frustrated and officially retired from football to the hottest player in the country. Joe Williams rushed for a school-record 332 yards against UCLA on Saturday, with four touchdowns. In two games since he returned to the team, he has rushed for 511 yards.

The Huskies' good but not great run defense figures to be fully focused on Joe while remaining aware of Troy -- not that any Husky had much to say about either Williams or Utah as a whole after their win over Oregon State. That would imply looking ahead and would breach their rule about enjoying all victories for 24 hours.

The word "physical" did come up a few times when the Huskies said something about the Utes. That term is used to describe Utah with the reflexive frequency of the sky's association with the color blue.

"Always really physical, always really good on defense," Browning said.

Washington has owned the line of scrimmage in every game this season. Even with injuries, Utah will offer the best test of the season up front, even though it's notable that the Utes yielded five sacks against UCLA.

The Pac-12 hasn't produced an unbeaten champion since 2010 -- before expansion. It hasn't produced a champion other than Oregon or Stanford since 2008. The Huskies are a rejuvenated, old-school, Pac-10 power, while Utah is battling fellow 2011 expansion team Colorado for first place in the South Division.

"If you watch enough Pac-12 football, everybody is beating everybody," Browning said. "It's chaos."

The Huskies don't deny that they are enjoying the national attention -- "Yeah, it's cool," safety Budda Baker allowed with a small grin -- but they also are determined to not let the trappings of success and the back-slaps that come with it enter their process as a seemingly attractive but potentially distracting variable. They know all about the chatter surrounding their team, both among their fans and the media, local and national. They know they are a big story. But they didn't overlook the Beavers, and they aren't starting to dream about a matchup with Alabama in January.

"If you get busy looking ahead, you take an 'L.' You lose," Gaskin said. "We don't want to get caught up in all that. That ranking stuff is just media stuff."

Well, it's media stuff when the CFP selection committee releases its initial rankings on Nov. 1. It's destiny time on Dec. 4, when the committee taps four teams for the playoff.