Update: The bias-free Colley Matrix is even kinder to the Bears, ranking us as the #16 team in the nation, up from #35 last week. The Colley Matrix is calculated differently than the other polls and focuses on just this year’s results, leaving us with a very different Top 25 than the two major polls. Here, the top-25 Pac-12 teams other than Cal are Arizona State (#4) and Utah (#11).

Original: After yesterday’s win over the North Texas Mean Green, the California Golden Bears are ranked in the Top 25.

In the Coaches Poll, Cal rose five spots to #23 with 124 votes; last week, the Bears earned just 51 votes. We’re two spots below a team of Washington Huskies that we’ve beaten and one spot above the Arizona State Sun Devils. The other Pac-12 teams in the Top 25 according to the Coaches Poll are the Utah Utes (#11), the Oregon Ducks (#17), and the Washington State Cougars (#19).

In the AP Top 25, we’re also ranked #23, but with 164 votes here; this is up from #27 with 95 votes last week. We’re again sandwiched between Washington (#22) and Arizona State (#24) with Utah (#10), Oregon (#16), and Wazzu (#19) above us.

The last time Cal was ranked in the Top 25 was in the polls released on September 23, 2018 following a bye after our 3–0 start over the North Carolina Tar Heels, the BYU Cougars, and the Idaho State Bengals. We entered the game against the Oregon Ducks (pictured above) ranked 24th in the AP Top 25.

This post will be updated when the Colley Matrix is released later today, but I’ll leave the FPI and SP+ rankings for my colleagues to discuss later on in the week.