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The Cal Golden Bears football team represents the University of California at Berkeley. The football program has a rich history dating back to its commencement of play in 1886. The Golden Bears have won five national titles. However, the last was in 1937.
One of the founding members of the now-bereft Pac-12 Conference, Cal is set to commence play in the Atlantic Coast Conference.
Justin Wilcox, who played defensive back for the Oregon Ducks in the late 1990s, has been Cal's coach since 2017. In his seven seasons at Berkeley, his record is 36-43.
Wilcox will rely on talented redshirt sophomore Fernando Mendoza to quarterback the team. The 6-foot-5 signal caller took over the starting role last year, threw for 1,708 yards and 14 touchdowns and led Cal to victories over Washington State, UCLA and longtime rival Stanford. Talented junior running back Jaydn Ott returns to lead a potent Bears rushing attack. Ott was named first-team All-Pac-12 last year and is listed by On3 Sports as one of the top 100 players in college football for the 2024 season.
Cal's run defense was stout last year. The Bears allowed only seven runs of 20 yards or longer on the season, tying them for No. 7 in the nation in that category. They only allowed three rushes of 30 yards or more. However, the performance of the defensive secondary was a weak point Wilcox is seeking to strengthen in 2024.
The Bears play their home games in scenic California Memorial Stadium, situated just east of the San Francisco Bay.
Sports Illustrated forecasts Cal will win six or seven games in its inaugural season in the ACC and will be in contention to reach a bowl game for the second consecutive year. Last year Cal played Texas Tech in the Independence Bowl after going 6-6 in the regular season.
Will the Golden Bears exceed SI's forecasted win total?
Week 1: University of California, Davis Aggies
The University of California (UC) school system is an elite public research university system with 10 campuses, five prestigious medical centers and three nationally-credentialed laboratories. Two of the premier institutions within this university system are UC Berkeley, aka, Cal, and UC Davis. The UC Davis football team is the Aggies. Located between Sacramento and the Napa Valley, UC Davis boasts a nationally prestigious viticulture (grape growing) and enology (wine making) certificate program.
Playing in the Big Sky Conference, the Aggies are a strong FCS team that began playing collegiate football in 1915. They made the FCS playoffs in 2018 and 2021, reaching the quarterfinals in the former season. Former Boise State and Colorado coach Dan Hawkins led the Aggies from 2017 through 2023. However, Davis alumnus Tim Plough took over this offseason and is quite familiar with the Golden Bears, as he was an assistant coach in Berkeley last year.
On the gridiron, the Aggies are coming off a 7-4 season in 2023, which was capped by a victory over their Big Sky rival, the Sacramento State Hornets. The only FBS opponent Davis faced last year was Oregon State, and the Beavers shellacked the Aggies 55-7.
The Golden Bears are favored by 23.5 points over the Aggies, and in light of their substantial talent advantage, they will cover that spread if they choose to do so.
Record: 1-0
Week 2: at Auburn Tigers
On Sept. 9, 2023, the Tigers confronted the Golden Bears in the Bay Area, and although Cal led for much of the game, the Tigers snuck away with a 14-10 victory. Fans of the Southeastern Conference often bloviate about the supposed primacy of that conference. However, that narrow victory by an SEC stalwart over a perennially middling member of the erstwhile Pac-12 takes the wind out of the sails of those pro-SEC gesticulations. The 2024 Cal Bears are talented, but Auburn is more so, notwithstanding gratuitous SEC braggadocio.
Record: 1-1
Week 3: San Diego State Aztecs
A member of the Mountain West Conference, the Aztecs went 4-8 last year, with an impressive win over Fresno State. But SDSU was shellacked by Oregon State, UCLA and Air Force. They also lost to Nevada 6-0 in an ugly slugfest at Snapdragon Stadium.
Brady Hoke retired as the Aztecs' coach this offseason and has been replaced by Sean Lewis, who was Colorado's offensive coordinator last season.
The Golden Bears will have their way with San Diego State.
Record: 2-1
Week 4: at Florida State Seminoles
After the undefeated Seminoles were snubbed by the College Football Playoff Selection Committee in 2023, the chancellors of the university sued the ACC, seeking to leave the conference which Cal was pleased to join. Mike Norvell has led the Seminoles to 10-3 and 13-1 records in the last two seasons. Florida State is ranked No. 10 in the Associated Press (AP) preseason top 25 poll. QB DJ Uiagalelei and other FSU playmakers will hand the Golden Bears a decisive loss in their first conference game as a member of the ACC.
Record: 2-2
Week 5: Bye
Week 6: Miami Hurricanes
In a recently released preseason poll, Sports Illustrated rated Miami No. 3 out of the 17 ACC teams, behind only FSU and Clemson. Additionally, the Hurricanes are ranked No. 19 in the preseason AP Poll. After putting together a 35-13 record in five seasons with the Oregon Ducks, coach Mario Cristobal embarks on his third season at the helm of his alma mater. His record with the Hurricanes thus far is a disappointing 12-13.
This clash in Berkeley is a tough one to call, but the talented Hurricanes get the nod.
Record: 2-3
Week 7: at Pitt Panthers
Pitt struggled last season, finishing 3-9, and is rated No. 16 out of the 17 ACC teams in the aforementioned Sports Illustrated preseason poll. Coach Pat Narduzzi may be on the hot seat if things do not turn around fairly soon at Pitt. And, the offseason has not been kind for the Panthers, as they lost numerous key pieces of their defense. Cal will coast to its third victory on the season.
