Washington State drops to No. 25 in Associated Press poll following loss to Arizona

PULLMAN – Three weeks removed from being the country’s eighth-ranked team, the Cougars are now barely hanging on in the Associated Press Top 25 poll.

Saturday’s 58-37 loss to Arizona dropped Washington State 10 places to No. 25 in the AP poll and vaulted the previously unranked Wildcats past the Cougars to No. 23.

For WSU, which came into the year as the country’s 24-ranked team, it’s the lowest ranking of the season. The Cougars (7-2, 4-2) also fell out of the Coaches’ Poll completely one week after checking in at No. 16.

At No. 12, Washington (7-1, 4-1) remains the lone Pac-12 team in the top-15 of the AP poll. The Huskies trounced UCLA 44-23 on Saturday in Seattle.

USC (7-2, 4-1) moved up four spots to No. 17 after clobbering Arizona State 48-17 in Tempe and Stanford (6-2, 5-1) jumped from No. 20 to No. 18 after barely squeaking out a 15-14 win against Oregon State last Thursday.

The Cougars would drop out of the Top 25 for the first time this year with a loss on Saturday against Stanford and the Cardinal would only have a faint chance of staying in the poll with a defeat in Pullman.

Arizona (6-2, 4-1) became bowl eligible by beating the Cougars in Tucson and earned an AP ranking for the first time since 2015.