There's a difference between having high expectations and being delusional.
There's only 4 places on Mt Rushmore and UW has never been there and never will be unless Bill Gates quits being a fucking dweeb. Money, tradition, and location as they say.
The gold standard at UW is Don James level football which never was 25 years of 1 or 2 loss seasons.
If Kansas can be a perennial basketball powerhouse and Nebraska can be a football power for 50 years, there is no reason whatsoever that UW/Seattle can't do the same in football or basketball. It takes finding the right leader, which isn't easy, and organizational commitment. Your above post is an example of voluntarily lowered expectations of the possible.
Clearly Don James wasn’t the right leader then, because he never had the year after year sustained success of 1-2 loss seasons referenced in the OP. The hypotheticals you guys are dealing in represent something that we’ve never had at UW, even in the best of times. What are the odds that the requisite combination of university leadership, money, and the best coach in the land are going to come together for a 20 year run of 1-2 loss seasons- i.e., to become “Ohio State”? Nevermind, that to become Ohio State you have to displace them as the top program in your conference.