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SALT LAKE CITY — A road trip to Seattle ended in disappointment after Utah held a 4-point lead going into halftime against Washington.
The Utes failed to score in the second half and watched as the Huskies pulled away for the team's 10th win of the season to maintain College Football Playoff aspirations. It's a loss that took Utah out of contention for the Pac-12 championship game — the first time in five full seasons for the Utes.
"I've been coaching a lot of years and I've never seen such a dramatic difference in two halves by an offense," Utah head coach Kyle Whittingham said Monday. "We went from outstanding to not being able to do much of anything in the second half."
With the loss, Utah dropped only three spots in the Associated Press Top 25 poll Sunday, and managed to gain some favor from the College Football Playoff selection committee Tuesday to stay in the poll.
The selection committee, which tabbed the Utes 18th the last two week, dropped Utah to No. 22 in the latest rankings with two weeks of the regular season left.
With its inclusion in the latest rankings, Utah has now been ranked 44 of the possible 57 total weeks of the CFP rankings era, which dates back to 2014. Utah remains the seventh-most ranked team in the history of the CFP rankings.
Utah is now the lowest-ranked team from the Pac-12, with Arizona jumping above the Utes and landing at No. 17.
Despite a win over Utah, Washington stayed put at No. 5 in the latest rankings, just one spot out of the final season of the four-team playoff. Behind Washington is No. 6 Oregon and No. 11 Oregon State.
For a little bit of drama, Georgia jumped Ohio State in the latest rankings to claim the No. 1 spot after a blowout win over Ole Miss. The Buckeyes dropped to No. 2 and is followed by No. 3 Michigan and No. 4 Florida State.
