Everyone knew that regardless of where Washington stood when the Week 13 College Football Playoff rankings came out Tuesday night, that everything would come down to its game against the 10-1 Oregon Ducks this Saturday.
Well, Washington won't have the luxury of a top-25 number next to its name going into it, as the Huskies were left out of the CFP rankings, despite an 8-3 record and another big win over UCLA. That exclusion should give them even more motivation to play with against their bitter rivals, who rose to the No. 6 spot in the rankings.
It definitely wasn't a guarantee that the Huskies would be included in this week's top-25 rankings, but there were some indications that it was possible. For instance, Illinois was ranked No. 21 a week prior with the same record and a head-to-head loss against Washington. The Illini, like the Huskies, would go on to lose to an underwhelming Wisconsin team to further that gap.
Additionally, Missouri and Houston -- ranked No. 22 and No. 23 respectively a week ago -- both lost last weekend, meaning that there were three spots in the back end of the rankings for Washington to potentially sneak in at.
Instead, those spots went to SMU (No. 21), Pittsburgh (No. 22), and Arizona (No. 25) -- all of whom have the same record as Washington at 8-3. According to ESPN's FPI, Washington has a better strength of record than all three of those programs, and by a substantial margin at that. The Huskies are 24th in SOR, while the next closest is Arizona at 31, followed by Pitt at 32 and SMU at 34.
This goes to show truly how much the Huskies' loss to Wisconsin continues to haunt them, as it's clear just how much the selection committee views it as a reason to place others ahead in the race.
It makes sense why the committee would want to put SMU on a pedestal, as the Mustangs are in control of an ACC Championship berth, and thus a potential automatic CFP bid.
It's also reasonable why Arizona got the top-25 nod, as all three of the Wildcats' losses came to teams that are or were previously ranked, while also having a ranked win of their own against Cincinnati.
However, it's hard to see where Pitt holds any authority over Washington. Like the Huskies, the Panthers also have an embarrassing loss to a now-4-7 West Virginia team. Their other two losses were to an unranked Louisville team and to No. 9 Notre Dame by 22 points. Meanwhile, Washington kept it closer than any other team has against No. 1 Ohio State and also lost to a Michigan team now ranked No. 15.
Perhaps the committee wants to keep Pitt in conversations in the case that it earns a spot in the ACC title game, but for that to happen, the Panthers would first have to beat No. 12 Miami and then hope for a loss by either Virginia or SMU in games that both teams should easily win.
Of course, Washington needs to beat Oregon for any of this to matter, and even still, there's an argument that other teams who were snubbed should've been in over the Huskies anyways. In the AP Poll, Washington also missed out of the top 25, instead receiving the 31st-most votes -- behind the likes of James Madison, North Texas, Navy, Missouri, and San Diego State. All of those programs also did not make the CFP rankings.
But at the end of the day, debating a top-25 snub doesn't really matter at this point of the season. All focus should be on rivalry week and what will be an intense matchup ahead against Oregon. Like mentioned earlier, a Huskies win in that game would undeniably make them a top-25 team going into bowl season, with the cherry on top being the role as a spoiler to the Ducks' playoff chances.