The Washington Huskies are the Pac-12 champions, and that's something that will have wide-ranging effects on the College Football Playoff picture and the chances of several Big Ten teams to make the final four.
Washington entered this championship weekend ranked fourth in the latest Playoff rankings, one spot ahead of Michigan, two ahead of Wisconsin and three ahead of Penn State. And after the Huskies convincingly dispatched of the eighth-ranked Colorado Buffaloes in Friday night's Pac-12 title game, it sure looks like Chris Petersen's team will get a chance to play for a national championship.
The selection committee hasn't seemed too high on Washington this season, a reflection, perhaps, of their thoughts on the Pac-12 as a conference and the Huskies' lack of high-quality wins despite their one-loss record. But after securing a signature victory over a top-10 team on Friday night, Washington's resume is bolstered. And with a conference championship in hand, the committee might decide that the so-stated very small gap between Washington and Michigan is suddenly insurmountable, the Wolverines unable to catch up with no game to play this weekend.
Stay in the game with the latest updates on your beloved Chicago sports teams! Sign up here for our All Access Daily newsletter.
Certainly any objective observer would conclude that Michigan's resume is better than Washington's, even after the Huskies won the Pac-12 championship. The Wolverines have wins over three top-eight teams — Wisconsin, Penn State and Colorado — and took second-ranked Ohio State to two overtime periods in last weekend's epic edition of The Game.
But if Washington was good enough to get a higher ranking this week, there's nothing that happened or could happen to suddenly make the Huskies look worse than the Wolverines. Washington beat Colorado by a 41-10 score, winning by a significantly higher margin than Michigan did in its early season matchup with the Buffaloes, a 17-point win for Jim Harbaugh's team. And with no way for the Wolverines to impress the committee following their second loss of the season, the Huskies figure to remain ranked ahead.
It also slams a potential door for the winner of Saturday night's Big Ten Championship Game. Sixth-ranked Wisconsin takes on seventh-ranked Penn State, and it now looks unlikely that the winner would jump both Michigan and Washington. The victor between the Badgers and Nittany Lions could certainly still jump the Wolverines, though that wouldn't be without controversy as Michigan beat both teams playing in Indy. But if the selection committee suddenly decides to value a conference championship — despite the fact that Ohio State, which won't own a league title, is looking like a Playoff lock — Saturday's winner could leap Michigan.
But would the winner between Wisconsin and Penn State leap Washington? That doesn't seem like too much of a possibility after the way the Huskies beat up on the Buffs, scoring some massive style points in addition to a signature win. The Badgers or Lions would have to pull off some kind of performance like the Buckeyes did back in 2014, when a 59-0 win in the Big Ten title game proved impressive enough to get them into the four-team field. Something like that might get this year's Big Ten title game winner into the Playoff, but that's a mighty tough ask.
Big Ten
Right now it seems that Wisconsin and Penn State's hopes lie not only in their own game but in the ACC title game, where they'd be praying for a Virginia Tech win over third-ranked Clemson. Certainly that would eliminate the Tigers, but there'd still be the question of whether the Big Ten title game winner would belong in the Playoff over Michigan.
Washington's win Friday was a big deal for the Huskies, but it was also a pretty big deal — and a pretty big blow — for those who hoped to see multiple Big Ten teams in the Playoff field.