Washington Isn't in the College Football Playoff Top Four, but They Should Be

If any team has a right to be upset by the first rankings released by the College Football Playoff committee, it's Washington. Yes, these rankings will change, and yes, an undefeated team like the Huskies will be in the Playoff. But, inexcusably and inexplicably, the undefeated Huskies found themselves ranked fifth in the committee's initial rankings, behind one-loss Texas A&M.

It's difficult to come up with a good rationale for this. Texas A&M does have a better win—it beat No. 9 Auburn, while Washington only beat No. 16 Utah—but Washington is undefeated. Moreover, Washington is just dominating everyone it plays. So why aren't the Huskies getting the respect they deserve?

It's not a rhetorical question. Playoff rankings are supposedly determined by both resume and how dominant a team looks in its wins. And when you put both together, the Huskies certainly look like one of the top four teams in the country.

The F/+ ratings—which measure how well a team is playing against its schedule relative to how it would play against an average schedule—rank the Huskies fifth, as well, though they're probably docked a few spots based on their schedule, since the ratings are more impressed with wins over good teams. The only one-loss team ahead of the Huskies in F/+? Ohio State, which beat Oklahoma and Wisconsin but lost to Penn State and nearly lost to Northwestern. Texas A&M, with its multitude of close wins (against UCLA, Tennessee, and South Carolina), is ranked 10th.

Meanwhile, the Huskies have played just two one-score games, one coming in the win at Utah, and they've won by an average of 31.6 points per game. Most of those wins haven't come over great teams, but they've been dominant even considering the competition. Who else in the county is going to beat Stanford 44-6? Or what about 70-21 over Oregon? The Ducks don't have a great record, but they lost to top 15 teams Nebraska and Colorado by three points apiece. Washington beat them by 49!

The Huskies' only remaining "signature" win, however, can come against USC, and even that won't impress a national audience. By the end of Washington's regular season, we won't really know the team's true strength, because it won't really have played anyone in college football's top tier. But why are we punishing the Huskies for the rest of the Pac-12 having a down year, especially when most of the Pac-12's demoralizing losses came at the hands of the conference leader?

Texas A&M still has ample chances to lose in a tough SEC West, and Washington will probably get a conference championship bump over the Aggies come Playoff time. But in the meantime, don't sleep on the Huskies. They haven't gotten to prove yet that they can play with teams like Alabama or Michigan, but if their complete domination of some solid teams is any indication, they'll be up to the challenge.