CFP chair Boo Corrigan explains Washington being left out of top four

Washington ended up being the odd team out when the initial College Football Playoff rankings were released Tuesday night. Despite an undefeated record and one of the most explosive offenses in the country, the Huskies came in at No. 5 behind Ohio State, Georgia, Michigan and Florida State.

CFP chair Boo Corrigan joined the rankings reveal show on ESPN to explain how the committee came to that decision. He pointed to a couple of close calls for Washington against subpar opponents in Arizona State and Stanford over the past couple of weeks.

The Huskies allowed both teams to hang around for far too long, losing a few points in the eyes of Corrigan and the rest of the committee.

“There’s so much and we’ve got three new committee members that are in the room,” Corrigan said. “We’ve got former coaches that are in the room. We’ve got ADs, you’ve got other college football experts that are really passionate about it. The biggest thing really is a point of pride to make sure as we’re going through this, we get this right, and make sure we’re comfortable with where we are. There’s discussions with five undefeated teams and looking at Washington.

“Washington has the big win over Oregon. Little bit of concern from the committee as it relates to the Arizona State game at home and the Stanford game at home. Two teams that are combined four wins. As we’re looking at this, 13 of us came to the conclusion that we got it right today.”

Of the teams ranked ahead of Washington, Florida State is probably the one with the most debate as the Seminoles entered at No. 4. Both teams have only one win against teams ranked in the top 25, though the Huskies have a slightly better victory against No. 6 Oregon compared to No. 14 LSU for Florida State.

However, the Seminoles have won their past four games by an average of 25.8 points, including a dominant 41-16 road victory against Wake Forest this past week. It seems the way both teams won those contests played a factor in where they landed in those initial rankings.

Washington still has plenty of opportunities to earn quality wins in the future, though. The Huskies’ final four games feature three matchups against teams currently ranked in the College Football Playoff top 25, including this coming week against No. 20 USC. Meanwhile, Florida State does not play a single game against a ranked team to close out the season.

Washington has one of the most explosive offenses in the country behind Michael Penix Jr. and would certainly be a fun team to see compete in the College Football Playoff. If it can finish the year undefeated and as Pac-12 champion, all of this will likely be a distant memory as it would make it in anyway.

For now, the Huskies turn their attention to beating USC in a road game at 7:30 p.m. ET on Saturday.