Washington debuts inside top 10 in first College Football Playoff rankings of 2023
Washington is ranked No. 5 in the first College Football Playoff rankings of the 2023 season.
The CFP selection committee unveiled their initial rankings live on ESPN Tuesday night. Washington was one of two Pac-12 teams ranked inside the top 10 and one of six Pac-12 teams in the overall ranking.
Ohio State took the top overall spot in the ranking, followed by Georgia at No. 2, Michigan at No. 3, Florida State at No. 4, and Oregon at No. 6.
The Huskies sit in a tremendous position entering Week 10. They’re unbeaten, and their remaining four games include No. 20 USC, No. 18 Utah, No. 16 Oregon State, and Washington State.
Presumably, Washington has some margin for error to absorb a loss and still make it into the four-team field at the end of the season.
UW has looked less-than-impressive over the last two weeks, but the Huskies also have one of the best wins of anyone this season thanks to a 36-33 victory over Oregon in Week 7. Wins over USC and Oregon State on the road would also boost the résumé.
Washington ranks third nationally in ESPN’s Strength of Record metric. UW’s Strength of Schedule to this point in the year ranks 75th, though. It’ll have an opportunity to pick up a few more signature wins down the stretch, but it needs style points in the process to solidify its case.
The Huskies face USC on Saturday at 4:30 p.m. PT on ABC.
The rest of the CFP Top 25 can be found below:
- Ohio State
- Georgia
- Michigan
- Florida State
- Washington
- Oregon
- Texas
- Alabama
- Oklahoma
- Ole Miss
- Penn State
- Missouri
- Louisville
- LSU
- Notre Dame
- Oregon State
- Tennessee
- Utah
- UCLA
- USC
- Kansas
- Oklahoma State
- Kansas State
- Tulane
- Air Force