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Rarely does a monster game live up to the hype. We’ve had it two weeks in a row in college football, rocking the ranks.
Last week, Oklahoma beat Texas by a touchdown in the final seconds. This week, Washington beat Oregon on a last fourth-down stop, a touchdown and a missed field goal by the Ducks as time expired. We know Washington look like world-beaters up to this point. The Huskies have yet to play anyone of note. Set in one of the biggest games of the year, Washington and Michael Penix Jr. As a result of the 36-33 win, Washington leads the Athletic 133 this week.
Penix controls the Heisman Trophy race with his performance and a seemingly endless supply of good wide receivers. The Huskies weren’t perfect, but they game-planned well with a banged-up offensive line, and the defense made stops when they needed them, holding Oregon to 0-for-3 in the fourth. which is down.
It was a top-three win for any team this season, with Texas beating Alabama on the road and Oklahoma beating Texas at a neutral site. That Oregon win, along with strong play otherwise (including a win over Arizona that has looked better lately), moved Washington to No. 1 for now. But we have many more top-10 matchups to come this year.
Here’s this week’s Athletic 133.
1-10
Except for Washington’s ascension to No. 1, other changes here include Michigan jumping Penn State to No. 7 and North Carolina slipping to No. 10 after taking care of Miami. At Michigan’s point, the Wolverines jumped the Nittany Lions because their Rutgers win now equals Penn State’s West Virginia win (though not by much), and Michigan has been dominant if not man. As I say every week, Michigan looks very good. Wolverine doesn’t just play around anyone notably until Penn State on Nov. 11. If they win that game, they’ll climb near the top, just like Washington did. As for Georgia’s comparison, the Bulldogs have a blowout top-30 win over Kentucky. Meanwhile, Ohio State and Penn State meet this coming weekend.
DEEP
Auerbach’s Top 10: Washington took No. 1, UNC entered the mix
11-25
| Rank | Team | Record | Past |
|---|---|---|---|
|
11 |
5-1 |
9 |
|
|
12 |
6-1 |
18 |
|
|
13 |
6-1 |
13 |
|
|
14 |
6-2 |
14 |
|
|
15 |
5-1 |
15 |
|
|
16 |
5-1 |
19 |
|
|
17 |
5-1 |
20 |
|
|
18 |
6-1 |
12 |
|
|
19 |
5-2 |
21 |
|
|
20 |
6-1 |
23 |
|
|
21 |
6-0 |
35 |
|
|
22 |
6-1 |
36 |
|
|
23 |
5-1 |
33 |
|
|
24 |
6-0 |
34 |
|
|
25 |
4-2 |
16 |
Oregon dropped from the top 10 to No. 11. While the Ducks played well and almost beat Washington on the road, they don’t have a notable win to justify a top 10 spot right now, unlike Texas. Oregon State is just behind at No. 12 after a 36-24 win over UCLA. Louisville is the hardest team to put down this week. The Cardinals lost to Pitt 38-21 but remain at No. 13 because their margin of victory over Notre Dame last week looked better after the Fighting Irish defeated USC. I still can’t justify putting Notre Dame two losses ahead of Louisville after what happened to us it just is seen last week, so they are staying in place for now. It’s always natural to move teams each week after a win or loss, but previous games are important too.
After a bunch of losses from the bottom of this group, a handful of Group of 5 teams slide into the top 25, including Air Force (No. 21), Tulane (No. 23) and James Madison (No. 24 ). The Falcons and Dukes are undefeated, while Tulane beat Memphis on the road. Iowa also jumped to No. 22 after beating Wisconsin on the road to move to 6-1. Regardless of what you think of the offense and injuries, the Hawkeyes keep winning.
DEEP
Ubben: Iowa in the College Football Playoff? Avert your eyes — but it’s possible
26-50
Kentucky, Florida and Tennessee are also very difficult to place, just outside the top 25. They all have similar records, but Kentucky beat Florida, which beat Tennessee. I wanted to put Florida and Tennessee in the top 25 after Kentucky beat Missouri, but I haven’t been able to because of that Kentucky-Florida result.
Arizona made another big jump up to No. 30 after finally getting a breakthrough, demolishing Washington State 44-6 a week after taking USC to overtime and losing to Washington by just seven before that. Quarterback Noah Fifita (342 passing yards) changed the trajectory for the Wildcats. Oklahoma State also made a big jump to No. 36 thanks to a quarterback decision (Alan Bowman) that settled things, with back-to-back wins over Kansas State last week and Kansas this week. The Jayhawks didn’t fall behind the Cowboys, however, as starting quarterback Jalon Daniels did not play in Stillwater.
Miami (No. 39) and Texas A&M (No. 40) continue to fall after losses. Iowa State has won three of its last four games since losing to Ohio, which beat Northern Illinois very well this weekend. And Liberty finally played a somewhat noteworthy opponent, handling Jacksonville State 5-1 to climb to No. 38. Troy also got back on track with a 19-0 shutout of Army, its fourth straight win.
DEEP
What we learned from the first half of CFB: Pac-12 peaking, UGA cruising, and who’s ‘back’?
51-75
Georgia State moved up to No. 51 after a 41-24 win over Marshall to go 5-1 on the season. Several teams dropped into the top 50 after the loss, including Memphis (No. 54), NC State (No. 54), South Carolina (No. 55), Auburn (No. 56) and Texas Tech (No. 63) . ). There were more drops from the likes of Arkansas (No. 62), Syracuse (No. 64) and Cal (No. 65) with losses. Meanwhile, Texas State escaped ULM to climb to 5-2 overall and up to No. 68, while UNLV beat Nevada to go 5-1 and move to No. 69.
UTSA seems to have rounded up form with Frank Harris playing again, beating UAB convincingly to move up to No. 71, and Virginia Tech has won two of its last three after defeating Wake Forest 30-13 to climb to No. 72.
76-100
Houston (No. 78) beat West Virginia in a Hail Mary and Colorado State (No. 84) beat Boise State in a Hail Mary, but other past results prevent both teams from moving on higher now. Michigan State blew a 24-6 fourth-quarter lead against Rutgers and continued to fall, now dropping to No. 88 with Michigan coming to town next week.
USF is a very tough team to place. Since playing Alabama close and winning the next two games, the Bulls have convincingly lost to UAB and FAU over the past two weeks and dropped to No. 93. Army continues to struggle, shut out by Troy and fall to No. 95. Central Michigan (No. 94) is a tough team to play, beating South Alabama but losing at Buffalo and holding on to beat Akron 17-10 this week.
101-133
The No. 101 Northern Illinois has wins over Boston College and now Ohio to losses against FCS Southern Illinois and Tulsa. But over the past three weeks, the Huskies seem to have turned things around. Keep an eye on them. Sam Houston, still looking for its first win as an FBS program, quickly fell to New Mexico State and fell to No. 132. But Nevada, with its 16th straight loss, this one to rival UNLV, remains No. 133.
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: Jesse Beals / Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)
