Top 25 Watch: UW Huskies rise in Coaches Poll, still snubbed by AP

Sep 8, 2024, 12:02 PM | Updated: 5:33 pm

Decker DeGraaf of the UW Huskies makes a touchdown catch against Eastern Michigan. (Alika Jenner/Getty Images)

(Alika Jenner/Getty Images)

Seattle Sports

The US LBM Coaches Poll continues to be much kinder to the UW Huskies than The Associated Press’ Top 25 college football poll.

Instant observations from UW Huskies’ win over Eastern Michigan

For a second straight week, Washington is ranked in the former poll but well on the outside of the top 25 in the latter.

The Huskies rose three spots in Sunday’s Coaches Poll to No. 22 after beating Eastern Michigan 30-9 on Saturday to improve to 2-0 on the season. UW cracked the top 25 last Tuesday as the final team in the previous rankings.

The new AP poll that came out late Sunday morning, however, has Washington as essentially the No. 31 team in the country as it is the sixth team listed under “others receiving votes.” The teams between the Huskies and the top 25 are Illinois, Boise State, Texas A&M, Syracuse and Memphis.

Washington coming in behind Boise State in particular is interesting. The Broncos, who were not ranked last week either, are 1-1 after falling to Oregon 37-34 on a last-second field goal Saturday night. That result dropped Oregon (2-0) two spots to No. 9 in the new AP poll. The Ducks have had a less-than-impressive start to the season, as they opened the year with a 24-14 win over Idaho that saw the Vandals come within three points of the lead midway through the fourth quarter.

Even with the Huskies still missing from the top 25, their new conference, the Big Ten, is second among all conferences in this week’s poll with six teams in the rankings. Only the SEC has more with eight. The Big Ten teams in the top 25 are No. 3 Ohio State, No. 8 Penn State, No. 9 Oregon, No. 11 USC, No. 17 Michigan (who lost Saturday to new No. 2 Texas) and No. 23 Nebraska.

The UW Huskies have their first big test of the season next Saturday when they play their first non-conference version of the Apple Cup against the rival WSU Cougars at 12:30 p.m. at Seattle’s Lumen Field. The Cougars are also 2-0 after handling Texas Tech 37-16 in Pullman on Saturday night.