Huskies Take Slight Dip in Second AP Poll

Winning wasn't nearly enough for the University of Washington football team to maintain its preseason poll position as the Huskies on Tuesday dropped to No. 19 from 17th in the Associated Press rankings.

The Huskies apparently lacked style points in their 24-10 victory over Washington State in the Apple Cup.

They were favored to beat their state rivals more convincingly by 23.5 points coming in.

Penn State, SMU and Tennessee each leapfrogged the Huskies in this week's poll after starting out behind them.

At least Jedd Fisch's team didn't need a miracle such as Michigan, which fell from No. 16 to all the way out of the Top 25, after having to complete a Hail Mary pass -- on the second try -- as time ran out to avoid getting upset by Western Michigan.

The Huskies never trailed but squandered multiple opportunities to score and couldn't bring the hammer down on a rebuilding WSU team operating with its third coach in as many season in Kirby Moore.

On a busy first weekend of football for most college teams, just one among the AP's nationally ranked entries was a loser in its debut.

Louisville, which remained ranked at No. 24, came up a 41-38 loser to No. 9 Ole Miss on a late field goal.

ASSOCIATED PRESS TOP 25
1. Ohio State, 1-0, 1,684 points (46 first-places votes)
2. Georgia, 1-0, 1532
3. Notre Dame, 1-0, 1,512 (4)
4. Texas, 1-0, 1,461 (2)
5. Indiana, 1-0, 1,428 (8)
6. Oregon, 1-0, 1,422 (3)
7. Miami, 1-0, 1,405 (1)
8. LSU, 1-0, 1,315 (5)
9. Ole Miss, 1-0, 1,154
10. Texas A&M, 1-0, 1,079
11. Oklahoma, 1-0, 1,039
12. Alabama, 1-0, 910
13. Texas Tech, 1-0, 900
14. USC, 2-0, 861
15. BYU, 1-0, 840
16. Penn State, 1-0, 621
17. SMU, 1-0, 501
18. Tennessee, 1-0, 491
19. WASHINGTON, 1-0, 489
20. Utah, 1-0, 381
21. Iowa, 1-0, 369
22. Houston, 1-0, 214
23. Missouri, 1-0, 182
24. Louisville, 0-1, 163
25. Virginia, 1-0, 89

In that initial preseason poll, the Huskies clearly hadn't made total believers out of all the voters. With 501 points, they showed the biggest drop-off from the team ahead of them, which was Michigan with 718 points.

Two former Husky coaches in Steve Sarkisian and Kalen DeBoer had their respective Texas and Alabama teams ranked well above the UW at fifth and 13th.

With a lightweight non-conference schedule of WSU, Utah State and Eastern Washington, the Huskies should maintain a Top 25 presence for much of the month before hosting Minnesota in their Big Ten opener on Sept. 26.

Should they win those first four games, Fisch's guys will have their first real chance to move up in the AP poll if they can hang with and beat No. 14 USC in Los Angeles on Oct. 3.

The Trojans are one of three teams the UW will face who are currently ranked higher, with Indiana at No. 5 and Oregon at No. 6 the others.

The AP poll usually is released on Sunday at 11 a.m. PT, but it was moved to Tuesday because teams such as the Huskies were playing on Sunday.

Fisch's team now has a short week to get ready for Utah State, which marks its second consecutive Pac-12 opponent.

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