[stupac2]

While I think I have a pretty good handle on Stanford, I can't make sense of the discrepancy between Washington's rankings and what that team has accomplished on the field going back to 2015.  I would appreciate someone explaining what I am missing. They had three cream puffs in their first three games this season which they dispensed with, and then played Arizona. Their best wins are against the Wildcats this past Saturday and against USC last October.

1) They had a pretty good defense last year (and IIRC the year before), and while they lost some key pieces in the front seven people expected that to continue.

2) Browning put up good numbers as a true freshman and people projected improvement for him. (Also of note, he was injured and missed our game last year.)

3) They have some very good skill players.

That got the pre-season ranking, and since they've mostly done what ranked teams are supposed to do (beat the teams they're playing) they haven't slid much. Someone on reddit made a post yesterday about the biggest ranking discrepancies between human and computer polls, and UW was one of the most overranked by humans, because those things listed above aren't as indicative of future success as people think.

All of that being said, they're still a good team, probably deserving of being top-20. We're playing at their house, one of the loudest stadiums in the country, on a short week with the some key players injured and an inexperienced OL and QB. There's a reason we're 3-point underdogs.

[stupac2]

While I think I have a pretty good handle on Stanford, I can't make sense of the discrepancy between Washington's rankings and what that team has accomplished on the field going back to 2015.  I would appreciate someone explaining what I am missing. They had three cream puffs in their first three games this season which they dispensed with, and then played Arizona. Their best wins are against the Wildcats this past Saturday and against USC last October.

1) They had a pretty good defense last year (and IIRC the year before), and while they lost some key pieces in the front seven people expected that to continue.

2) Browning put up good numbers as a true freshman and people projected improvement for him. (Also of note, he was injured and missed our game last year.)

3) They have some very good skill players.

That got the pre-season ranking, and since they've mostly done what ranked teams are supposed to do (beat the teams they're playing) they haven't slid much. Someone on reddit made a post yesterday about the biggest ranking discrepancies between human and computer polls, and UW was one of the most overranked by humans, because those things listed above aren't as indicative of future success as people think.

All of that being said, they're still a good team, probably deserving of being top-20. We're playing at their house, one of the loudest stadiums in the country, on a short week with the some key players injured and an inexperienced OL and QB. There's a reason we're 3-point underdogs.