In line with the Associated Press and coaches college football polls, where they are 12th and 11th, respectively, the Washington Huskies were slotted at No. 12 in the first College Football Playoff rankings released Tuesday night. UW (7-1, 4-1) is the highest-ranked team from the Pac-12 Conference. USC is No. 17, Stanford No. 21, Arizona No. 22 and Washington State No. 25.
In a bit of a surprise, the CFP committee ranked Georgia No. 1 ahead of Alabama, which is No. 1 in both polls. The Crimson Tide are No. 2, followed by No. 3 Notre Dame, No. 4 Clemson, No. 5 Oklahoma, No. 6 Ohio State, No. 7 Penn State, No. 8 Texas Christian, No. 9 Wisconsin and No. 10 Miami.
Six of the teams in the top 10 — Notre Dame (7-1), Clemson (7-1), Oklahoma (7-1), Ohio State (7-1), Penn State (7-1) and TCU (7-1) — have one loss, as does Washington, whose only defeat was to Arizona State, now 4-4 after getting blown out by USC last Saturday. According to CFP standards, the Huskies have yet to record a quality win.
The Huskies, who finished No. 4 in the final CFP poll last season and earned a spot in the national semifinals opposite Alabama in the Peach Bowl, do not have much of a chance to move up in the CFP rankings unless many teams ahead of them falter. They still have No. 21 Stanford and No. 25 Washington State on their schedule.
On the other hand, while Washington is No. 12 in this week’s rankings, Oklahoma started 15th in 2015 and made the playoff. Ohio State started 16th in 2014 and didn’t just make the playoff, it won the national championship. This week’s CFP rankings:
- Georgia (8-0)
- Alabama (8-0)
- Notre Dame (7-1)
- Clemson (7-1)
- Oklahoma (7-1)
- Ohio State (7-1)
- Penn State (7-1)
- TCU (7-1)
- Wisconsin (8-0)
- Miami (7-0)
- Oklahoma State (7-1)
- Washington (7-1)
- Virginia Tech (7-1)
- Auburn (6-2)
- Iowa State (6-2)
- Mississippi State (6-2)
- USC (7-2)
- UCF (7-0)
- LSU (6-2)
- NC State (6-2)
- Stanford (6-2)
- Arizona (6-2)
- Memphis (7-1)
- Michigan State (6-2)
- Washington State (7-2)
Washington hosts Oregon Saturday at 7 p.m. on FS1 while Washington State hosts Stanford at 12:30 p.m. on FOX.