Week 7 national rankings: The lowest of lows, in a sense

Now on a two-game skid, the national rankings for the California Golden Bears are the worst they’ve been since we entered the two major polls this season.

After losing to the Oregon Ducks (#13 this week in both polls), Cal now sits at #31 in both polls—with 20 points in the AP Top 25 and 17 points in the Coaches Poll—which is the lowest rank we’ve held this season since entering the polls. Despite losing to us earlier in the season and most-recently losing to a weaker opponent, the Washington Huskies are ranked above us in both major polls (#29 in the AP Top 25 and #27 in the Coaches Poll).

The Colley Matrix is an alternative ranking that prides itself on being bias-free and evaluating the teams strictly based on their on-field results this year. In a sentence that makes more sense than it seems, we’ve hit our lowest ranking here this year, beating the previous low when we upset Washington. Here, we sit at #36 and our next opponent (which will come after a bye) is the Oregon State Beavers, ranked #100.

I’m not sure what to anticipate for next week—how will the polls treat a downsliding, fringe team that’s on a bye?