Joey Galloway, Greg McElroy argue Washington should be ahead of Michigan, Ohio State

Joey Galloway has questions for the College Football Playoff committee after ranking Michigan ahead of Washington. With the Huskies jumping Florida State to move up to No. 4 in the latest version of the rankings, the Wolverines stayed put at No. 3.

Galloway, who played receiver at Ohio State, took issue with that on the rankings reveal show on ESPN. He argued that Washington should have also been ahead of Michigan due to the way the Wolverines have looked in the past two games with coach Jim Harbaugh serving a suspension.

“Why is Washington not above Michigan?” Galloway said. “Why is this just Florida State and Washington? You look at Washington’s resume and you look at Michigan’s resume, all we’ve talked about all long is Michigan and the eye test. The last two weeks, what did your eyes tell you? They didn’t look good at all.

“Without Jim Harbaugh two weeks, they have not looked good. So you’re only bringing eye test to the party and they didn’t look good? …I don’t know why the conversation is just Florida State and Washington when it should be all three of these teams. I would move Washington to No. 3 because their resume is better.”

After rolling through the first nine games of the season, Michigan has won its past two contests by single digits. The Wolverines first beat Penn State to earn its first victory against a top 25 opponent. However, quarterback JJ McCarthy attempted only eight passes in that game as he finished with 60 yards and no touchdowns.

McCarthy also failed to score in last week’s 31-24 win against Maryland. He completed a season-low 52% of his passes for 141 yards and one interception.

Washington, on the other hand, earned a victory against a top 25 team this past week on the road against Oregon State. The Huskies also have a better win than Michigan to this point, having beaten No. 6 Oregon earlier in the season.

Still, ESPN analyst Greg McElroy believes the committee did the right thing by putting Washington at No. 4. With Michigan and Ohio State set to play each other this week, the Huskies are likely to move up to No. 3 in the next rankings anyway.

“This is a significant move,” McElroy said. “We always say these things will take care of themselves. No it won’t. This is important. We’ve all just acknowledged that right now there is a gap between Team 1 and Team 2.

“If Georgia holds through and wins the rest of their games, then Ohio State and Michigan takes care of itself. Now Washington’s in prime position to be the three spot and avoid that first round matchup with the Georgia Bulldogs. So this is a significant move and the committee got it right.”

Galloway wasn’t buying it, however, continued to make his case for the Huskies ahead of the Wolverines.

“Washington is better than both in strength of record and strength of schedule,” he said. “So my point is if we’re talking eye test and we’re moving Florida State down because of what Washington has accomplished, I absolutely agree with that. But the same conversation should be had for Michigan.”

That led McElroy to bring Galloway’s Buckeyes into the conversation. He argued that Michigan and Ohio State have similar resumes, so if Washington should be ahead of one, it should also be ahead of the other.

“I think the same conversation should be had for Ohio State too then,” he said. “Ohio State, that was a great win against Notre Dame. A comparable win to Penn State. One was on the road, one was at home. If you’re gonna make this big argument in favor of Washington being ahead of Michigan, why don’t we also engage in the discussion that maybe Washington should be ahead of Ohio State?”

Galloway, however, believes that the Buckeyes’ win against Notre Dame pushes them ahead of both Washington and Michigan in the College Football Playoff rankings.

“Ohio State’s resume is different than Michigan’s resume,” he retorted. “You just said it because they have Notre Dame.”

Ultimately, with a couple weeks of football still to be played for two of these three teams, we’ll see how it shakes out. Washington should be in the Playoff as long as it wins out, so shouldn’t worry too much about where Ohio State and Michigan are.