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College football Week 12 watchability rankings: Washington State won't be in the Playoff, but the Cougars deserve our attention

If the Pac-12 hadn’t splintered and exploded, Washington State would seem like a lock to make the 12-team College Football Playoff this season. The Cougars are 8-1, ranked in the top 25 of the AP Poll and the CFP rankings, and their lone loss is to a Boise State team that is, in all likelihood, going to be the Group of Five representative in the field.

But the Pac-12 as we knew it is dead, killed by conference commissioners, television executives and greed. Much of its former members were either poached by the Big Ten or sought refuge in the Big 12 and even the ACC.

Washington State was, along with Oregon State, left behind. Orphaned and abandoned and left without a real home in college football.

And yet, the Cougars have persevered. They played a schedule consisting mostly of Mountain West schools, but also notched wins over Texas Tech and Apple Cup rival Washington. Jake Dickert’s Cougars are powered by one of the best offensive units in the country, one that scores 39.3 points per game, which ranks eighth in all of FBS. Quarterback John Mateer is sixth nationally in passing touchdowns with 22 and is second in total touchdowns responsible for with 33 – trailing only the man he used to back up, Miami’s Cam Ward.

Wazzu has played in some incredibly fun games this season too, from its gritty win over Washington to its shootout with San Jose State. And unless you’ve sought them out, you might have missed the Cougars so far this season. They’ve played on network television just once – that Sept. 7 home win over Texas Tech was on FOX – while the rest of their games have aired on this collection of channels and services: The CW, Peacock, FS1 and CBS Sports Network.

That’s right. Wazzu hasn’t played once on the ABC-ESPN family of channels this season. For most of their games, you’ve needed rabbit ears to pick up the CW, or an expanded cable package that includes the second-tier sports channels of FOX and CBS.

Washington State checked in at No. 18 in the College Football Playoff rankings this week, but we should be realistic about this: The Cougars, even if they win out, are not going to play in the CFP. The first two rankings reveals have made it clear that this is a tournament reserved mostly for teams in the Big Ten and SEC. The Big 12 and ACC will each get a spot or two here and there, and they’ll throw the Group of Five a bone because they have to, and if a big brand like Notre Dame is good they’ll get in.

Washington State? College football just told us that it and Oregon State are, unfortunately, have-nots.

But here’s the thing: While Washington State might not be a playoff team, that doesn’t mean it doesn’t deserve our attention. We as whole-hog fans of this sport should be seeking out the high-flying offense from Pullman, whether they’re playing on CSPAN or truTV. We should root for the Cougars to win their last three games and make the playoff committee at least think about them. And when Wazzu inevitably doesn’t crack the 12-team field, we should root for it to make the Sun Bowl, or the Duke’s Mayo Bowl, or the whatever funny money bowl, and beat the seventh-place Big Ten or SEC team it gets matched up against.

College football is better when teams like Wazzu are challenging the status quo, even if we already know what the likely final outcome will be.

The Cougars may not earn the respect of the playoff committee, but they deserve to be watched. Check them out on Saturday at 9:30 p.m. ET at New Mexico on FS1, y’all.

Best Game of the Week: No. 7 Tennessee at No. 12 Georgia

Saturday, 7:30 p.m. ET – ABC/ESPN+

(Photo by Alex Slitz/Getty Images)

Simply put, the Dawgs need a win to feel good about staying alive in the playoff hunt.

Georgia will have a solid homefield advantage in a place that hasn’t been kind to the Vols. Tennessee has won in Athens just twice since 2005, and the Bulldogs are riding a seven-game win streak against the Vols.

Game that might have an impact on the College Football Playoff: Arizona State at No. 16 Kansas State

Saturday, 7 p.m. ET – ESPN

This one is pretty simple: the loser will have three conference losses and will be eliminated from any playoff discussion. Meanwhile, the winner stays alive in the race to (probably) meet BYU in the Big 12 title game.

A matchup between the Sun Devils and Wildcats should be pretty fun. It features two of the top rushing offenses in the country, headlined by highlight creators in DJ Giddens and Cam Skattebo.

Awesome Group of Five matchup worth watching: No. 13 Boise State at San Jose State

Saturday, 7:30 p.m. ET – CBS Sports Network

Craig Strobeck-Imagn Images

This game features the best running back in college football and one of the sport’s best wide receivers on the other side. We all know about Heisman candidate Ashton Jeanty and how he’s powering Boise State to a potential College Football Playoff berth, but San Jose State is quietly already bowl-eligible in Year One under Ken Niumatalolo and the play of Nick Nash is a massive reason why. Nash, now in his sixth and final season of college football, is a converted quarterback who leads all of FBS in receptions (86), receiving yards (1,156), and receiving touchdowns (13).

Yes friends, you read that right: the guy who leads college football in every major receiving stat plays for one of the coaches synonymous with the triple-option.

Sickos Guilty Pleasure Game of the Week: UL Monroe at Auburn

Saturday, 12:45 p.m. ET – SEC Network

Can ULM get bowl-eligible under first-year coach Bryant Vincent for the first time since 2012 at the expense of Hugh Freeze and this putrid Auburn team?