UW Huskies to face rival Oregon in Pac-12 Championship Game.
The rematch that so many have wanted to see will officially happen. The Oregon Ducks have punched their ticket to the Pac-12 Championship Game and they will face the UW Huskies for the second time this season next Friday.Oregon, ranked No. 6 in the nation in the latest College Football Playoff rankings, defeated in-state rival Oregon State 31ā7 on Friday to clinch the final spot in next weekendās title game.
An Oregon loss to Oregon State would have opened the door for Arizona. The Wildcats would have then needed a win over Arizona State in order to earn the right to face the Huskies next weekend.
Washington, which plays Washington State in the Apple Cup on Saturday, clinched a championship game berth last week by also defeating Oregon State.
The UW Huskies are a perfect 11-0 entering this weekend and are ranked No. 4 in the latest CFP rankings. Itās important to note that the top four teams in the final CFP poll, which comes out after Championship Weekend, are the ones who will compete in the playoffs for the National Championship.
Oregon ends its regular season at 11-1 and has been the top-ranked one-loss team in the country for over a month. The Ducks have been considered by many to be the best one-loss team in the country over both Texas and Alabama.
The Ducksā lone loss came against UW at Husky Stadium in October, a 36-33 thriller that came down to a missed Oregon field goal after the Huskies scored a go-ahead touchdown with less than 2 minutes remaining in the game.
The two rivals also had a classic last year in Eugene, with Washington winning 37-34 in an upset. That game dealt a big blow to Oregonās College Football Playoff hopes and played a part in the Ducks missing out on the Pac-12 title game last year.
The stakes were high in October, but they bow have never been higher for a UW vs Oregon game.
If Washington beats Washington State on Saturday and enters the championship game at 12-0, the winner of UW-Oregon will almost certainly make it to the College Football Playoff.
An Oregon win would likely get the Ducks back to the College Football Playoff for the first time since 2014.
If the Huskies win their next two games and have a perfect 13-0 record, they would almost certainly get back in the CFP for the first time since 2016. That was the last time any Pac-12 team made the playoffs.
The game may also help decide who wins the Heisman Memorial Trophy as Oregon quarterback Bo Nix and Washington quarterback Michael Penix Jr. are two of the frontrunners for the prestigious award, given each year to the nationās top player.
The Pac-12 Championship Game is Friday, Dec. 1 in Las Vegas.
Ohio State falls to No. 6 in AP Top 25; Michigan up to No. 2
No. 3 Washington, No. 4 Florida State and No. 5 Oregon all moved up a spot in The Associated Press college football poll Sunday, giving the Pac-12 two top-five teams for the first time since the final ranking of the 2016 season.Georgia remained No. 1 as the two-time defending national champions have been for 24 straight polls, dating back to the middle of last season. The Bulldogs received 52 of 62 first-place votes.
Michigan returned to No. 2 following a week at No. 3 and received 10 first-place votes after beating Ohio State 30-24 in Ann Arbor on Saturday.
The Buckeyes slipped from second to No. 6, clearing the way for Washington to reach its best ranking since finishing the 2000 season at No. 3 and setting up a top-five matchup with Oregon in the Pac-12 championship game Friday in Las Vegas.
The final Pac-12 championship game in the conference's current form before 10 members leave for other Power 5 conferences will be its first matching top-five teams.
The last time there were two Pac-12 teams in the top five of the AP poll was 2016, when USC finished No. 3 and Washington No. 4. The last time it happened during the season was Oct. 6, 2013, when Oregon was No. 2 and Stanford was fifth.
No. 7 Texas and No. 8 Alabama held their places Sunday. Missouri moved up one spot to ninth and Penn State to No. 10.
The same eight teams have been the top eight in the country for five straight weeks, with the only loss among those teams during that span being Ohio State's to Michigan.
The last time there was no team turnover in the top eight for that long was during Weeks 11-15 in 2008. That year, Florida, Oklahoma, Texas, Alabama, USC, Penn State, Utah and Texas Tech held the top eight spots in some order for five weeks.
Among the top eight teams, there are only four losses, one each for Oregon, Ohio State, Texas and Alabama. Of those four losses, three have come to other teams in the top eight: Oregon lost to Washington, Ohio State lost to Michigan, and Alabama lost to Texas.
Texas' loss came to No. 12 Oklahoma. Extend it out to the top 12 to include No. 11 Ole Miss and the only loss to a currently unranked team among that group is Oklahoma's to Kansas.
MOVING IN; MOVING OUT
NC State and SMU made their Top 25 debuts this week, raising to 44 the total number of teams to be ranked for at least a week this season.
Falling out for the first time was Tennessee, which finished its regular season 8-4 with a victory over Vanderbilt after barely hanging on at No. 25 last week.
Kansas State also dropped out again after losing a high-scoring game in the snow to Iowa State.
CONFERENCE CALL
Five teams from non-Power 5 conferences in the AP Top 25 is the most since the final 2021 poll.
SEC: 5 (Nos. 1, 8, 9, 11, 13)
Pac-12: 4 (Nos. 3, 5, 14, 21-tie)
Big Ten: 4 (Nos. 2, 6, 10, 18)
ACC: 3 (Nos. 4, 15, 21-tie)
Big 12: 3 (Nos. 7, 12, 19)
American: 2 (Nos. 17, 25)
Conference USA: 1 (No. 20)
Sun Belt: 1 (No. 24)
Mid-American: 1 (No. 23)
Independent: 1 (No. 16)
RANKED vs. RANKED
No. 8 Alabama vs. No. 1 Georgia: SEC championship in Atlanta
No. 18 Iowa vs. No. 2 Michigan: Big Ten championship in Indianapolis
No. 5 Oregon vs. No. 3 Washington: Pac-12 championship in Las Vegas
No. 15 Louisville vs. No. 4 Florida State: ACC championship in Charlotte, North Carolina
No. 19 Oklahoma State vs. No. 7 Texas: Big 12 championship in Arlington, Texas
No. 25 SMU at No. 17 Tulane: AAC championship in New Orleans
| RANK, TEAM | REC. | PTS. | LW |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. Georgia (52) | 12-0 | 1540 | 1 |
| 2. Michigan (10) | 12-0 | 1495 | 3 |
| 3. Washington | 12-0 | 1413 | 4 |
| 4. Florida State | 12-0 | 1358 | 5 |
| 5. Oregon | 11-1 | 1277 | 6 |
| 6. Ohio State | 11-1 | 1251 | 2 |
| 7. Texas | 11-1 | 1205 | 7 |
| 8. Alabama | 11-1 | 1125 | 8 |
| 9. Missouri | 10-2 | 1011 | 10 |
| 10. Penn State | 10-2 | 961 | 11 |
| 11. Ole Miss | 10-2 | 936 | 12 |
| 12. Oklahoma | 10-2 | 857 | 13 |
| 13. LSU | 9-3 | 809 | 14 |
| 14. Arizona | 9-3 | 712 | 16 |
| 15. Louisville | 10-2 | 689 | 9 |
| 16. Notre Dame | 9-3 | 592 | 17 |
| 17. Tulane | 11-1 | 557 | 18 |
| 18. Iowa | 10-2 | 458 | 20 |
| 19. Oklahoma State | 9-3 | 407 | 21 |
| 20. Liberty | 12-0 | 293 | 22 |
| 21. NC State | 9-3 | 269 | - |
| 21. Oregon State | 8-4 | 269 | 15 |
| 23. Toledo | 11-1 | 176 | 23 |
| 24. James Madison | 11-1 | 121 | 24 |
| 25. SMU | 10-2 | 108 |
