SEATTLE -- In 2001, during one of Bryan Harsin's first game-plan meetings as a graduate assistant at Boise State, an assistant walked into then-offensive coordinator Chris Petersen’s meeting and suggested a play.

He drew it up on the whiteboard and turned to Petersen to see a completely blank stare.

Petersen looked back at the assistant. “And?” he asked, before railing off at least 10 questions.

What am I supposed to tell the quarterback? How does he read it? What’s the look we’re looking for? What if ...? What then?

“That was one thing as a young coach that I took away: If I ever suggested a play, I made sure I had a whole sheet of paper that had all the answers on there to the questions he might ask,” Harsin said. “Don’t just be a guy that says we should do this and not have a reason.”

Everyone who has coached with Petersen has gotten accustomed to that question coming out of Petersen’s mouth.

And?

That “and?” is where Petersen lives and thrives, in the details and nuance of it all. That “and?” is why Petersen has solidified himself as one of the best minds in college football, despite having coached only three seasons in a Power 5 program.

Over the years, Harsin’s desk became full of papers with the details honed in on by Petersen, papers that answered the inevitable “and?” that would come from his mouth whenever a coach suggested something about a play, player or team. A decade-and-a-half after sitting in that meeting, and now as Boise State’s head coach, Harsin watched from afar as Petersen (now Washington’s head coach) led his Huskies on a run to the College Football Playoff.

Harsin – and every other coach who has been with Peterson in his 30 years of coaching -- has laughed as Petersen spent the last three weeks answering questions about Washington being a two-touchdown underdog to Alabama in Saturday's CFP semifinal at the Chick-fil-A Peach Bowl or Bama defensive end Jonathan Allen’s gang of first-rounders or the breakout season of freshman quarterback Jalen Hurts.

Those coaches know Petersen's response: And?

Because those questions -- about the storylines and players -- are the broad strokes of No. 1 Alabama. Those are the single plays drawn on a whiteboard, and Petersen knows games are won and lost on a player’s foot that should be 6 inches past the 6-yard line instead of right at the 6-yard line, on a fade route that needed to be sold just a bit harder.

“He is fanatical about details,” former Boise State quarterback and Washington wide receivers coach Bush Hamdan said. “That’s just the nature of how he operates.”

No detail is spared in any aspect of a Petersen program. From women’s clinics (he has meetings with coaches afterward to discuss how to make them more efficient) to fall camp schedules (some estimate he went through 15 drafts this season before deciding which was the best schedule for the Huskies), his fine-tooth comb is out and ready to dissect.

There’s a reason he’s 9-3 in season openers and 6-3 in bowl games. With substantial prep time, and a chance for Petersen to examine every detail from every angle (something not afforded to coaches in a normal game week), Petersen is the Huskies’ greatest weapon.

“I know this,” said Montana State coach Jeff Choate, who coached with Petersen for eight years. “If you give Chris a month to prepare, I’m not betting against him.”

Those coaches have the benefit of having seen the “and?” behind the whiteboard plays.

They were in the room when Petersen dissected every detail of the Statue of Liberty play, which gave Boise State a 43-42 win over Oklahoma in the 2007 Fiesta Bowl. They were in the room when Petersen broke down a fake punt play that would help the Broncos win the 2010 Fiesta Bowl. They were in the room when every play of the game-winning drive of the 2012 Las Vegas Bowl was drawn up and discussed.

That small space where games are won and lost is where both Nick Saban and Petersen are at their best. That is what makes this matchup one of the most intriguing of the playoff era.

Even the most devout Alabama fan has to acknowledge that Petersen, like Saban, has an awfully good track record when he has a month to prep.

“There’s no detail that goes unnoticed and not talked about and discussed,” said Boise State offensive coordinator Scott Huff, who coached with Petersen for five years. “That attention to detail is him.”

On Saturday, Washington fans will be hoping that Petersen’s obsession -- his time spent in the “and?” of a play -- will be enough to overcome an Alabama team that has left most of its opponents asking, “How?”