Finally! After long weeks of waiting, the Washington Huskies have shot up multiple spots in the AP Poll. The Huskies have been waiting for a weekend like this since their opening weekend loss against Auburn. After a wild weekend in college football, where top 10 teams LSU, Auburn, and Oklahoma were all upset, and the Huskies were the biggest benefactors. West Virginia and Washington both moved up 3 spots, to 6th and 7th, respectively.
No. 10 UCF has never been ranked higher in the AP Top 25 during the regular season. See the full poll: https://t.co/jfkE4ZQ5Ce pic.twitter.com/6YNR5Fvv0n
— AP Top 25 (@AP_Top25) October 8, 2018
Looking at the records, Washington should probably be ranked ahead of West Virginia, but WVU’s donut in the loss column is definitely what’s keeping them ahead of the Huskies. The Mountaineers were able to garner 1174 points in the AP Poll, while Washington got 1098 from the voters. This barely kept them ahead of 8th ranked Penn State, who earned 1097. Washington was also ranked 7th in this week’s coaches poll but had a little more separation from Penn State, with 1148, compared to the Nittany Lions’ 1136.
Why Does This Matter?
You’re probably asking yourself, who cares? Chris Petersen doesn’t care about the rankings, so why should I? No rankings really matter until the College Football Playoff committee gets together and starts releasing their rankings.
But that’s not true, every week matters, especially for a west coast team like UW. With Stanford’s loss to Utah on Saturday, the Washington Huskies are the only Pac-12 team remaining with a shot at the College Football Playoff. The Huskies have one loss and need to win out for any kind of shot to get in. A loss this weekend is scary for more than one reason. Not only would it be a loss to Oregon, but who knows how far the Huskies will fall if they lose. Stanford fell completely out of the rankings after their loss to Utah.
After unexpected scare, No. 7 Washington focused on Oregon@bytimbooth https://t.co/R7zXLPmxGu
— AP Top 25 (@AP_Top25) October 9, 2018
The Huskies being ranked 7th this week is a big deal for the team, and the Pac-12 as well. They were able to sneak away from Penn State and claim 7th, which makes them the best one-loss team in the country. That might not seem like a big deal, but it is. West Virginia still has to play both Oklahoma and Texas. Notre Dame also has a few tough games remaining in Florida State and USC, so if the Huskies win out they still have a tremendous opportunity to move up because the probability of both of these teams moving up is pretty slim.