Washington State Football: 3 takeaways from upset loss at Cal

2. Washington State said “Au revoir!” to its College Football Playoff hopes

While its quarterback is out of the Heisman (and Maxwell and Davey O’Brien Award) races, Washington State also saw any longshot hopes of a College Football Playoff berth fly out the window. Even should they clean up, win out, and steal away the Pac-12 crown, a 12-1 Cougars team would definitely have a loss of this magnitude held over its head by the selection committee.

Friday night’s game taught us that there are probably only two teams in the Pac-12 that have a shot of reaching the CFP semifinals this year. Washington State has to sit back and watch rival Washington soak up the attention in the Pac-12 North. In the other division, only USC probably has the cachet to overcome a loss and gain the committee’s respect enough to get in.

After USC took Utah out of the equation last week, Washington State’s defeat means that only Washington remains undefeated in the conference. Everyone else is a flawed contender, but Washington State might not even be that anymore. The Cougars will tumble down the AP Top 25 on Sunday after this upset on the road.

This is the sort of loss that not only sets a team back but that knocks them out completely. The Cougars are now little more than a spoiler, and they will have a hard time rebounding from such a crushing blow to their confidence.