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After Stanford win, Washington State moves to No. 19 in Associated Press Top 25 poll

Washington State Cougars linebacker Frankie Luvu (51) reacts after he intercepted the ball from Stanford Cardinal quarterback K.J. Costello (3) to seal the game for WSU during the second half on Saturday. The Cougars were ranked No. 19 in the newest AP Top 25 poll. (Tyler Tjomsland / The Spokesman-Review)
By Theo Lawson theol@spokesman.com(509) 459-5584
Washington State Cougars linebacker Frankie Luvu (51) reacts after he intercepted the ball from Stanford Cardinal quarterback K.J. Costello (3) to seal the game for WSU during the second half on Saturday. The Cougars were ranked No. 19 in the newest AP Top 25 poll. (Tyler Tjomsland / The Spokesman-Review)

PULLMAN – A win over the nation’s 18th-ranked team earned Washington State some goodwill with Associated Press Top 25 voters and the Cougars moved up six spots to No. 19 when the poll was released Sunday morning.

The Cougars (8-2, 5-2) have been all over the map the past four weeks, going 2-2 with losses on the road to Cal and Arizona, and nearly fell out of the poll after the 21-point loss to the Wildcats. But WSU has been a sure thing inside Martin Stadium this season and the Cougars capped a perfect home season with Saturday’s 24-21 win over No. 18 Stanford (6-3, 5-2).

The victory also keeps WSU eligible for a Pac-12 North title, but the Cougars would need to beat Utah (5-4, 2-4) in Salt Lake City this coming Saturday to set up a winner-takes-all Apple Cup with Washington.

The Cougars fell out of the Amway Coaches Poll after losing to Arizona two weeks ago, but moved up to No. 20 Sunday morning.

Stanford dropped out of the AP Poll by losing to the Cougars, as did Arizona (6-3, 4-2), which cracked the Top 25 by beating WSU, but fell out with a 49-35 loss to USC. The Trojans (8-2, 6-1), previously ranked No. 17, moved up two spots to No. 15. Washington (8-1, 5-1) moved back inside the top-10 after a 38-3 win over Oregon, checking in at No. 9.

In the Coaches Poll, the Huskies were No. 8 and the Trojans were No. 14.

WSU will presumably move up in the next edition of the College Football Playoff rankings, which will come out Tuesday. In the first CFP Rankings, the Cougars checked in at No. 25.