In the modern era of college football, most programs and their fan bases have accepted the "playoff or bust" mentality. Gone are the days of satisfying bowl game victories, moral victories, and much of anything else besides making the College Football Playoff.

While the dark horse hopes that once swirled around the 2026 Washington Huskies are a thing of the past, Jedd Fisch shared an optimistic message about the future of his team.

After snapping a three-game losing streak on the road against Purdue, Washington seems to have found a new sense of life entering their bye week. The offense, which has drastically underperformed for most of the season, got back on track against the Boilermakers, scoring 38 points and rushing for a season-best 186 yards. With backup quarterback Elijah Brown getting the start in lieu of the injured Demond Williams Jr., there's no disputing the obvious improvement of Fisch's offense.

Regardless, the third-year head coach isn't focused on his quarterback controversy, but rather on the improvements he's seen from his team in recent weeks. After taking a 41-24 beating from Iowa at home, it seemed like the dam was about to break on Montlake. Instead, Fisch believes the young Huskies showed resilience on the road and are trending in the right direction.

"We've got to believe in the mission, and we've got to play our best football, and then we've got to do it again at home and again on the road and then again at home and then again on the road the rest of the way. But we're just going to focus in on this game, this team," Fisch said during his Monday press conference. "And we know inside these walls that what we're building is we're building it our way, which is young players through experience learning how to become champions. And I think that we took a nice step on (Friday), and now we have an enormous challenge a week from Saturday."

After the bye, Washington will alternate between road and home games the rest of the way, starting with a trip to Nebraska on Halloween night for the Huskers' "blackout" game. While a singular road win against a sub-.500 Purdue team is nowhere near enough evidence to determine whether or not things have started to turn around, it's certainly the first step in righting the ship.

With just five games left in the regular season, the next month proves to be a major factor in the vibe of the program ahead of year four in the Fisch era. If the Huskies can find consistent success and pick up a few key wins against programs such as Indiana and Oregon, UW will have some momentum to carry through the offseason. On the other hand, a lackluster ending could put a dim light on what the future holds.

But as the head coach said, just one game at a time.