[cardcoug]

I won't go so far as to say this loss doesn't really matter, but...

The loss affects the rankings now, but its early enough to climb right back into the conversation, especially with wins over UCLA, Ore, OreSt. Losses to Low APR U, Under Stanford Control or ND would be much more devastating, as late in the season as those are.

I think this is all correct. As others have pointed out, we still control our own destiny for the Rose Bowl, and I think that even the NCG isn't out of the question in terms of pure possibilities: if Ohio state drops a game, the Clemson/FSU winner drops a game (remember they each have tough rivalry games vs the SEC remaining), and Stanford wins out, the chances are very good.

But while the loss doesn't have a brobdingnagian effect on what possibilities are there for the Cardinal if they win out, it has had a very large effect on my thoughts about how likely Stanford is to pull it off. The way the Utes were able to consistently attack the perimeter has me imagining the ducks putting up 50+ again, taking us back to 2010-2011 type games. And the game this week looks scary too.

[cardcoug]

I won't go so far as to say this loss doesn't really matter, but...

The loss affects the rankings now, but its early enough to climb right back into the conversation, especially with wins over UCLA, Ore, OreSt. Losses to Low APR U, Under Stanford Control or ND would be much more devastating, as late in the season as those are.

I think this is all correct. As others have pointed out, we still control our own destiny for the Rose Bowl, and I think that even the NCG isn't out of the question in terms of pure possibilities: if Ohio state drops a game, the Clemson/FSU winner drops a game (remember they each have tough rivalry games vs the SEC remaining), and Stanford wins out, the chances are very good.

But while the loss doesn't have a brobdingnagian effect on what possibilities are there for the Cardinal if they win out, it has had a very large effect on my thoughts about how likely Stanford is to pull it off. The way the Utes were able to consistently attack the perimeter has me imagining the ducks putting up 50+ again, taking us back to 2010-2011 type games. And the game this week looks scary too.