It’s time to give Washington’s name some respect.
The Huskies are undefeated and have the best wins in the country, based on these rankings, but have consistently remained outside the top four in the College Football Playoff selection committee’s season rankings. That needs to change this week. Coming off a 22-20 win over Oregon State on a rainy night in Corvallis, Washington has the most impressive resume in the country. The Huskies move up to No. 2 in this week’s Athletic 133.
Washington won over Oregon, Arizona, Utah, Oregon State and USC. No one can match so many beautiful victories. Yes, the Huskies needed a pick six and a questionable penalty to escape Arizona State and play near Stanford, but no team blows everyone up every single week.
Quarterback Michael Penix Jr. struggled at times against the Beaver defense, completing 13 of 28 passes, but was responsible for all three touchdowns in a tough environment, and threw a third-down complete to Rome Odunze to signal a game in which Washington entered as the betting underdog.
Georgia continues to look like the best team in the country and gets better every week, but everyone else looks beatable, including Washington. Maybe Oregon will be favored if the Ducks and Huskies meet again in the Pac-12 championship game, but that will be for another time. Right now, Washington deserves to not only be in the top four, but higher than fourth.
Here’s this week’s Athletic 133.
1-10
Aside from Washington’s rise, the only change in the top 10 is Missouri’s arrival after beating Florida to move to 9-2.
We’ve never seen a season in the CFP era with five Power 5 teams going 11-0. In theory, the situation could be resolved easily, with Georgia, Washington, Florida State and the winner of Michigan/Ohio State in the top four. But Florida State quarterback Jordan Travis’ devastating leg injury could increase that possibility and create some tough CFP conversations about the ‘Noles. They will play Louisville in the ACC championship game, which could be a top-10 matchup.
11-25
Penn State’s wins over Iowa and West Virginia looked better as the season went on, and the Nittany Lions moved up to No. 12, behind Ole Miss because of Rebels wins against LSU and Tulane. Oklahoma drops to No. 14 after escaping BYU. Oregon State falls to No. 16 after the loss, falling just behind Arizona, which demolished Utah 42-18 and beat the Beavers in October. James Madison’s unbeaten streak is over, but the Dukes don’t fall out of the top 25 because it was an overtime loss and JMU still has a good win against Troy. JMU’s waiver of full bowl eligibility was denied, so No. 20 Tulane is in the leading position for a New Year’s sixth-place finish, but the Green Wave plays at UTSA this week before a potential championship game AAC in which they could see number 26 SMU, which just won in Memphis.
Toledo is 10-1 and also in that mix NY6 after a late win over Bowling Green; the Rockets also crack the top 25. Iowa’s landing at No. 16 in last week’s CFP rankings was surprising, especially since it wasn’t ranked in the AP poll. I’m number 24 here this week. The Hawkeyes don’t have a win over a team with more than six wins and were swept by Penn State. Their defense is elite, but Iowa has slipped past several .500 Big Ten West teams in recent weeks. They are ahead of Toledo because the Rockets lost to Illinois in Week 1 and Iowa beat the Illini.
26-50
Rank | squad | Documentation | Previous |
---|---|---|---|
26 |
9-2 |
31 |
|
27 |
7-4 |
16 |
|
28 |
7-4 |
25 |
|
29 |
9-2 |
29 |
|
30 |
7-4 |
38 |
|
31 |
8-3 |
winds |
|
32 |
9-2 |
36 |
|
33 |
7-4 |
28 |
|
3.4 |
7-4 |
46 |
|
35 |
7-5 |
33 |
|
36 |
8-3 |
43 |
|
37 |
9-3 |
60 |
|
38 |
6-5 |
37 |
|
39 |
7-4 |
39 |
|
40 |
6-5 |
32 |
|
41 |
9-2 |
44 |
|
42 |
7-4 |
47 |
|
43 |
8-3 |
55 |
|
44 |
7-4 |
61 |
|
Four five |
6-5 |
48 |
|
46 |
6-5 |
40 |
|
47 |
8-3 |
42 |
|
48 |
8-3 |
35 |
|
49 |
8-3 |
Four five |
|
fifty |
6-5 |
41 |
Clemson moves up to No. 30 after beating North Carolina. UNLV moved up to No. 32 after coming back to beat Air Force. UCLA’s comfortable win over USC moves the Bruins up to No. 34 and USC at No. 35. I still have no idea why Tennessee, here at No. 33, is ranked in the polls.
Miami’s one-score loss to Louisville sees the Hurricanes slip to just No. 38 and remain ahead of Texas A&M due to head-to-head results. Duke continues to slide, now down to No. 40 after a loss to Virginia. Wyoming moves back up to No. 43, aided by an early-season win against Texas Tech, which beat UCF to gain bowl eligibility.
New Mexico State’s 31-10 win at Auburn to move to 9-3 sees the Aggies jump to No. 37. The Fightin’ Jerry Kills have won seven straight games, overcoming early losses to UMass and Hawaii to make them a bizarre team to face. place.
51-75
Kentucky and Florida fell out of the top 50 after losses to South Carolina and Missouri, respectively. Georgia Tech came in at No. 54 after beating Syracuse to become bowl eligible. Maryland slips just two spots to No. 55 after playing close to Michigan. Appalachian State’s overtime win at James Madison sees the Mountaineers move up to No. 62.
Wisconsin got back on track with an overtime win against Nebraska to move up to No. 66. Twelve teams in this group of 25 need a win this weekend to get to a bowl game.
76-100
In the Week 3 edition of these rankings, Colorado was at No. 14 and Arkansas State was last at No. 133. Now they are next to each other. Colorado has lost six of seven, including a 56-14 at the hands of Washington State on Friday night, dropping to No. 77. Arkansas State dropped 77 points on Texas State to gain bowl eligibility and move up to number 78. .
No. 83 Virginia and No. 84 Michigan State aren’t going to a bowl game, but they earned conference wins over the weekend. Georgia Southern’s loss to Old Dominion and Georgia State’s loss to LSU see the Sun Belt rivals fall to No. 85 and 86, respectively. It’s been a strange season for No. 1 Army. 89, which won against UTSA, Air Force and Coastal Carolina but lost to UMass and Louisiana-Monroe. The Black Knights are the hardest team to rank and have only Navy left.
101-133
Navy’s rebound season continues, now 5-5 and up to No. 107 after beating East Carolina. New Mexico beats Fresno State to move up to No. 111. Sam Houston continues to battle, leading Western Kentucky in the fourth quarter before losing. As a result, the Bearkats move up to No. 127. Kent State lost 34-3 to Ball State and remains at No. 133 as the only one-win team in FBS.
The Athletic 133 Rankings series is part of a partnership with AllState.
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