The 4-1 Washington Huskies finally got some love in the Week 7 AP Poll that ranks the top-25 college football teams in the nation, but fans may still feel wronged. The Huskies only received 10 votes, the same amount as a Mississippi State team that just lost back-to-back games. Is the bias against West Coast teams still a factor, or does Washington still not have the resume to deserve a national ranking?
According to ESPN's strength of resume calculation, Washington has played the 21st toughest schedule in the country, headlined by its battle against No. 1 Ohio State a few weeks ago. The Huskies lost that game 24-6 in an underwhelming performance, but still a display that was more respectable than some other ranked teams' relevant games.
For example, No. 22 Iowa State lost 38-30 (at one point trailed 31-7) to unranked Cincinnati. The Cyclones are 5-1 and are right behind UW with the 22nd toughest schedule. No. 21 Arizona State lost to the aforementioned Mississippi State, are also 4-1, and have the 24th ranked strength of schedule. Even fellow Big Ten member Illinois, ranked No. 17, had an embarrassing 63-10 loss to Indiana.
Washington's offense has scored the 16th most points per game in the nation, ahead of 14 of the 25 ranked programs, while also having the 40th ranked defense -- not great, but respectable enough to be ahead of ranked teams like No. 5 Texas A&M and No. 13 Georgia Tech.
Going by the eye test, it will tell you that those numbers, especially on offense, are probably even lower than they should be. Washington's dynamic trio of Demond Williams Jr., Jonah Coleman, and Denzel Boston stack up against any top team's best offensive players. Coleman leads the entire country in rushing touchdowns.
The Huskies hadn't received a single vote up until this week's poll, which came following a come-from-behind , 24-20 victory on the road against a then-undefeated Maryland team. You can argue that since Washington was favored, voters shouldn't value such a narrow victory against an unranked program.
However, those same voters have shown a lot of love to Maryland: the Terrapins received votes in weeks 5 and 6 despite now having only the 44th toughest schedule, which was probably even lower before playing Washington.
Ranking college football teams is never a perfect system, but something’s got to give. Washington's only blemish is a loss by less than 20 points to a Buckeye team that's been dominating everyone they play. The Huskies should easily be considered a top-25 team, so we'll see what happens if they can come out and dominate Rutgers tomorrow night.