US News rankings among Big Ten and PAC
Big Ten
10. NW
20. UCLA (joining)
25. Mich
25. USC (joining)
38. Wisc
41. ILL
49. Ohio St
51. Purdue
55. Rutgers
55. MD
62. Minn
72. Ind
77. PSU
77. MSU
83. Iowa
151. Neb
Side note: Nebraska's US News rankings seems to be in free fall since it was kicked out of the AAU 10 years ago. I remember when it had a ranking in the 95-105 range. Not anymore, I guess.
PAC
3. Stanford
20. Cal-Berkley
20. UCLA (leaving)
25. USC (leaving)
55. Washington
97. Col
105. Oregon
105. Arizona
105. UTAH
121. Ariz St
151. Ore St
212. Wash St
So yes, Washington would be right in the middle academically, tied for 9th place in an 18 team Big Ten conference. But finding an academic school in the middle of the Big Ten is no small accomplishment and Washington is 3rd of the remaining PAC schools behind Stanford and Cal-Berkley. Washington also has the strongest football resume of the remaining PAC schools, although Oregon and Utah have been closing the gap recently.
Throw it all together, Washington is clearly the #1 candidate of the remaining PAC schools. What is not clear is who should be #2 to go with Washington. Oregon, Stanford, Cal, Col, Utah and Arizona all have interesting arguments who should be #2.