AP Top 25: UW Huskies now No. 3 – will that happen in CFP, too?

The UW Huskies entered the final week of the regular season ranked No. 4 in the country in both the Associated Press top 25 as well as the College Football Playoff rankings.

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While it’s unclear if the Dawgs will get more love in the next CFP poll, they did move up in this week’s AP voting.

The Huskies wrapped up a perfect 12-0 season on Saturday with a 24-21 win over rival WSU, and AP voters have moved Washington up to No. 3 behind only 12-0 Georgia, the defending two-time champions, and 12-0 Michigan, which topped rival Ohio State this weekend. The Buckeyes, who were No. 2 in last week’s AP and CFP rankings, slide down to six after falling to 11-1 on the year.

Florida State, which lost its starting quarterback last week but won a close one against Florida on Saturday, is also 12-0 and is back to the No. 4 spot in the AP’s latest poll after falling to No. 5 in both rankings last week as Washington jumped up after beating Oregon State.

The Oregon Ducks, who play Washington in the Pac-12 Championship Game in Las Vegas next weekend, are 11-1 and ranked fifth as the nation’s top-rated one-loss team. The Pac-12 now has two teams in the top-five for the first time since 2016.

Now it remains to be seen whether the CFP will follow the AP’s lead in terms of who the four top teams are, and whether they think the Huskies are worthy of moving up. Those rankings come out on Tuesday.

The AP poll and CFP rankings haven’t always mirrored each other this year, but the two have had the same teams in the top four each and every week, just not in the same order every time.

That’s important to note because the final CFP rankings, which come out after next weekend’s Conference Championship Week, is the one that matters most. The top four teams in that final ranking go to playoffs with a chance to compete for the National Championship.

The Huskies are looking for their first CFP appearance since 2016, when they went 11-1 in the regular season before winning the Pac-12 Championship. They ultimately lost to Alabama that year, and that was the last time a Pac-12 team has appeared in the playoff.

That will almost certainly change as Washington is a perfect 12-0 and already seen as a top-four team in the country. The Huskies can make it 13-0 with a win over Oregon on Friday in a rematch many have been yearning for since the two heated rivals faced off in a 36-33 thriller that Washington won in October. The rematch is set for 5 p.m. in Vegas, and you can hear the broadcast live on Seattle Sports. The Ducks are currently favored in the matchup.

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