Record: 3-3
Week 8: North Carolina State Wolfpack
NC State is on a hot streak in sports. The Wolfpack are fresh off a run to the Final Four in college basketball, and their football team cracked the AP Top 25 preseason poll this year. Following an impressive 9-4 season in 2023, NCSU is poised to make some noise in 2024, not only in the ACC, but in the greater college football landscape. The Wolfpack will stop the Bears in their tracks in this one.
Record: 3-4
Week 9: Oregon State Beavers
Only two teams remain in the Pac-12 Conference—the Washington State Cougars and the Oregon State Beavers. OSU and Wazzu have entered into an interim scheduling partnership with the Mountain West Conference. For the 2024 season, OSU and WSU agreed to pay the MWC $14 million, and in exchange, the Beavers and Cougars will play seven games each against MWC teams. Neither team will be eligible for the MWC championship, and the scheduling partnership might be extended to 2025.
Redshirt junior quarterback Ben Gulbranson is slated to resume the starting role for the Beavers in 2024. In 2022, he started eight games under center, leading the Beavers to a 7-1 record in those games. However, he was relegated to a backup role for most of the 2023 season, after DJ Uiagalelei transferred to OSU from Clemson. Gulbranson has put up good numbers when given the opportunity. In 2022, the 6-foot-3 gunslinger completed 121-of-194 passes for 1,455 yards and 9 touchdowns. He also rushed for 52 yards and 5 TDs. He was named the MVP of the 2022 Las Vegas Bowl, in which the Beavers defeated the Florida Gators 30-3.
Oregon State finished 2023 with an 8-5 record, including a loss to Notre Dame in the Sun Bowl. The Beavers were No. 19 in the final College Football Playoff rankings and came close to beating Pac-12 champion Washington. They had an impressive 21-7 victory over the Utah Utes in Corvallis, Ore. Coach Jonathan Smith departed for Michigan State, and OSU replaced him with Trent Bray.
The Beavers will drop a close one to their old Pac-12 foe.
Record: 4-4
Week 10: Bye
Week 11: at Wake Forest Demon Deacons
The Demon Deacons went 4-8 last season, with a 1-7 conference record. Their only conference win was over Pitt. The over/under on Wake Forest's 2024 win total is 4.5. Whether the Demon Deacons can exceed expectations will depend substantially on the performance of QB Hank Bachmeier who transferred from Boise State. Cal has greater talent and depth than Wake Forest and will triumph in this showdown in Winston-Salem, N.C.
Record: 5-4
Week 12: Syracuse Orange
The Orange enter the 2024 season with a new coach and a new quarterback. Coach Fran Brown came to Syracuse from the University of Georgia. Quarterback Kyle McCord transferred from Ohio State. Brown is renowned for his recruiting and has been signing top talent since arriving in Upstate New York. However, Syracuse is coming off a 6-7 record, with only two wins in the conference. While the Orange may be on the rebound, they will be no match for Cal in Berkeley.
Record: 6-4
Week 13: Stanford Cardinal
The Cardinal struggled last season, ending up with a 3-9 record. Given the strength of Stanford's schedule in 2024, it will be challenging for the team to turn things around. Another 3-9 season has been predicted by 247Sports for the Cardinal, with victories against only Cal Poly, Wake Forest and San Jose State.
In any event, a major component of the allure and greatness of college football is the pomp and circumstance attendant to the games. Stanford's band is an integral part of this appealing aspect of college football. Known for its quirky antics, the band was involved in one of the most iconic moments in college football history:
Known simply as "The Play," Cal made a remarkable kickoff return for a touchdown as time expired during the annual rivalry game with Stanford—known as "The Big Game." The Play occurred in the 1982 Big Game. Famously, members of the Standford band, thinking the Cardinal had won the game, were on the field as Cal scored after multiple laterals, with Golden Bears defensive back and return specialist Kevin Moen running through and over Stanford band members on his way into the end zone.
The dramatic audio of sportscaster Joe Starkey's frenetic call of the play is the stuff of legends. With his voice cracking, Starkey exclaimed, "Oh, the band is on the field!" In real-time, he described the series of laterals and the eventual game-winning score as "the most amazing, sensational, dramatic, heartrending, exciting, thrilling finish in the history of college football!"
Stanford and Cal are meeting on Nov. 23 in Berkeley. It will be the 127th playing of the Big Game. Cal will continue its winning ways in this historic matchup in the Bay Area.
Record: 7-4
Week 14: at SMU Mustangs
After decades in purgatory, following the NCAA's imposition of the death penalty, the SMU Mustangs have returned to the upper echelon of college football, entering the Power Four's ACC. Coach Rhett Lashlee and talented quarterback Preston Stone hope to fast-track the Ponies' journey back to prominence.
The Mustangs will put up a strong fight against the Golden Bears in Dallas. However, Jadyn Ott will lead Cal to a victory in this one.
Record: 8-4
Golden Bears Overview
Cal's transition into the ACC presents challenges and opportunities. The Golden Bears have long played against elite competition. The Pac-12 was one of the strongest conferences last year, and Cal had impressive wins against four Pac-12 opponents. Led by Ott and Mendoza on the field, Wilcox's Golden Bears will put together an admirable 8-4 record in 2024, making them eligible for an attractive bowl game.
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