The Washington Huskies should finish no less than 10th in the final college football polls. Here’s a look at all of the factors that pollsters will be considering when the unveil the final rankings after the College Football Playoff Championship Game, January 9th between Georgia and the TCU Horned Frogs.
The Huskies finished the 2022 season with the best record in the conference at 11-2. 10th ranked USC lost to No. 16 Tulane in the Cotton Bowl. With the loss, the Trojans fell to 11-3 on the season. Oregon State finished with a 10-3 record, same as Oregon who beat unranked UNC by a point 28-27 in the Holiday Bowl.
Four of the 5 teams ranked directly above the Huskies will have lost, including Utah whose record dipped to 10-4.
The Huskies will have an identical record to Ohio State, Alabama, and Tennessee at 11-2. USC finished with 11 wins but 3 losses, including twice to No. 8 Utah who finished with a 10-4 record.
Washington will finish as the worst 11-2 team. Ohio State had a season-ending loss to No. 1 Georgia so their 11-2 record looks pretty good. However, the Buckeyes didn’t make it to the Big-10 Conference Championship, Michigan did. The same can be said for Washington, Tennessee and Alabama all of who didn’t make it to their conference championship games but won their bowl games against ranked opponents.
Tennessee had the best bowl win beating the No. 7 team, Alabama beat No. 9 K-State, and Washington beat No. 20 Texas. For that the Huskies will
The Huskies should, and I repeat should move ahead of USC whose record dropped to 11-3. Will the voters see a loss to Group of 5 AAC Champions No. 16 Tulane who finished with a 12-2 record.
Washington should move ahead of USC because of the Huskies having the better record. However, Tulane should move ahead of both USC and Washington given the Green Waves’ 12-2 record and victory over USC. If that happens the Huskies wouldn’t move up or down a spot.
Here’s where it gets especially interesting, pollsters back east may look at Clemson’s loss to the 6th raked team as a better loss than Washington beating No. 20 Texas who finished with an 8-5 record. Washington will finish with a better record than Clemson but one can never discount the impact of the Washington frequently playing well after those East Coast voters were asleep.
In fact, the top 6 teams probably won’t factor into Washington’s final position in the rankings. I could see Ohio State falling all the way to 6, behind Alabama and Tennessee. Kansas State will drop below Washington as should the loser of the Rose Bowl. If that happens Washington Huskies would move up to 10th in the country after starting the season unranked.
Regardless, the Huskies will finish with their highest ranking since finishing 4th in the final CFP rankings in 2016. Here are the results from the top 20 in bowl games:
1. Georgia (14-0) beat No. 4 Ohio State and advanced to CFP Championship on Jan 9.
2. Michigan (13-1) lost to No. 3 TCU
3. TCU (13-1) beat No. 2. Michigan and advanced to CFP Championship on Jan 9.
4. Ohio State (11-2) lost to No. 1 Georgia
5. Alabama (11-2) beat No. 9 Kansas State 45-20
6. Tennessee (11-2) beat No. 7 Clemson (11-3) 31-14
7. Clemson (11-3 lost to No. 6 (11-2) Tennessee 31-14
8. Utah (10-4) lost to No. 11. Penn State (10-2
3) 35-21
9. Kansas State (10-4) lost to No. 5 Alabama
10. USC (11-3) lost to No.16 Tulane 46-45
11. Penn State (11-2) beat No. 8 Utah (10-4) 35-21
12. Washington (11-2) beat No. 20 Texas 27-20
13. Florida State (10-3) beat unranked Oklahoma (6-7) 35-32
14. Oregon State (10-3) beat unranked Florida (6-7) 30-3
15. Oregon (10-3) beat unranked UNC (9-5) 28-27
16. Tulane (12-2) beat No. 10 USC (11-3) 46-45
17. LSU (10-4) beat unranked Purdue (8-6) 63-7.
18. UCLA (9-4) lost to unranked Pittsburgh 37-35
19. South Carolina (8-5) lost to No. 21 Notre Dame 45-38
20. Texas (8-5) lost to No. 12 Washington (11-2) 27-20
