No huge surprises for No. 5 Washington or the rest of the top six in the College Football Playoff rankings heading into the final weekend of regular-season games.

However, the Huskies do have to worry a bit since those teams ahead of them have stronger scheduling. And while committee chair Kirby Hocutt said there wasn’t much separation between the No. 2 and No. 5 teams, he did mention one negative for the Huskies.

“Their strength of schedule is just not [at] where the others above them, that they’re being compared to, is right now,” Hocutt said.

Right now, Washington is 2-1 against the current top 25, with the potential for two more top-25 wins against No. 23 Washington State in the Apple Cup and No. 9 Colorado or No. 12 USC in the Pac-12 title game.

Those games would give a much-needed boost to Washington’s résumé and possibly ease some of the committee’s woes about Washington's strength of schedule. Washington's best bet for easing those fears is by continuing to win, but the Huskies might also need a bit of help from outside of the conference.

Looking at both No. 1 Alabama and No. 4 Clemson, which appear poised to take home SEC and ACC titles, Washington is going to want to keep an eye on Columbus, Ohio, on Saturday morning as the game between No. 2 Ohio State and No. 3 Michigan holds implications for the Huskies’ fate.

At this point, the most likely path for Washington playing itself into the playoff relies heavily on what happens in Big Ten territory on Saturday.

There are a lot of dominoes that need to fall, and at the end of the day, the Huskies don’t control anything that happens in Columbus. They do, however, have control over what happens against Washington State, a matchup that has favored the Huskies in six of the past seven meetings.

“I know everybody plays really hard in that game anyways,” Washington coach Chris Petersen said. “But now it’s kind of like how everybody hoped it would be.”

And now, Petersen and his team are just two wins -- and some favorable scores -- away from this playing out into a playoff berth.