paid site so not everyone can see (I used one of my two free mobile articles to check it out).

Although, I wouldn't say no one expected UW--just that UW had less of a chance to win the national championship than Oklahoma. Weird alternative reality if UW does play BYU and BYU wins, but Oklahoma wins the Orange Bowl, would Oklahoma have been crowned champion?

Here's some relevant quotes from the article:

“The chatter amongst the writers of America was that if Oklahoma beat us, they were going to crown Oklahoma No. 1,” Huskies wide receiver Mark Pattison said, “but if we beat them, then there’s this big debate. I don’t understand that logic even today.”

This became the subject of an NBC-TV survey, which asked a handful of AP voters which team they might rank No. 1 in different scenarios. The Seattle Times published it the day before the game with an ominous headline, “Poll says there’s little chance UW will be No. 1.”

Of the 58 voters polled, 17 said they’d vote for BYU no matter who won the Orange Bowl, while 28 said they’d vote for Oklahoma if the Sooners beat the Huskies by two or more touchdowns. Only 16 voters, though, said they’d rank UW No. 1 if it beat Oklahoma by two or more touchdowns. The majority of those polled believed Oklahoma would defeat BYU head-to-head (by a tally of 30-19, with nine undecided). The same number of voters believed No. 5 Nebraska also would defeat BYU, and even more voters (36) thought No. 3 Florida, who was on probation and couldn’t go to a bowl, would beat the Cougars, too.

The voters didn’t view Washington the same way. By a vote of 27-21, with 10 undecided, the majority of those polled believed BYU would win a game against the Huskies, which might have explained why they weren’t as inclined to vote UW No. 1 even after if they won the Orange Bowl.