Let’s look at the bright side: after years of Stanford and USC trading titles we have a fifth winner in as many years. Your 2024 Mythical California Cup champs, for the first time in 21 years and only the third time in 65 years: the California Golden Bears.
San Diego State 10 at California 31 on Sep 14, 2024
San José State 10 at Fresno State 33 on Oct 26, 2024
Stanford 21 at California 24 on Nov 23, 2024
USC 19 at UCLA 13 on Nov 23, 2024
Stanford 31 at San José State 34 on Nov 29, 2024
Fresno State 13 at UCLA 20 on Nov 30, 2024
2024 final standings
California 2-0
USC 1-0
Fresno State 1-1
San José State 1-1
UCLA 1-1
San Diego State 0-1
Stanford 0-2
2024, 6, California, 2-0
The bear in the picture is shown atop a fallen redwood because Stanford gave this thing away in two truly awful sequences. Big Game turned out to be the crucial MCC game. After leading most of the way they let Cal march down the field and seal it. Then against SJ State they had a nice lead with the ball under two minutes and threw one of the worst interceptions ever to give the game back. Never has one team deserved the MCC less. (Here are the win probabilities according to ESPN.)
If I had been on the ball a little more it would have been nice to run through whatever chances Fresno State had yesterday going into UCLA with a 2-0 record on the line but I did not.
The dark side, of course, is that in the first year of the crippled post-Pac-12 landscape the California schools did not really show up. USC underperformed, Stanford avoided last place in the ACC only because of the FSU implosion and Fresno State was overshadowed by some amazing Mountain West stories. UCLA also played some football games. This is why we need more California games, not less. The MCC is about all we’ve got to play for.
Cal’s year was maddening. In the first year of the 12 team playoff with most of last year’s 4 team playoff field decidedly “off” the universe was begging for an ACC dark horse to break into the top 15. Cal took a 3-0 record into a stretch with very vulnerable “good” teams and proceeded to lose four in a row by what felt like one point each:
Sep 21 @Florida State L 14-9
Oct 5 Miami L 39-38
Oct 12 @Pittsburgh L 17-15
Oct 19 NC State L 24-23
Come on, man. (The ACC dark horse ended up being SMU.)
Let’s run some more results. Here’s the California Virtual Conference with FCS teams included:
Sacramento State 24 at San José State 42 on Aug 29, 2024
UC Davis 13 at California 31 on Aug 31, 2024
Cal Poly 7 at Stanford 41 on Sep 07, 2024
Sacramento State 30 at Fresno State 46 on Sep 07, 2024
San Diego State 10 at California 31 on Sep 14, 2024
Cal Poly 10 at UC Davis 56 on Oct 12, 2024
San José State 10 at Fresno State 33 on Oct 26, 2024
Sacramento State 23 at Cal Poly 26 on Nov 16, 2024
Stanford 21 at California 24 on Nov 23, 2024
UC Davis 42 at Sacramento State 39 on Nov 23, 2024
USC 19 at UCLA 13 on Nov 23, 2024
Stanford 31 at San José State 34 on Nov 29, 2024
Fresno State 13 at UCLA 20 on Nov 30, 2024
2024 final standings
California 3-0
USC 1-0
UC Davis 2-1
Fresno State 2-1
San José State 2-1
UCLA 1-1
Stanford 1-2
Cal Poly 1-2
San Diego State 0-1
Sacramento State 0-4
2024, 13, California, 3-0
Sacramento State ended up in the basement. At least Cal takes the undisputed crown here and adds a W with their win over Davis.
What about the Mythical Texas Cup? Surely it’s either UT or SMU with their top-10 rankings?
Sam Houston 34 at Rice 14 on Aug 31, 2024
UTSA 10 at Texas State 49 on Sep 07, 2024
North Texas 21 at Texas Tech 66 on Sep 14, 2024
UTSA 7 at Texas 56 on Sep 14, 2024
Rice 7 at Houston 33 on Sep 14, 2024
TCU 42 at SMU 66 on Sep 21, 2024
Sam Houston 41 at UTEP 21 on Oct 03, 2024
Houston 30 at TCU 19 on Oct 04, 2024
UTSA 27 at Rice 29 on Oct 12, 2024
Baylor 59 at Texas Tech 35 on Oct 19, 2024
Texas Tech 34 at TCU 35 on Oct 26, 2024
TCU 34 at Baylor 37 on Nov 02, 2024
Baylor 20 at Houston 10 on Nov 23, 2024
Texas 17 at Texas A&M 7 on Nov 30, 2024
2024 final standings
Baylor 3-0
Texas 2-0
Sam Houston 2-0
SMU 1-0
Texas State 1-0
Houston 2-1
Texas Tech 1-2
Rice 1-2
TCU 1-3
Texas A&M 0-1
North Texas 0-1
UTEP 0-1
UTSA 0-3
2024, 14, Baylor, 3-0
Baylor avoided both of them (stupid realignment) and beat up on the rest of the state. Bears winning all over the place.
SMU only playing one other Texas team is a horrible realignment outcome no matter how great this season turned out for them. Of all teams SMU feels like it should be rooted in old SWC territory. Never forget their 1982 campaign! 9 games in Texas and two others just across state lines in Arkansas and Tulane.