It’s time to bring some honor back to Washington’s name.
Based on these rankings, the Huskies are undefeated and have the best wins in the country, but they have consistently finished outside the top four in the College Football Playoff selection committee’s in-season rankings. That needs to change this week. Coming off a 22-20 win against Oregon State on a rainy night in Corvallis, Washington has one of the most impressive resumes in the country. The Huskies move up to No. 2 in this week’s Athletic 133.
Washington has wins over Oregon, Arizona, Utah, Oregon State and USC. No one can match such good victories. Yes, the Huskies needed a pick six and a questionable penalty to avoid Arizona State and played Stanford close, but no team blows everyone out every week.
Quarterback Michael Penix Jr. struggled at times against the Beaver defense, completing 13 of 28 passes, but he was responsible for all three touchdowns in a tough environment, and he threw a clutch third-down pass to Rome Odunze to seal a game. Came up with to complete the down. Which Washington entered as a betting underdog.
Georgia remains the best team in the country and is getting better every week, but everyone else, including Washington, looks beat. Perhaps Oregon will have the advantage if the Ducks and Huskies meet again in the Pac-12 Championship Game, but that’s for another time. Right now, Washington deserves to be not only in the top four but even higher than fourth.
Here’s this week’s Athletic 133.
1-10
Other than Washington moving up, the only change in the top 10 is Missouri moving to 9-2 after beating Florida.
We have never seen a season with five 11-0 Power 5 teams in the CFP era. In theory, the situation could be easily resolved with Georgia, Washington, Florida State and a Michigan/Ohio State winner finishing in the top four. But Florida State quarterback Jordan Travis’ devastating foot injury could eliminate that possibility and create some tough CFP conversations about the ‘Noles. They’ll play Louisville in the ACC Championship Game, which could be a top-10 matchup.
11-25
Penn State’s wins over Iowa and West Virginia have looked better as the season has been played, and the Rebels’ wins against LSU and Tulane have moved the Nittany Lions behind Ole Miss at No. 12. Oklahoma dropped to No. 14 after avoiding BYU. Oregon State dropped to No. 16 after its loss and is just behind Arizona, which defeated Utah 42-18 and the Beavers in October. James Madison’s undefeated run is over, but the Dukes didn’t fall out of the top 25 because it was an overtime loss and JMU still has a nice win against Troy. JMU’s full bowl eligibility waiver was denied, so No. 20 Tulane heads into the New Year in prime position for sixth place, but the Green Wave play UTSA this week before a potential AAC Championship Game where they could see No. 26 SMU. Who just won in Memphis.
Toledo is 10-1 after a late win against Bowling Green and also in that NY6 mix; The Rockets have also reached the top 25. Iowa’s No. 16 finish in last week’s CFP rankings was surprising, especially since it was unranked in the AP Poll. He is ranked 24th here this week. The Hawkeyes do not have a win over a team with more than six wins and were blown out by Penn State. Their defense is excellent, but Iowa has escaped many .500 Big Ten West teams in recent weeks. They are ahead of Toledo because the Rockets lost to Illinois in week one and Iowa beat the Illini.
26-50
| Post | Team | record | previous |
|---|---|---|---|
| 26 | 9-2 | 31 | |
| 27 | 7-4 | 16 | |
| 28 | 7-4 | 25 | |
| 29 | 9-2 | 29 | |
| 30 | 7-4 | 38 | |
| 31 | 8-3 | 20 | |
| 32 | 9-2 | 36 | |
| 33 | 7-4 | 28 | |
| 34 | 7-4 | 46 | |
| 35 | 7-5 | 33 | |
| 36 | 8-3 | 43 | |
| 37 | 9-3 | 60 | |
| 38 | 6-5 | 37 | |
| 39 | 7-4 | 39 | |
| 40 | 6-5 | 32 | |
| 41 | 9-2 | 44 | |
| 42 | 7-4 | 47 | |
| 43 | 8-3 | 55 | |
| 44 | 7-4 | 61 | |
| 45 | 6-5 | 48 | |
| 46 | 6-5 | 40 | |
| 47 | 8-3 | 42 | |
| 48 | 8-3 | 35 | |
| 49 | 8-3 | 45 | |
| 50 | 6-5 | 41 |
Clemson moved up to No. 30 after beating North Carolina. UNLV is ranked 32nd, surpassing Air Force. UCLA’s easy win over USC moves the Bruins to No. 34 and USC to No. 35. I don’t know why Tennessee, ranked No. 33 here, is ranked in the survey.
The Hurricanes dropped to just No. 38 after Miami’s one-point loss to Louisville, ahead of Texas A&M due to their head-to-head results. Duke continues to slide after the loss to Virginia and is now at No. 40. Wyoming moved back up to No. 43 following its season-opening win against Texas Tech, which defeated UCF to gain bowl eligibility.
New Mexico State’s 31-10 win at Auburn moves the Aggies to No. 37. The Fightin’ Jerry Kills have won seven consecutive games, recovering from early losses to UMass and Hawaii, making them a strange team. Place.
51-75
Kentucky and Florida fell out of the top 50 after losses to South Carolina and Missouri, respectively. Georgia Tech is ranked No. 54 after defeating Syracuse to become bowl-eligible. Maryland slipped just two spots to No. 55 after a close game against Michigan. Appalachian State’s overtime win over James Madison moves the Mountaineers to No. 62.
Wisconsin got back on track with an overtime win against Nebraska and moved up to No. 66. Twelve teams in this Group of 25 need to win this weekend to reach a bowl game.
76-100
In the third week’s edition of these rankings, Colorado was ranked 14th and Arkansas State was last ranked at 133rd. Now, they are next to each other. Colorado has lost six of seven, including a 56-14 loss to Washington State on Friday night, dropping to No. 77. Arkansas State gained bowl-eligibility by dropping 77 points on Texas State and moved up to No. 78. ,
No. 83 Virginia and No. 84 Michigan State will not go to bowl games, but they picked up conference wins over the weekend. Georgia Southern’s loss to Old Dominion and Georgia State’s loss to LSU dropped the Sun Belt rivals to No. 85 and 86, respectively. It’s been a strange season for No. 89 Army, which has won against UTSA, Air Force and Coastal Carolina but lost to UMass and Louisiana-Monroe. The Black Knights are the toughest team in terms of rankings and only have Navy left.
101-133
Navy’s bounceback season continues, now 5-5 and ranked No. 107 after defeating East Carolina. New Mexico defeated Fresno State and moved up to No. 111. Sam Houston continued to fight, leading Western Kentucky in the fourth quarter before losing. As a result, the Bearcats dropped to No. 127. Kent State lost to Ball State 34–3 and remains ranked No. 133 as the only one-win team in FBS.
The Athletic 133 ranking series is part of a partnership with Allstate.
The Athletic maintains complete editorial independence. Partners have no control or input over the reporting or editing process and do not review stories before publication.
(Photo: Tom Hawk/Getty Images)
