Does Cal deserved to be ranked after this big win against Auburn?

Or will it take a win against SDSU to get into the rankings?

I'd be shocked if we were ranked. It'll take a strong performance against SDSU to get in the AP poll. It's a marquee win but it's not a ranked opponent. Even the people beating someone that's ranked this season, I've noticed most of them don't get ranked until they follow up with another win.
It is, however, a good borameter to our abilities and makes me think we could reasably get to 9 to 10 wins. Hopefully we stay healthy.

Probably a couple more wins.

yoteach said:

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I'd be shocked if we were ranked. It'll take a strong performance against SDSU to get in the AP poll. It's a marquee win but it's not a ranked opponent. Even the people beating someone that's ranked this season, I've noticed most of them don't get ranked until they follow up with another win.
It is, however, a good borameter to our abilities and makes me think we could reasably get to 9 to 10 wins. Hopefully we stay healthy.

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Yeah, the win is getting zero national press. It will take 4 - 0 to be ranked.

Depends on what currently ranked teams do. (We're not gonna leap frog, but if they lose... )

It didn't help us that Payton Thorne gave the game to us, gift wrapped.

Well our postgame thread on Reddit is sustaining at position #3. Does that count as national press?

My guess is we remain unranked but perhaps receive votes.

Johnfox said:

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Does Cal deserved to be ranked after this big win against Auburn?

Or will it take a win against SDSU to get into the rankings?

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Cal fans often get too preoccupied by the rankings and being ranked during the season.
The only rankings that matter are those at THE END of the season.

We should focus on winning the next game, then the next, then the next, then the next, then the next, then the next, then the next, then the next, then the next, then the next, then the next.
The rankings will take care of themselves..

Johnfox said:

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Does Cal deserved to be ranked after this big win against Auburn?

Or will it take a win against SDSU to get into the rankings?

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Auburn? Auburn predictions preseason weren't great... Not a top 25 finish, but a likely bowl season.

Beating them is awesome as a fan of hating the second, but they are not a perennial winner now. They are a 7 or 8 win team.

GivemTheAxe said:

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Johnfox said:

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Does Cal deserved to be ranked after this big win against Auburn?

Or will it take a win against SDSU to get into the rankings?

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Cal fans often get too preoccupied by the rankings and being ranked during the season.
The only rankings that matter are those at THE END of the season.

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Not if you enjoy the ride.

2007 was one of the best times to be a Cal fan. And the worst.

GivemTheAxe said:

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Johnfox said:

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Does Cal deserved to be ranked after this big win against Auburn?

Or will it take a win against SDSU to get into the rankings?

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Cal fans often get too preoccupied by the rankings and being ranked during the season.
The only rankings that matter are those at THE END of the season.

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Exactly

Cmon guys. How long have you been cal fans? Let's try to stay under the radar as long as we can and just keep stacking wins. That's all that matters.

Blowout San Diego State next week and we are ranked going into Tallahassee

Strykur said:

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Blowout San Diego State next week and we are ranked going into Tallahassee

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I'd be happier with Cal going from unranked to ranked right after that game.

SDSU is not a very good team, they got totally outplayed at home by OSU, Worst of all, their coach and team gave up with 4 min left to play.

I have always been of the opinion that it is good to be ranked at any time. It adds visibility to the school and the program in particular. We are then on the top 25 score ticker all week and on Saturday. Eyeballs on the team and the program are a good thing. The keep our heads down and concentrate on the next game--and only meaningful ranking is the last one--people aren't wrong, but I'll take a ranking any time.

It also means more eyeballs and better TV windows with more visibility. Wins are important and you could make the argument that the pressure and expectations that come with a ranking is a negative but if that's what causes the team to crumble then we don't deserve it anyway.

The war to not be relegated by the next round of conference realignment is being fought on three fronts: on the field, on the screens, and in the pocketbooks of alum and the AD. We need to win, we need to put up better TV numbers, and we need to invest in football and basketball at levels we haven't before.

The investment has been there so far, the wins (this very early season) are there, now we need to become a better TV draw and a ranking helps us achieve that. And, like I said, if we can't handle the pressure of even being Top 25 then maybe relegation is what we deserve; you can't be afraid of success

MSaviolives said:

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I have always been of the opinion that it is good to be ranked at any time. It adds visibility to the school and the program in particular. We are then on the top 25 score ticker all week and on Saturday. Eyeballs on the team and the program are a good thing. The keep our heads down and concentrate on the next game--and only meaningful ranking is the last one--people aren't wrong, but I'll take a ranking any time.

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Visibility within the ACC is also important in our rookie season, the road win in SEC territory is a great signal to the conference that we're serious about football and that the expansion was a good move.

This being said, I don't think we will make the top 25 this week because of the inertia in the voting process, enough teams ranked 16 to 35 (including the also receiving votes here) need to lose so we could leap into the top 25 starting from scratch. As well, the ND home upset to a directional school was monumental and sucked out some of the air from other upsets. We will however get plenty of votes from the other 16 ACC coaches and local media, and perhaps as well from other former P12s, and maybe even from the fair-minded SEC contingent.

No, we don't deserve to be ranked yet.

