Rankings Update: Week 9

As expected, the Bears are still not ranked this week but appear to be knocking on the door, coming in at 28th and 29th in AP and Coaches Polls respectively.

The most interesting aspect of the polls is trying to evaluate the worthiness of the teams ranked ahead of Cal at this point. I could really try and break down each ranked team's strength of schedule, but none of that really matters unless one looks at Cal's. Let's be real here: Cal has looked pretty good against inferior opponents and have looked terrible against both "good" opponents the Bears have faced this year.


The Bears have beaten just one team with a winning record this year, being 5-3 FCS (Div I-AA) Eastern Washington. All the others (Maryland, Minnesota, UCLA, and Washington State) aren't quite the quality opponents to really impress voters.

Yes, both losses have been against the #4 and #10 teams respectively, but a combined score of 6-72 against those teams don't give us quite the resume either.

I think the Bears crack the Top 25 if they're able to pull of a win over Arizona State this Saturday. It's be hard (but not impossible) to keep out a 6-2 squad from breaking into the rankings. Otherwise, the Bears might not see the rankings again for the rest of the year.