SANTA CLARA, Calif. -- Colorado quarterback Sefo Liufau, leader of the nation's biggest surprise team, knows the score. Sure, folks like what the Buffaloes have accomplished this year. Sure, they love the story of lovable losers making good. It's very Hollywood, after all.

But he also knows that Pac-12 folks in general want the conference represented in the College Football Playoff. It's not so much that other programs like No. 4 Washington better than No. 8 Colorado. In fact, more than a few would say the opposite is true. But there is that issue of an extra $6 million to be distributed in Power 5 conferences with playoff teams.

“I just think that a lot of people on the outside didn’t expect us to be here," Liufau said. "A lot of people don’t want us to win for playoff implications and things like that."

The Buffaloes already are working from a challenging position as they finish preparations for Friday's Pac-12 title game at Levi's Stadium in Santa Clara, California. They beat a rugged Utah team last Saturday. Washington won the Apple Cup against Washington State on Friday. So the Huskies had an extra day of rest and an extra day to scheme.

As it is, both programs represent significant change in the Pac-12, where no team has won the conference title other than Stanford or Oregon since expansion in 2011. The North Division champion Huskies, longtime Pac-8/10/12 members, are looking for their first conference title since 2000. The Buffaloes have finished last in the South Division every season since leaving the Big 12, where they last won a title in 2001.

Colorado's Mike MacIntyre and Washington's Chris Petersen both held the belief their teams would make the Pac-12 title game. Getty Images

If Colorado wins, its likely destination is the Rose Bowl Game presented by Northwestern Mutual on Jan. 2. If the Huskies win, barring some surprising shenanigans from the College Football Playoff selection committee, they would end up in a playoff semifinal, either the PlayStation Fiesta Bowl or Chick-fil-A Peach Bowl on Dec. 31.

Huskies coach Chris Petersen has pushed aside CFP talk all season, but he acknowledged it this week when asked if he was worried whether the Huskies might not earn a berth even with a victory.

“I feel pretty good. Pretty confident," he said. "I’ve always said that. We take care of business, everywhere I’ve been, those people usually do the right thing. Our whole focus, like you said, is on Colorado. We’ve got a big hurdle there, and if we can get over that hurdle, yeah.”

He later added, "I have confidence the powers that be will get this thing right."

Neither team was a terribly popular choice to win its division in the preseason, though the Huskies did begin the season ranked 14th in the AP poll. They are similar in other ways. They both play great defense. Both are balanced between the run and pass. Both are led by A-list quarterbacks.

The Huskies led the conference in scoring defense (17.8 points per game). The Buffaloes were just a point behind in second place.

“It looks like the best defense we’ve faced all year," Liufau said.

The Huskies and Buffaloes last played in 2014, when Washington prevailed 38-23 in Boulder. It was the Huskies' sixth consecutive win in the all-time series, which Washington leads 9-5-1.

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"When we did play them a couple of years ago, we were both kind of the same -- probably not winning as many games as we thought we should," Petersen said. "But we kind of felt like they were right there as well. You get a few more players and you get a few more breaks and keep building skill and you're going to do some things. It's not surprising to me what they've done."

A difference in the teams? The Huskies are younger and more star-studded. They placed a conference-high nine players on the All-Pac-12 first team announced this week. Colorado had two. But the Buffaloes are older, by many measures the most veteran Power 5 team with a lineup laden with seniors and juniors.

Both teams lost to Southern California. The Buffaloes' only other loss was at now-No. 5 Michigan in Week 3, a game that was tight until Liufau got hurt in the third quarter. Colorado's season seemed to take off immediately after it lost to the Trojans, now ranked 11th. The Buffs have won six in a row since, and coach Mike MacIntyre traces his team's surge to their whipping of Arizona State the next week.

“I said after the Arizona State game that was our breakthrough game," he said. "We haven’t lost since. The dam broke and the water is flowing and they’re riding that raft and the water keeps rising. Hopefully we can keep going this week. They definitely understand it, and they’re locked in."

Both teams live by coaching wisdom that is considered cliche mostly because it's true: Don't look ahead. Take care of your own business and pay no attention to outside noise. That said, both also claim that they expected to be in Levi's Stadium on Friday night.

"We talked about being Pac-12 champions when no one else thought we should even be talking about that," MacIntyre said. "I saw it in their eyes. I saw it in their work ethic. I saw it in their ability. They've taken it and run with it."

Now that goal is immediately attainable for both programs. And perhaps a little bit more in the Rose Bowl or playoff.