Kirk Herbstreit makes case for Washington to be top four in College Football Playoff rankings

The latest edition of the College Football Playoff rankings are out and aside from one minor change at the top, not much was different this week. That will have some Washington fans feeling nervous, with the program still ranked at No. 5.

Some would make an argument that Washington’s schedule is deserving of a higher rank, within the College Football Playoff top four spots.

“I know they had a couple down weeks if you want to nitpick them after their Oregon game,” ESPN analyst Kirk Herbstreit said on the air. “They had a few weeks where they looked like they were not healthy and doing the best they could to get through it. Then they woke up these last two weeks.”

After sleepwalking through wins over Arizona State and Stanford, Washington bounced back with impressive wins at USC and against Utah.

All of that has set up for a thrilling finish to the regular season, with the Huskies set to take on No. 11 Oregon State on the road and then host rival Washington State at home in the finale.

Keep winning and a Pac-12 Championship Game will wait, the final piece of ammunition when it comes to building a winning College Football Playoff resume.

Still, the way things currently stand begs the question: Should Washington be ranked ahead of Florida State, which is currently at No. 4?

Florida State’s chief win is against LSU at this point, with wins over both Clemson and Duke having lost some luster in recent weeks. Washington, on the other hand, has wins over quality Oregon, Arizona, USC and Utah squads.

“And then they get another test, they’ve got to go to Corvallis this week against Oregon State, a top-11 team,” Herbstreit said. “I would have no problem putting them ahead of Florida State, putting them up into the top four.”

Of course, the rankings right now don’t matter a ton. It’s only the final ranking that matter.

Presumably, things will work themselves out before then.

“The cool thing for them is if they keep winning football games they’re going to be where they want to be,” Herbstreit said of Washington. “But as we sit here with still a few weeks to go they’re a little restless based on what they’ve already accomplished and the way they execute on that side of the football for sure.”