Inside The Huskies

Huskies Return to National Rankings Following Michigan State Victory

The UW is one of four Pac-12 teams in the AP Top 25.
Dan Raley|
Huskies Return to National Rankings Following Michigan State Victory
Huskies Return to National Rankings Following Michigan State Victory

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Washington Huskies

After nearly a full year of wandering the nether reaches of college football — punishment for getting upset by Montana and doing a deep fade thereafter — the University of Washington Huskies used a Big Ten beatdown to return to the Associated Press poll and elite company, easing back in at No. 18 on Sunday.

The UW (3-0) earned strong pollster consideration once more following Saturday night's impressive 39-28 defeat of then 11th-ranked Michigan State, with the outcome bouncing the Spartans from the AP list.

With 485 points, the Huskies found itself sandwiched between Baylor and BYU, trailing the Big 12 team by 9 votes and topping the Utah entry by 104.

To begin the 2021 season, the Jimmy Lake-coached UW was ranked 21st when it got upended 13-7 by the aforementioned Big Sky upstart and disappeared from the national rankings.

The year before, the Huskies briefly were slotted 23rd halfway through its pandemic-restricted four-game season, getting dropped after falling behind Utah 21-0 by halftime before pulling out a 24-21 win.

The UW is one of four Pac-12 teams in the Top 25, joining unbeaten USC at 7, once-beaten Utah at 13 and once-beaten Oregon at 15. 

Georgia tops the poll by a wide margin, one of five SEC teams in the top 11 and one of seven from that conference overall. The ACC supplied five teams to the ranking.

The Big Ten counts just three entries, topped by Ohio State at No. 3 and Michigan at No. 4. Michigan State is listed among the also-rans.

AP TOP 25

1. Georgia (3-0), 1,569 votes (59 first place)

2. Alabama (3-0), 1,492 votes (3)

3. Ohio State (3-0), 1,473 (1)

4. Michigan (3-0), 1,364

5. Clemson (3-0), 1,268

6. Oklahoma (3-0), 1,257

7. USC (3-0), 1,197

8. Kentucky (3-0), 1,096

9. Oklahoma State (3-0), 1,071

10. Arkansas (3-0), 920

11. Tennessee (3-0), 866

12. North Carolina State (3-0), 781

13. Utah (2-1), 684

14. Penn State (3-0), 666

15. Oregon (2-1), 593

16. Ole Miss (3-0), 585

17. Baylor (2-1), 494

18. WASHINGTON (3-0), 485

19. BYU (2-1), 381

20. Florida (2-1), 360

21. Wake Forest (3-0), 345

22. Texas (2-1), 339

23. Texas A&M (2-1), 309

24. Pittsburgh (2-1), 181

25. Miami (2-1), 123

Others receiving votes: Michigan State 91, Florida State 85, Appalachian State 77, North Carolina 72, Washington State 62, Cincinnati 52, Oregon State 49, Minnesota 48, Kansas 23, Syracuse 7, LSU 6, Wisconsin 4

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Dan Raley
DAN RALEY

Dan Raley has worked for the Seattle Post-Intelligencer, Atlanta Journal-Constitution and Fairbanks Daily News-Miner, as well as for MSN.com and Boeing, the latter as a global aerospace writer. His sportswriting career spans four decades and he's covered University of Washington football and basketball during much of that time. In a working capacity, he's been to the Super Bowl, the NBA Finals, the MLB playoffs, the Masters, the U.S. Open, the PGA Championship and countless Final Fours and bowl games.

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