Not that long ago, the University of Washington football team was bottoming out with a three-game losing streak and people were shoveling dirt on their metaphorical grave, suggesting rather pointedly the Huskies would be lucky to finish with a .500 record.

However, a pair of Big Ten road wins at Purdue and Nebraska has Jedd Fisch's team facing Penn State on Saturday at Husky Stadium with a chance to make multiple things happen.

A win this weekend would be the first over the Nittany Lions, the only conference team the UW has never beaten.

A victory this week would give the Huskies a three-game Big Ten win streak to offset the previous struggles this season.

More importantly, another win and the Huskies (5-3 overall, 2-3 Big Ten) reach that magic 6-win marker and are guaranteed a bowl game.

Asked if this was still a team goal, especially when others consider the season only a success if a playoff berth is secured, the UW coach was emphatic about securing the postseason no matter what level.

"Thousand percent," Fisch said.

He went on to say how college the game across the board has become so much more competitive, alluding to the fact that everyone is beating everyone else, that you can't turn up your nose at bowl possibilities.

Some schools such at Notre Dame might turn down postseason opportunities, but the UW is not one of them.

"It's a huge deal," Fisch said. "These games are so challenging nowadays. To win 'em, you' have to take great pride to get to six, and then you've got to try and take great pride to get to seven, and you keep doing that each week until you get to the number you end up at the end of the year."

In the coach's quaint way, that sounds a lot like building momentum.

Even with some schools paying players a lot more money than the status quo, the NCAA game is fast resembling pro football because of the parity that suddenly has gripped it.

"This is far more like the NFL than it has ever been before," Fisch said. "Because of that, the NFL is a .500 league," Fisch said. "In a 12-team playoff, we're going to have multiple teams with three losses I bet. In a 24-team playoff, we'll have teams with four losses next year. And because of that, we're going to take great pride in getting to win No. 6.

"The ultimate goal would be to get there on Saturday."