Mailbag: What if Kalen DeBoer had stayed, CFP issues, California woes, Pac

The Hotline mailbag publishes weekly. Send questions to wilnerhotline@bayareanewsgroup.com and include ‘mailbag’ in the subject line. Or hit me on the social media platform X: @WilnerHotline

Some questions have been edited for clarity and brevity.

How competitive would Washington be in the immediate future if Kalen DeBoer had never left? And could the Huskies have made the College Football Playoff? Would it still have been “Oregon and everyone else,” as you suggested in a recent article? — Veronica S

This is a rich topic that hits so many issues and requires time to work through.

But let’s start with what we view as Washington’s major mistake: There should have been a mammoth contract offer on DeBoer’s desk the morning after UW beat Oregon in that epic regular-season showdown.

We’re t