3 teams that can regain AP Top 25 status with a win this weekend

What you have to understand about college football is not everyone is playing for the same thing. While more and more teams will have a shot at making the College Football Playoff now that it has expanded from four teams to 12, some teams already have multiple losses on the year midway through October. Getting to a bowl is obvious, but what about potentially cracking the AP Top 25?

For some teams, the fall from grace has been as real as it has been highlighted. They may have been overrated heading into the season. For as difficult of a job as the Associated Press has when it comes to ranking the best teams in college football, personal biases and biases from the previous season always impact the polls to start the year. It is why the Selection Committee waits until November.

So what I am going to do today is highlight three teams that are currently outside the who were either ranked, or near enough, at the start o the season that are not a top-25 team week but could be in Week 8 with a win on Saturday. Again, I am not counting on any or all of these teams being able to get that done, but it is within the realm of possibility. No, I'm not counting Colorado, who gets in with a win.

Let's start with last year's national runner-up who has not been ranked at any point this season.

3. Washington Huskies (4-2) (2-1)

Washington enters play on Saturday at 4-2 overall and 2-1 in Big Ten play. The Huskies lost so much talent of last year's juggernaut team to the NFL Draft, and the transfer portal. Most of their staff left for Tuscaloosa to follow Kalen DeBoer to Alabama. In came Jedd Fisch and his staff from Arizona. So far the Huskies have been good, but nothing close to great. They just have to keep winning games.

Although Washington has not been an AP Top 25 team this year, the Huskies were ranked in the preseason in the top 25 of the Coaches Poll. They have been in the No. 26 to No. 35 range for most of the season. Their four wins are over Weber State, Eastern Michigan, Northwestern and Michigan. Eastern Michigan may win the MAC, Northwestern is .500 and Michigan is a two-loss team as well.

Should the Huskies get past the Iowa Hawkeyes at Kinnick in what will be a very early start for them, that might be enough to get them to No. 25 or so. This would require other ranked teams losing, such as Utah who fell to Arizona State on Friday night. The big question is if beating Iowa will be enough to overcome losses to Washington State and Rutgers to start the year. I think those teams are solid, too.

Washington is going to need some help, but there is a pathway toward being ranked with a win here.

2. USC Trojans (3-2) (1-2)

By far and away, this is the most improbable. However, if USC were to somehow protect its home turf over No. 4 Penn State, that should be more than enough to get the Trojans back into the AP Top 25. A win over the Nittany Lions would have them ranked somewhere in the 20s, I would assume. The good news for USC is most Big Ten teams traveling west have had a miserable time of it so far this season.

Penn State has looked like a playoff team all year long, but I cannot say that they have met their match in a game up to this point. At times, they look like the best team in the Big Ten. In other instances, they look like a team that could go worse than a very James Franklin 10-2. To be totally honest, they will probably go 10-2 this season, but that should get the Nittany Lions into the playoff.

The big question is if USC could be one of their two losses. I wouldn't count on it, but USC has not lost a game at home this year with wins over Utah State and Wisconsin. Their other win was a nailbiter vs. LSU over in Las Vegas. The big problem for USC is the Trojans cannot play Big Ten football on the road in the midwest. They have suffered a pair of close losses to Michigan and Minnesota already.

It feels like the least likely of the three wins to occur, but it would catapult USC back into the top 25.

1. Arizona Wildcats (3-2) (1-1)

This would be something. So far the Arizona Wildcats have not adjusted as quickly to life in the Big 12 as we would have expected. This may have something to do with Brent Brennan and his staff having to replace Jedd Fisch and his staff, who replaced Kalen DeBoer and his staff, who replaced Nick Saban and his staff. Right now, Arizona is 3-2 overall and 1-1 in Big 12 play. What are the Wildcats?

Their three wins are over New Mexico, Northern Arizona and Utah. The Utes were seen as good at the time, but that does not look to be true anymore. Arizona's two losses are to Big 12 opponent Kansas State in the non-conference and last week at home to emerging regional rival Texas Tech. The only reason Arizona would get back into the AP Top 25 this week is if they beat undefeated BYU in Provo.

The Cougars are one of two undefeated teams left in the Big 12, along with Iowa State, who is also 5-0. While some people tabbed the Cyclones as a serious contender to win the league, just like Arizona at the start of the year, nobody outside of the LDS community felt that way about BYU. The Cougars are playing very well right now under Kalani Sitake, so if Arizona did get the win, they could be ranked.

The combination of opponent and overall likelihood to get the win has Arizona at the top of this list.