Per 538, Washington Football Team will return to NCAA Playoffs

The Washington Football team is fighting their schedule, and the perception of ranking scorers, to return to the playoffs. But the folks at projects.fivethirtyeight.com project the Huskies in top four

The Washington Football team is the defending Pac-12 champion, and want nothing more than another round of the NCAA playoffs.  But as we’ve point out, that may not be quite so easy this second time around.

Right now, there are more than enough undefeated teams in NCAA football. And with many of those teams perched alongside or above the Huskies in the current national rankings, it may require the Washington Football team to win out the season to assure themselves of an NCAA playoff bid.

The gurus at Project.FiveThirtyEight.com has some good news folks. Their latest projections show the Washington Football team returning to the NCAA playoffs.

Saturday shake up October 7, 2017

Since that post, two of the nation’s undefeated top-ten teams have fallen from the undefeated ranks. Third ranked Oklahoma, a team which defeated Ohio State on the road, suffered a loss to unranked Iowa State at home, 38-31. Seventh rank Michigan fell at home to unranked Michigan State, 14-10.

Oklahoma’s loss is significant for the hopes of the Washington Huskies. The loss should drop the Sooners from the top five. That will likely move the Huskies up in the ranks, right now to fifth in the AP poll, and to the all-important fourth spot in the USA/Coaches poll.

Pac-12 mixed results

While the ranks of undefeated teams in the Pac-12 continue to shrink. As the Utah Utes lost to the Stanford Cardinals, that will serve to deflate the Pac-12 conference overall. Washington faces both Stanford and Utah this season.

Washington State remained undefeated against an Oregon team lacking their starting quarterback. But 6-0 Washington State will benefit from shakedown Saturday. In fact, they could ascend into the top ten this weekend. Victories by USC and Stanford will no doubt introduce their names back into the national ranking discussions. Like eleventh ranked Washington State, the USC Trojans stand to move up from their 14th ranking.

Washington’s final ranking is awfully important to the NCAA playoffs. If they finish fourth, they will likely face Alabama in the first round. But if they manage to earn a third ranking berth, they will face a second ranked team before the ultimate showdown against the Alabama Crimson Tide. With the latest results, they now project as the third ranked team, and will face Clemson.

Next: TE Bryant propels Washington Football passing game into positive trends

It’s all speculation at this point. But in the face of ESPN’s cupcake commentary, it’s time to point out that some NCAA websites continue to respect the Washington Football team.  From what I’ve seens so far, the Huskies continue to get stronger with each game.  That NCAA playoff projection feels pretty spot on as the team makes the halfway point of the season undefeated.