The math on this one is pretty simple, and it stings a little. The Washington Huskies are 2-0, and they're the only team in the country to drop out of the AP Top 25 after a weekend where chaos was the headline. That's not a typo. While other unbeatens stumbled and survived, the Huskies sat at home or handled their business, and the voters still decided they were the odd one out. Meanwhile, over in Pullman, the WSU Cougars dominate all phases on way to win against Duquesne, and the gap between respect and results feels wider than the state itself.
Look, we're not going to pretend the poll is a science. It's a vibe check with a ranking attached. But being the *only* team to fall out while undefeated says less about what happened on the field and more about what the voters think will happen next. That's the part worth being honest about. The Huskies haven't looked dominant, sure. But dropping a team for winning feels like a statement that style points matter more than substance. For our readers, the practical takeaway is this: the College Football Playoff committee doesn't care about the AP poll in September, and neither should you. What matters is the next game. And that brings us to the What to know about Washington Huskies next opponent Minnesota matchup, which is suddenly a bigger deal than the schedule originally suggested.
Here's what we'd tell a friend who asked: don't spiral. This is the same team that controls its own path, and the only way to fix a poll snub is to make the wins louder. The Cougars just showed what it looks like when a team clicks in all three phases, and that's the exact blueprint Washington needs to borrow. You can't win pretty every week, but you also can't give voters an excuse to forget you. The Huskies have a chance to make a statement against Minnesota, and if they don't, this early ranking will look less like a mistake and more like a warning sign. The concrete thing to watch isn't the scoreboard. It's whether they finally put together a complete game. That's the difference between being undefeated and being taken seriously.
