Inside The Huskies

Huskies Bump Up One More Spot in CFP Rankings Before Facing Ducks

Pac-12 championship game winner likely is playoff bound.

Dan Raley

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The unbeaten University of Washington football team — receiving begrudging respect and favor as its magical season continues to play out — moved up to No. 3 in the College Football Playoff rankings, its highest standing yet.

The committee rewarded the Huskies after they beat Washington State 24-21 in the Apple Cup to improve to a perfect 12-0, and elevated them at the expense of previously unbeaten Ohio State, which lost to Michigan 30-24 and dropped four spots to No. 6 and likely out of CFP contention.

Georgia (12-0) and Michigan (12-0) rank 1-2 in the CFP poll and head to their respective SEC and Big Ten championship games this weekend against challengers Alabama (11-1) and Iowa (10-2), respectively.

Florida State (12-0), which held off Florida 24-15 even after losing quarterback Jordan Travis the week before to a season-ending injury, moved up and filled out the top four. The Seminoles meet Louisville (10-2) in the ACC title game.

On Friday, the Huskies and No. 5 Oregon (11-1) will hold their long-awaited rematch, with the winner likely advancing to the CFP semifinal round on New Year's Day, possibly at the Rose Bowl.

Six weeks ago, the UW beat the Ducks 36-33 at Husky Stadium. Amazingly, the Huskies are 9.5-point underdogs to the team they beat.

The only thing that's certain is four 12-0 teams remain, including Kalen DeBoer's, and victories by each one would seem to make everything so simple in creating CFP pairings. 

However, an upset or two or three would totally confuse the process. 

 

 

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Dan Raley
DAN RALEY

Dan Raley has worked for the Seattle Post-Intelligencer, Atlanta Journal-Constitution and Fairbanks Daily News-Miner, as well as for MSN.com and Boeing, the latter as a global aerospace writer. His sportswriting career spans four decades and he's covered University of Washington football and basketball during much of that time. In a working capacity, he's been to the Super Bowl, the NBA Finals, the MLB playoffs, the Masters, the U.S. Open, the PGA Championship and countless Final Fours and bowl games.

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