We play better when unranked so let's just stay that way for a little longer

3 votes in AP poll. It will take at least 4-0 to eek into the top 25 - maybe even 5-0.

DShaw1999 said:

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3 votes in AP poll. It will take at least 4-0 to eek into the top 25 - maybe even 5-0.

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I took a look at ESPN's AP ranking and it looks like Cal got 5 votes. This is kind of in the range of what I expected (though I thought Cal would get about 8 votes). If Cal goes 4-0, it'll probably be either ranked at the bottom of the top 25 or just outside of it. If Cal can manage to beat Miami (a reeeeeaaaaallllyyyyy) tough task this year, Cal will definitely be ranked at 5-0.

01Bear said:

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DShaw1999 said:

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3 votes in AP poll. It will take at least 4-0 to eek into the top 25 - maybe even 5-0.

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I took a look at ESPN's AP ranking and it looks like Cal got 5 votes. This is kind of in the range of what I expected (though I thought Cal would get about 8 votes). If Cal goes 4-0, it'll probably be either ranked at the bottom of the top 25 or just outside of it. If Cal can manage to beat Miami (a reeeeeaaaaallllyyyyy) tough task this year, Cal will definitely be ranked at 5-0.

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If California is 4-0, we will be ranked around 20th, with a decent possibility of CollegeGameday coming for a match against #10-ish Miami. But, there is a lot of work needed to get to that point. Neither SDSU nor FSU are pushovers. Personally, I'm fine with not being ranked now, we tend to quickly drop one once getting ranked

This is the part of Cal football I dislike the most. Win a couple of games - albeit important and especially Auburn, and we get all wet pants about rankings. I understand the exposure part. I prefer settling down to focus on this Saturday's game vs SD State and leaving the rankings to those who do it. Speculating seems meaningless unless we get our offense back with a healthy OL and a running game. Go Bears!

Focus on SDSU. The rankings will come when we show consistency.

Cal received one vote in the AP ballot this week by Chip Towers of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. He had us at 23 just ahead of Clemson and UM-Ann Arbor

All AP Ballots - Week 3. pic.twitter.com/Zw4kkLxojR

— RedditCFB (@RedditCFB) September 8, 2024

Maybe recall bias from seeing the ATL billboard?

In Sagarin's "Strong Recent" we are now #35 and Auburn is #34

http://sagarin.com/sports/cfsend.htm

Bearly Clad said:

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Cal received one vote in the AP ballot this week by Chip Towers of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. He had us at 23 just ahead of Clemson and UM-Ann Arbor

All AP Ballots - Week 3. pic.twitter.com/Zw4kkLxojR

— RedditCFB (@RedditCFB) September 8, 2024

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One vote, from the Georgia voter, for Cal at #23. I am curious what he sees that the other voters haven't.

Johnfox said:

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Does Cal deserved to be ranked after this big win against Auburn?

Or will it take a win against SDSU to get into the rankings?

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NO

JB was a Chieftain said:

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Focus on SDSU. The rankings will come when we show consistency.

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Thank you. For those of us who have been at Cal for a while, it's clear that rankings have always been our Achilles' heel. They do us no favors. We tend to stumble with a big target on our backs and our heads become too big for our own good.

BearinOC said:

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JB was a Chieftain said:

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Focus on SDSU. The rankings will come when we show consistency.

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Thank you. For those of us who have been at Cal for a while, it's clear that rankings have always been our Achilles' heel. They do us no favors. We tend to stumble with a big target on our backs and our heads become too big for our own good.

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Agree. Act like you have been there before. No more let downs when that happens. Keep grinding.

The AP voters and ESPN/DISNEY/SEC monopoly are pretty clear in their preseason opinions and early voting that they want about 8 of the 12 playoff spots to go to SEC teams. Whether there are 5-6 ACC teams in the bottom rankings is irrelevant. Just take it one game at a time, Bears! And keep winning!

Schools like Kansas St. and Utah somehow always manage to find their way into these rankings. What's their secret sauce? Head coach?

bear2034 said:

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Schools like Kansas St. and Utah somehow always manage to find their way into these rankings. What's their secret sauce? Head coach?

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Not K-State but Utah is all coaching.

bear2034 said:

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Schools like Kansas St. and Utah somehow always manage to find their way into these rankings. What's their secret sauce? Head coach?

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This early in the season, rankings are heavily based on how well you've been doing in recent seasons. Utah especially has a very strong recent record under Whittingham.

Cal will need to prove they can do better than 7 wins consistently.

sycasey said:

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bear2034 said:

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Schools like Kansas St. and Utah somehow always manage to find their way into these rankings. What's their secret sauce? Head coach?

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This early in the season, rankings are heavily based on how well you've been doing in recent seasons. Utah especially has a very strong recent record under Whittingham.

Cal will need to prove they can do better than 7 wins consistently.

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Just being honest, I'm as much an optimist as anyone on here (predicted 8-10 wins) but the cognitive dissonance on here is actually astounding sometimes. Just look at at how little faith and expectations this board had this offseason and even this week. That's us as **fans** but we expect national media to have faith in us and rank us early? It doesn't work like that, we have to prove it and take it. We're in "show me don't tell me" territory