Washington football dropped one spot in the latest AP Poll to #14 in the country, can they jump back up with a win against Cal?
Washington football fell to 14th in the AP Poll this week, and there shouldn’t be any surprises as that’s usually what happens when a Pac-12 team plays an FCS school. The Huskies will look to bounce back against Cal in week two, especially against Cal’s highly touted group of defensive backs.
Running through the rest of the Pac-12, Utah jumped up one spot to #13 after beating BYU, while Oregon fell five spots to #16 after choking away their game against Auburn. Washington State moved up one spot to #22 after their thwomping of New Mexico State, and Stanford rose two spots to #23 after beating a tough Northwestern team.
The good/bad news
The bad news: if this stays constant, this is a very tough schedule for the Huskies, playing four ranked teams that, again if this stays constant, will only rise if they keep winning. That could end up being a top 10 matchup with Utah, a top 15 matchup with Oregon if they win out until October 19th, and a ranked Apple Cup matchup like we’ve seen for the last three seasons.
The good news: outside of Stanford, all of those teams have to come to Husky Stadium. Outside of going to Stanford on October 5th, the Huskies will have the advantage of the greatest setting in college football where they haven’t lost since 2016. Playing at Stanford won’t be easy, but after the Cardinal crushed any potential playoff hopes in 2017, the Huskies will be going down there looking for revenge.
Yes it’s one week in, but this is pretty reminiscent of the start to 2016, when the Huskies demolished Rutgers (who Eastern would probably beat) 48-13, but rose to eighth in the country on the verge of a top 10 matchup with Stanford. The Huskies have a pretty tough customer in Cal this weekend, so if they can pull away with a victory, what will the AP voters think? They earned 768 points from the voters, a significantly lower amount than the 826 that Utah got in the 13 spot.