 In the 2004 NCAA Division I-A football rankings on November 27, Cal was in the #4 BCS position and Texas was #5.Texas remained idle the next Saturday, but Cal had defeated the Southern Mississippi Golden Eagles in a makeup game from Hurricane Ivan on December 4.Going into the game, the Golden Bears were made aware that while margin of victory did not affect computer rankings, it did affect human polls and just eight voters changing their vote could affect the final standings.