Chris Petersen: Why UW Huskies ranking out of CFP is no concern

The 9-0 UW Huskies are ranked fifth in the country in both the AP poll and, more importantly, the College Football Playoff rankings.

AP Top 25: No respect for unbeaten UW Huskies’ latest win

Sitting at No. 5 is a tough spot, as only the top four teams will make the playoff to determine the national championship. UW also has the distinction of the lowest-ranked unbeaten Power Five team despite owning one of the biggest wins in college football this year, a 36-33 victory over rival Oregon, which is ranked right behind the Huskies at No. 6.

Former UW Huskies head coach and current FOX Sports analyst Chris Petersen, who joined Seattle Sports’ Brock and Salk on Wednesday, still has an advisory role for Washington’s athletic department, so needless to say he’s keeping a very close eye on the Huskies.

Does Petersen have any beef with UW being No. 5 right now?

“I think the committee basically gets it right,” said Petersen, who led the Huskies to their first and so far only CFP appearance in 2016.

Petersen told hosts Brock Huard and Mike Salk that the CFP committee watches a lot of tape and crunches a lot of numbers to decide the rankings. He also lauded the group for being unbiased.

He doesn’t think the rankings really matter for Washington right now, either, for a few reasons.

“Washington is set up, if they can just take care of their business – which is a big ‘if’ because they have some really good teams coming. Everybody can go ahead and talk all they want,” he said. “And (UW coach) Kalen DeBoer, he gets it. His No. 1 job is to make sure those kids just block out the noise. As cliché as it sounds, one game at a time. But they’re gonna get beat if they start looking ahead. That’s why November football is so great, and there’s so much football left to be played.”

Something that will help the Dawgs out is the fact that No. 1 Ohio State and No. 3 Michigan play each other on Nov. 25, meaning there’s guaranteed to be one less undefeated team by the following rankings.

Another thing Petersen thinks doesn’t matter is Oregon sitting just one spot behind UW – and seemingly getting more praise despite having lost to the Huskies two seasons in a row.

Related: Why Herbstreit’s eye is on potential UW Huskies rematch vs Oregon

“If we fall into the trap, like, ‘Oh, everybody’s giving Oregon more love than Washington when they beat them,’ that’s just a trap,” he said. “The last two times Oregon and Washington played, Washington’s won. So just stop. They’re gonna probably get a chance to play again here (in the Pac-12 title game) in a little bit, and it’ll be settled on the field. So none of that even matters.”

Listen to the full Brock and Salk conversation with Chris Petersen at this link or in the player near the top of this story.

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