Today’s stunning and heart-breaking loss for the Cal Golden Bears officially eliminates them from any chance at a bowl appearance. Cal will finish 5-7 and miss out on a bowl game for the first time since 2002, when they finished 7-5. Nowadays 7-5 would get a bowl game, but that was not the case eight years ago.
Nobody in the Pac-10 clinched a bowl this weekend, but three teams are currently a game away from earning a bowl bid. Those three teams are the Washington Huskies, the Arizona State Sun Devils, and the Oregon State Beavers. The Beavers chances are somewhere between slim and none because following today’s 38-0 beatdown at the hands of Stanford, the Beavers host the No. 1 Oregon Ducks, with a BCS national title appearance on the line for Oregon. Rivalries can bring out the best in teams, but this is going to be a tough one for Oregon State to pull out.
The Washington Huskies eliminated Cal from bowl consideration and are now just a win away from a bowl themselves. They travel to Pullman, Washington to face their rivals the Washington State Cougars in the annual Apple Cup. The Cougars are struggling this year and currently are 2-9. Of course, a win over Washington that eliminates them from bowl consideration would certainly add a nice shine to an ugly season.
The Arizona State Sun Devils improved to 5-6 while eliminating the UCLA Bruins from bowl consideration yesterday. ASU now gets to travel to Arizona and face the Wildcats in the “Territorial Cup,” which is also known as the Duel in the Desert. Arizona has locked up a bowl bid and will look to send its rivals packing early.