The Huskies were on the first CFP poll for the season that released Tuesday
With four games left in the regular season, the Washington Huskies football team is officially in the hunt for the College Football Playoff.
The first CFP Top 25 rankings released Tuesday, and the CFP committee had the Huskies ranked No. 23.
The CFP had Washington one spot higher than it was in the latest Associated Press (AP) Top 25 poll, which was the first time the program was ranked in the Top 25 since its loss to Michigan in the CFP National Championship game Jan. 8, 2024.
The Huskies are coming off a bye. The week before, Washington beat then-No. 23 Illinois by a score of 42-25. It was the first ranked win of the season for the Huskies and improved their record to 6-2 overall and 3-2 in the conference.
Washington became bowl-eligible with the win.
The Huskies are in the mix for a playoff spot, but they'll have a steep hill to climb if they hope to make their third College Football Playoff in program history.
The seeding process for the 12-team playoff bracket changed from last year. In 2024, seeds No. 1-5 were awarded to the Power Four and highest-ranked Group of Five conference champions. This year, it's changed to the 12 highest-ranked teams in the CFP rankings, with the caveat that every Power Four conference champion and highest-ranked G5 champion would get a playoff spot. Virginia (No. 14 in CFP rankings) would get in as the No. 11 seed as the ACC conference champion and Memphis (currently unranked) would get in as the G5 representative as the 12-seed as the rankings currently stand.
There's still a chance that Washington could get in as the Big Ten champion, but it's likely it will be chasing an at-large bid. That would leave seven spots in the playoffs up for grabs, but there are several teams just in its own Big Ten conference the Dawgs have to leapfrog: No. 1 Ohio State, No. 2 Indiana, No. 9 Oregon, No. 19 Southern California (USC), No. 20 Iowa and No. 21 Michigan.
Ohio State and Indiana are undefeated, Oregon has one loss on the season and USC, Iowa and Michigan all have two losses.
Washington has four games left in the regular season: Nov. 8 against Wisconsin, Nov. 15 against Purdue, Nov. 22 against UCLA and Nov. 29 against Oregon. The Huskies' two losses this season were a 24-6 loss against Ohio State on Sept. 27 and a 24-7 loss against Michigan on Oct. 18.
With only four games left in the season (one against a ranked opponent), and two losses to two teams ranked above it, there would need to be a lot of self-cannibalization within the conference, and possibly among other top teams in the Southeastern Conference (SEC) for the Huskies to make the CFP.
Nonetheless, Washington has a chance.
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