WSU in ‘others receiving votes’ category in latest AP Top 25, coaches polls

Apparently, WSU’s 42-16 thumping of Stanford didn’t come too late on Saturday night — the Cougars showed up Monday in the “others receiving votes” category of both the Associated Press Top 25 poll and the USA Today Coaches Poll.

The Cougs, now 3-2 on the season, still have a ways to go to convince enough voters they belong in the actual top 25 — their nine points ranked them 36th overall in the AP, and their eight points in the coaches poll ranked them 35th. Even so, given the way the season started (with losses to FCS Eastern Washington and Boise State), this represents tremendous progress.

Sometimes that happens when you outscore your opponents 149-55 over the course of three weeks, the last two coming against a pair of teams (Oregon and Stanford) that have had a stranglehold on the Pac-12 since the expansion of the conference. The only other team that can say it’s produced similar results over that time period is Washington, ranked No. 5 in both polls and the only other team undefeated in conference play.

The only other ranked Pac-12 team in the AP poll is Utah at No. 21, while Arizona State, Stanford and Colorado each also received votes. Utah is also ranked 21st in the coaches poll and the Utes are joined by Arizona State at No. 24. USC, Stanford and Colorado are also receiving votes.

Stanford, by the way, received more votes than WSU in both polls.

Up next for the Cougs is a homecoming matchup against unranked UCLA this Saturday at 7:30 p.m. PT. The game will be broadcast on ESPN.