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Washington State on the move in Associated Press top 25 poll after knocking off Utah

Washington State Cougars defensive back Robert Taylor (2) reacts after he intercepted a pass intended for Utah Utes wide receiver Raelon Singleton (11) during the first half of a college football game on Saturday, November 11, 2017, at Rice-Eccles Stadium in Salt Lake City, Utah. (Tyler Tjomsland / The Spokesman-Review)
By Theo Lawson theol@spokesman.com(509) 459-5584

PULLMAN – A 33-25 win over Utah Saturday night at Rice-Eccles Stadium boosted Washington State four spots to No. 15 in the latest edition of the Associated Press Top 25 poll.

The Cougars came in at No. 16 in the Amway Coaches Top 25 poll, which was also released Sunday morning. They were No. 20 in the Coaches Poll last week.

For the first time this season, WSU (9-2, 6-2) jumped ahead its cross-state rival in the AP rankings. Washington (8-2, 5-2) slid seven spots to No. 16 after losing to Stanford (7-3, 6-2) in Palo Alto Friday night. The Cougars have a bye week before playing the Huskies in the Apple Cup on Nov. 25, so UW will have a chance to leap WSU in the rankings if it can beat Utah at home this Saturday.

USC (9-2, 7-1) checked in as the highest-ranked Pac-12 team, moving up three spots to No. 12 after beating Colorado in Boulder. Stanford stayed put at No. 20 in the AP poll despite collecting its biggest win of the season – a 30-22 upset of the Huskies. Arizona (7-3, 5-2) couldn’t sneak back into the poll despite beating Oregon State 49-28 Saturday in the desert. The Wildcats collected 49 votes in Sunday’s poll.

The Cougars will presumably move up a few places in the College Football Playoff rankings, which will come out later this week. In last week’s rankings, they checked in at No. 19.

There were some drastic changes in the top half of the AP poll. Georgia, Notre Dame, TCU and UW were all previously ranked inside the Top-10, but the Bulldogs, Irish Horned Frogs and Huskies all lost over the weekend. After a makeover, the top-10 looked as such: No. 1 Alabama, No. 2 Miami, No. 3 Oklahoma, No. 4 Clemson, No. 5 Wisconsin, No. 6 Auburn, No. 7 Georgia, No. 8 Ohio State, No. 9 Notre Dame and No. 10 Oklahoma State.