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Washington State retains No. 8 spot in College Football Playoff rankings

By Theo Lawson theol@spokesman.com(509) 459-5584

PULLMAN – Nothing changed for Washington State – or any other team in the top 10, for that matter – when the latest edition of the College Football Playoff rankings was released Tuesday afternoon.

For the third consecutive week, the Cougars checked in at No. 8 in the CFP rankings, one spot ahead of No. 9 West Virginia and one spot below No. 7 LSU. WSU improved to 9-1 on the season and 6-1 in Pac-12 play by thumping Colorado 31-7 last Saturday in Boulder.

The Cougars rose above LSU in Sunday’s Associated Press Top 25 poll but couldn’t jump the two-loss Tigers in the CFP rankings.

“Washington State would help themselves out by blowing people out,” ESPN’s Joey Galloway said during Tuesday’s reveal on the College Football Playoff show. “Going on the road and beating Colorado the way they did is very impressive.”

The Cougars didn’t move up or down and neither did any of the top 10 teams in the nation. For the second consecutive week, it looked like this: No. 1 Alabama, No. 2 Clemson, No. 3 Notre Dame, No. 4 Michigan, No. 5 Georgia, No. 6 Oklahoma, No. 7 LSU, No. 8 WSU, No. 9 West Virginia and No. 10 Ohio State.

Two other Pac-12 teams made the cut Tuesday: Washington moved up to No. 18 in the rankings and Utah to No. 19. The Cougars could play both in the next three weeks and would obviously benefit from defeating the Huskies in the Nov. 23 Apple Cup and beating the Utes one week later in a potential rematch at the Pac-12 Championship game.

“If chaos comes, you can play Utah … and you can play Washington,” ESPN analyst David Pollack said. “You can play them in back-to-back weeks. That’s very, very important for Washington State.

“And here’s the thing with Washington State, they’ve always been a great offensive team, they’ve always been able to score. They’re playing pretty good defense. Cal, they lose a game against Cal when they score under 20 in the past. That usually doesn’t happen because they give up so many points. Washington State’s a pretty good dadgum team. I want to watch them more, because they’re a team I think can jump up in there.”

WSU could inflate its CFP ranking by beating Arizona on Saturday in Pullman. The Cougars and Wildcats kick off at 7:30 p.m. in a game that will air on ESPN.