Cal went 1-11 two years ago and ranked third in its division in the Pac-12’s official 2015 preseason poll. Utah just joined the conference in 2011 and was picked ahead of only Colorado in the Pac-12 South after an offseason of odd coaching turmoil.
Utah was picked second-to-last in the Pac-12 South. It’s officially the Pac-12’s last undefeated team.
The No. 5 Utes are one of the conference’s newest additions, and now they’re its best Playoff hope.
Gene Sweeney Jr./Getty Images
Saturday, they met as the conference’s last two unbeatens, because eight months of offseason evaporate pretty quickly after only a few weeks of actual competition. Oregon’s collapsed, the South is eating itself, Stanford lost to Northwestern, Washington might be good (?) and only these two emerged, now distilled to one.
Saturday, Devontae Booker led Utah’s offense with 267 total yards. For Cal, potential No. 1 NFL Draft pick (so they say) Jared Goff had disastrous moments, throwing five picks while still leading what felt like endless potential game-winning drives in the fourth quarter. That kind of thing happens in Salt Lake against this defense. The final effort:
Via ESPN
One unbeaten. How does that compare? The ACC has two unbeaten teams. The Big 12, Big Ten and SEC have three each. The American has three, and it’s not even a power conference.
We should probably fret about what this means for the Pac-12’s Playoff chances and all that. Sure, it’s not great. The conference only has one win-and-in team now, though it should be noted Utah’s win over Michigan is now looking like one of the season’s most impressive. With only three one-loss teams (Cal, Stanford, UCLA), the Pac-12 is likely down to four teams with realistic paths to the tourney, assuming no total chaos.
That’s fine. What’s cool here is that one of the country’s best and most contentious conferences has an underdog as its undisputed leader right now.
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