Huskies are #4!

The biggest news this week for the University of Washington Huskies is that #2 Ohio State lost to unranked Purdue. This knocked Ohio State down in today's AP Poll to #6. And that moved Michigan from #3 to #2, Clemson (who had a bye this week) from #4 to #3, and the Huskies from #5 to #4. This is likely the Huskies' highest rating since sometime in the 1990s.

If they can maintain that ranking (i.e., not lose to somebody) they have a good chance of going to the FBS playoffs competing for the national title.

As for their game against Oregon State yesterday, they won 41-17. They were brilliant the first half of the game, zooming out to a 31 - 0 lead in front of a home crowd.

But in the second half they played as if they didn't care, allowing Oregon State to score those 17 points. Even quarterback Jake Browning, who is in Heisman Trophy contention, wasn't hitting receivers with the precision he normally does.

As happens a lot in Husky games, Browning came out in the fourth quarter (with about nine minutes left) and second stringers started playing.

Elsewhere in the Pac-12, Colorado beat Stanford who, since losing to the Huskies, have been fading fast. Colorado is now ranked at #23 in the AP Poll.

Utah beat UCLA, which moved them from #19 to #17 in the AP Poll. Those are the only other two ranked teams in the Pac-12 this week.

Washington State beat Arizona State in Tempe, which is not easy to do. I'm almost surprised WSU isn't ranked but that first-game lose to an FCS team probably keeps them out of the top 25.

While the Huskies are 7-0 (their best record for a long time, probably the 1990s), and 4-0 in conference, the WSU Cougars are 5-2 but also 4-0 in conference. That puts them squarely in second place in the Pac-12 North behind UW.

The Pac-12 South has the Utah Utes in first place at 7-1 and 4-1 in conference. The Colorado Buffaloes are right behind them at 6-2 over all, and also 4-1 in conference. The big California schools  (USC and UCLA) who normally dominate the Pac-12 South have to contend with being behind upstarts Utah and Colorado.

Next week the Huskies play Utah in Salt Lake City. This will probably be the toughest test yet for the Dawgs. And could be a preview of the Pac-12 championship game. The Huskies will have to contend with the elevation with is over 4,000 feet there while they are used to playing at near sea level.

Unfortunately, I have a meeting all day that Saturday. I will DVR the game and maybe watch it Sunday if I can keep from seeing/hearing the score. That means no social media. That'll be tough.