Turns out, probably one point.

You may have missed it last night, but Wisconsin pounded Hawaii, which needed a win to get bowl eligible.

Instead, Hawaii's loss left the door open for UCLA to get a bid, likely to the Humanitarian Bowl and probably against Idaho, as ESPN.com's Ted Miller is projecting and which was also reported this week by The Idaho Statesman. SI.com's Stewart Mandel also pegs UCLA for the Humanitarian, though he says there's a chance the Bruins could still land elsewhere.

As all of the above note, the one thing left that could kill UCLA's hopes is if Army upsets Navy next week to get bowl eligible and take a contractual spot in the EagleBank Bowl.

Otherwise, UCLA is likely going bowling.

And it seems almost certain that if UW had beaten UCLA on Nov. 7 instead of losing 24-23, that it would have been the Huskies in this spot, instead (and wouldn't that have made the next week fun regardless of how it turned out?)

If UW had won that game, the Huskies would not only be 6-6 overall, but 5-4 in conference play, tied with USC and Cal, two teams it beat. UCLA also would have fallen not just to 5-7 but to 2-7 in conference play (the Bruins went 3-0 in non-conference games, beating Tennessee --- Steve Sarkisian can blame his buddy Lane Kiffin for that one --- Kansas State and San Diego State).

So if that bowl is going to take UCLA, seems likely it would have wanted Washington --- though I guess who knows for sure how a rematch with Idaho would have impacted that decision. Maybe that could have been a selling point, the Vandals getting another shot at UW, that sort of thing.

Either way, it leaves the ultimate legacy of that UCLA game as what it felt like at the time --- the most disheartening loss of the season. Even more than the ASU or Notre Dame games, that was a contest the Huskies had in their hands much of the day and simply let get away. Ultimately, it looks like a bowl game may have gone with it, both a testament to how far the Huskies came this year, but also to what might have been.

A few other news and notes:

--- UW commit Nick Montana threw three TD passes last night as Oaks Christian advanced in the playoffs with another easy win. By the way, I saw one guy walking around in the parking lot yesterday with a purple UW No. 16 jersey with Montana on the back.

--- San Francisco Chronicle columnist Ray Ratto writes that yesterday's game was another in a series of confounding performances by the Cal Bears.

--- SF Chronicle Cal beat guy Ron Kroichick writes that the Bears thought they were ready to go.

--- Jonathan Okanes, however, quotes Shane Vereen as saying that the Bears may have been more focused on finding out about their bowl game than worried about the Huskies.

--- The loss dropped Cal from the Sun Bowl to the Poinsettia.

--- Here's my final game story, in case you missed it.

--- And here's the UW notebook, with items on Daniel Te'o-Nesheim, Jermaine Kearse and the trick play that kicked off the game.

--- The Huskies finished No. 42 in the Sagarin Ratings, ahead of teams like Houston, Notre Dame, Missouri and, yes, UCLA.

--- Jim Moore writes that "it's a pipe dream'' to think Jake Locker will be back next season and even lays some odds.

--- Locker also earned a helmet sticker from Miller.

I'll try later to post a few more news and notes from yesterday's game.