It is time to restore respect to the name of Washington.
The Huskies are undefeated and have the best wins in the nation, based on these rankings, but they continue to sit outside the top four in the College Football Playoff selection committee’s in-season rankings. It needs to change this week. After pulling out a 22-20 win over Oregon State on a rainy night in Corvallis, Washington has the most impressive resume in the country. The Huskies climbed to No. 2 on Athletic 133 this week.
Washington has wins over Oregon, Arizona, Utah, Oregon State and USC. No one can match so many great achievements. Yes, the Huskies needed a pick six and a questionable penalty to escape Arizona State and played Stanford close, but no team blows everyone away every week.
Quarterback Michael Penix Jr. struggled at times against the Beaver defense, completing 13 of 28 passes, but he accounted for all three touchdowns in a tough environment, and he made a clutch third-down completion to Rome Odunze to seal a game Washington entered as a betting underdog.
Georgia continues to look like the best team in the country and gets better every week, but everyone looks beatable, including Washington. Maybe Oregon will be favored 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 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 up after beating Florida to move to 9-2.
We have never seen a season in the CFP era with five 11-0 Power 5 teams. In theory, the situation is easily settled, with Georgia, Washington, Florida State and Michigan/Ohio State rounding out the top four. But the devastating leg injury to Florida State quarterback Jordan Travis could change that possibility and create some difficult CFP conversations about the ‘Noles. They will 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 made the season play better, and the Nittany Lions moved up to No. 12, behind Ole Miss because of the Rebels’ wins over LSU and Tulane. Oklahoma dropped to No. 14 after running away from BYU. Oregon State falls to No. 16 after its loss, falling behind Arizona, which destroyed Utah 42-18 and beat the Beavers in October. James Madison’s undefeated run is over, but the Dukes are not out of the top 25 because it was an overtime loss and JMU’s win against Troy was still good. JMU’s full bowl eligibility waiver was denied, so No. 20 Tulane is in prime position for a New Year’s Six spot, but the Green Wave will play at UTSA this week before a potential AAC championship game where they will see No. 26 SMU, which just won at Memphis.
Toledo is 10-1 and also in the NY6 mix after a late win over Bowling Green; The Rockets also moved into the top 25. Landing Iowa at No. 16 in last week’s CFP rankings is surprising, especially since it was unranked in the AP Poll. No. 24 of them are here this week. The Hawkeyes are winless against a team with more than six wins and were blown out by Penn State. Their defense is elite, but Iowa has run away with several .500 Big Ten West teams in recent weeks. They were ahead of Toledo because the Rockets lost to Illinois in Week 1 and Iowa beat the Illini.
26-50
| Rank | Team | Record | Past |
|---|---|---|---|
|
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 climbed to No. 30 after beating North Carolina. UNLV is up to No. 32 after coming back to beat the Air Force. UCLA’s comfortable win over USC moves the Bruins up to No. 34 and USC down to No. 35. I continue to have no idea why Tennessee, No. 33 here, are ranked in the polls.
Because of Miami’s one-point loss at Louisville, the Hurricanes only slipped to No. 38 and remains ahead of Texas A&M due to their head-to-head results. Duke continues to slide, now down to No. 40 after the loss at Virginia. Wyoming reclaims No. 43, helped by its season-opening win over Texas Tech, which beat UCF to clinch bowl eligibility.
New Mexico State’s 31-10 win at Auburn to move to 9-3 saw the Aggies jump to No. 37. The Fightin’ Jerry Kills have won seven straight games, overcoming early losses to UMass and Hawaii that made them the odd team out in the area.
51-75
Kentucky and Florida fell out of the top 50 after losing to South Carolina and Missouri, respectively. Georgia Tech is up to No. 54 after beating Syracuse to become bowl eligible. Maryland slid just two spots to No. 55 after playing in Michigan nearby. Appalachian State’s overtime win at James Madison saw the Mountaineers climb to No. 62.
Wisconsin got back on track with an overtime win over Nebraska to climb to No. 66. Twelve teams in this group of 25 need a win this weekend to get to a bowl game.
76-100
In the Week 3 edition of these rankings, Colorado is No. 14 and Arkansas State is dead last at No. 133. Now, they are side by side. Colorado has lost six of seven, including a 56-14 drubbing at the hands of Washington State on Friday night, to fall to No. 77. Arkansas State drops 77 points to Texas State to become bowl-eligible and climb to No. 78 .
No. will not participate in the bowl game. 83 Virginia and No. 84 Michigan State, 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 rival to No. 85 and 86, respectively. It’s been a strange season for the No. 89 Army, with wins over UTSA, Air Force and Coastal Carolina but losses to UMass and Louisiana-Monroe. The Black Knights are the hardest team to rank and only the Navy is left.
101-133
Navy’s bounceback season continues, now 5-5 and up to No. 107 after beating East Carolina. New Mexico defeated Fresno State and moved up to No. 111. Sam Houston kept fighting, leading Western Kentucky in the fourth quarter before losing. The Bearkats climbed to No. 127 as a result. Kent State lost 34-3 against Ball State and remains at No. 133 as the only one-win team in the FBS.
The Athletic 133 Rankings series is part of a partnership with AllState.
The Athletic maintains complete editorial independence. Partners have no control or input into the reporting or editing process and do not review stories prior to publication.
(Photo: Tom Hauck/Getty Images)
