The Washington Huskies (9-1 overall, 6-1 Pac-12), demoted to No. 7 in the Associated Press and coaches polls Sunday after losing to USC, caught a small break in the decisive College Football Rankings when they were placed at No. 6 Tuesday. The top four teams in the final CFP poll will be slotted in the semifinals Dec. 4, with the two winners meeting Jan. 9 in Tampa for the national championship.
Washington earned a No. 5 ranking in the first CFP rankings two weeks ago, moved up to No. 4 last week after a 66-27 win over California, but fell two spots Tuesday after dropping a 26-13 decision to the No. 20 Trojans Saturday night at Husky Stadium, its first loss of the season.
That defeat sent the Huskies tumbling to No. 7 in the Associated Press and coaches polls, but the committee that produces the CFP rankings disagreed, elevating Washington one spot to No. 6. The Huskies still have a shot to make the final four if they win out against Arizona State Saturday and Washington State in two weeks, then win the Pac-12 title game.
If the season ended today, the Cougars (8-2) would play Colorado (8-2) in the Pac-12 championship game based on their 7-0 Northern Division league mark vs. Washington’s 6-1.
Alabama (10-0) remained No. 1 in this week’s CFP rankings. Following a weekend in which five of the top 10 teams from last week’s poll lost, Ohio State (9-1) came in at No. 2, followed by No. 3 Michigan (9-1), No. 4 Clemson (9-1), No. 5 Louisville (9-1) and No. 6 Washington (9-1).
“There is very little separation between teams from two through six in the rankings,” said Kirby Hocutt, chairman of the CFP selection committee.
Five Pac-12 schools made upward moves.
Colorado (8-2) jumped from 12th to No. 10 after beating Arizona 49-24, Utah (8-2) advanced three slots from No. 15 to No. 12 after bashing Arizona State 49-26, USC (7-3), No. 20 last week, climbed seven spots to No. 13 after dousing Washington, and the Cougars moved from 23rd to No. 22 after knocking off Cal 56-21. Unranked last week, Stanford came in at No. 24 after blowing away Oregon 52-27.
The Huskies will try to rebound from their loss to USC when they host Arizona State (5-5, 2-5) Saturday at 4:30 p.m. (FOX). The Sun Devils are coming off a 49-26 loss to Utah.
Washington State will play at Colorado at 12:30 p.m. Saturday (FOX).
6 Comments
I think UW will win out and reach the top 4 again. However, I think they’ll then face USC again in the Pac-12 title game and lose again.
So much for the down Pac-12. Brock Huard is about the only ESPN-related guy to defend the West coast. So, two teams, the Dawgs and the Cougs have replaced the Ducks and Cardinal. What about Colorado and Utah. HALF of the Pac-12 is in the top 25. From this chair, the Pac-12 is looking pretty good.
The Pac-12 is down. What non-conference wins does the conference have that one would deem “impressive.” USC lost to Alabama 52-6 (granted it was early), UCLA lost to Texas A&M, Colorado lost to Michigan, Oregon lost to Nebraska, Washington State lost to Eastern and Boise State. UW’s only non-conference opponent who is in a Power 5 Conference was Rutgers and they lost to Michigan and Ohio State by a combined score of 136-0.
You are correct in that Stanford and Oregon are down. We’ll see how the Pac-12 does on a neutral field (post-season bowls) before I’ll accept the fact (discussion) that the conference, as a whole, is down.
Bowls are not a good way to gauge unless they’re in the playoffs. The motivations of teams in bowl season really vary.
Ironically, the Dawgs were probably helped from falling further by USC’s strength of schedule and win over a quality opponent.