The Washington Huskies have fought tooth and nail for eight games this season trying to prove they deserve a top-25 ranked spot amongst the 136 teams in FBS college football. After being snubbed on multiple occasions after impressive victories, ironically enough, the Huskies earned their first AP Poll appearance of 2025 after not playing at all.
Week 11's AP Poll saw the Huskies come in as the 24th-ranked team in the nation, earning 110 total votes. Washington, who was 28th in the nation in Week 10's poll, jumped past Navy and Tulane at No. 26 and No. 27 after both AAC programs lost this past weekend. The Huskies then entered the top-25 after No. 22 Houston got upset at home by 2-6 West Virginia.
Voters then decided to favor the Dawgs over now No. 25 Cincinnati, who was ranked No. 17 last week but dropped eight spots after being trounced by Utah. It marks the first time Washington has been ranked in the AP Poll since coming in at No. 2 in the final ranking of the 2023 season. which of course was when Michael Penix Jr. led the Huskies to the National Championship Game.
The AP ranking lines up just about the same as ESPN's FPI ranking, which has Washington at the No. 23 spot. It also puts the Huskies as the sixth Big Ten program in the top-25, behind No. 1 Ohio State, No. 2 Indiana, No. 6 Oregon, No. 20 USC, and No. 21 Michigan.
While Washington and its fans will certainly accept the AP Poll nod during a bye week, the job is far from finished. The Huskies now have four games in four straight weeks to end the season, including what is shaping up to be a grand finale at home against Oregon. They will need to keep winning to retain their ranked status while continuing to climb higher.
Additionally, the importance of the AP Poll is about to become diminished drastically, as the first official College Football Playoff rankings will be released on Tuesday. Unlike the AP Poll, the CFP rankings actually determine where teams fall in the postseason, as the top-12 teams will make it into the College Football Playoff.
While it's highly unlikely the Huskies will find themselves in the top-12 in the first release, it will still be important to know how the CFP voters currently view the team, as it's a realistic possibility that Washington can win out and have an argument to be in the playoffs. It's even a projection that analyst Bud Elliott of CBS Sports made after Week 11:
Do y’all agree with @BudElliott3’s latest CFP projection after Week 10? 👀 pic.twitter.com/m6SIDl1rzH
— CBS Sports College Football 🏈 (@CBSSportsCFB) November 2, 2025
Of course, it's just one projection based on predicting future results from someone who isn't on the CFP Selection Committee, but Husky fans should begin to feel excited that the hype around the team is starting to become real. This week's AP Poll finally validated that, but now it's time to take care of business this Saturday on the road against 2-6 Wisconsin.