Out the first week, in the next and now out again.

After suffering the first defeat, the Washington Huskies not surprisingly relinquished their coveted top-four position in the College Football Playoff committee’s rankings and fell two spots to No. 6 Tuesday. The top four teams in the final Dec. 4 rankings advance to the national semifinals.

There was plenty of speculation about this week’s CFP rankings because the No. 2, 3 and 4 teams lost last week and suffered their first defeats.

Alabama (10-0) remained at No. 1 in the ranking for a third straight week followed by Ohio State (9-1), Michigan (9-1) and Clemson (9-1). Ohio State, which moved up three spots, made its first appearance in the top four this season.

Despite a 14-13 upset last Saturday at Iowa, Michigan remained at No. 3 while Clemson slipped two spots to No. 4 after its 43-42 setback to Wake Forest.

Comparatively, the CFP punished Washington (9-1, 6-1 Pac-12), more harshly than Michigan and Clemson after each team suffered their first loss. The Huskies fell at home 26-13 to USC.

“The Committee this week spent a great deal of time on teams 3-6,” said Texas Tech athletic director Kirby Hocutt who is chairman of the CFP selection committee. “There’s small separations in that category of teams.”

Washington, which plays Arizona State (5-5, 2-5) 4:30 p.m. Saturday at Husky Stadium, could face one or two teams ranked by the CFP that included half of the Pac-12 among its top 25.

WSU Cougars to No. 22

Washington State moved up only one spot to No. 22 in the latest College Football Playoff rankings that were released Tuesday evening.

This marked the first week in a row that the College Football Playoff selection committee rankings have not mirrored the Associated Press and Coaches Polls in regard to WSU. WSU is currently ranked No. 20 in the AP and Coaches Polls

The Cougars made history last week, beating Cal 56-21 to start 7-0 in conference play for the first time in the existence of the program.

Now, WSU (8-2 overall, 7-0 Pac-12) will try to improve its conference record to 8-0, and extend its win streak to nine games for the first time since the 1930 season.

The Cougars are gearing up for their toughest two-game span of the season that will likely decide the Pac-12 championship race.

This Saturday, they play No. 10 Colorado in Boulder, before turning around and facing No. 6 Washington in Pullman on Black Friday in a game that will determine the Pac-12 North winner.

WSU and Colorado each has a chance to clinch a Pac-12 division title if each team wins out. Colorado’s last two games come against WSU this week and No. 12 Utah in its season finale.

The Cougars have a chance to become the only team to finish unbeaten in Pac-12 play since the conference expanded to 12 teams in July 2011.