Head Coach: Justin Wilcox is entering his 8th season as the head coach of the Golden Bears with a 36-43 record. He’s gone the last 4 seasons without a winning record, before that in 2019 they got off to a great start before injuries halted the breakthrough. The breakthrough was finally poised to come in 2020 but then Covid hit and they’ve been trying to get back on track ever since.
Program Outlook: When I was young and first starting watching College Football regularly Cal was such a good and fun program. Memories like Aaron Rodgers throwing passes, Marshawn Lynch driving a golf cart around after a win and Desean Jackson’s incredible punt return in a season opening primetime showdown against Tennessee. It was a show of what Cal football could be, things slowly trailed off at the end of the Tedford era. Then Sonny Dykes came in, Cal was fun again but wasn’t winning as much as they liked. It felt like Wilcox had them going in the right direction but Covid came around and football fell to the bottom of their priority list. It’s been a long road back since and now as a result of all the silly realignment moves Cal somehow finds themselves in the ACC.
How does the 2024 Roster look?: California has a good amount of returning production back, they can make things interesting in their new home. For most of the Wilcox era their offense struggled but their defense was good, last season both units took a dramatic 180. The offense truly started to take off once Fernando Mendoza took over, he can really sling it but needs to cut back on the turnovers, if not North Texas transfer Chandler Rogers could end up taking over. This offense centers around star running back Jaydn Ott, he was a huge recruiting win when they beat out USC to get him and he’s one of the best backs in College Football. There’s depth in place to take the load off Ott as well and they have 3 starters back on an offensive line that was pretty good last season. One area where the Golden Bears dipped into the portal for is receiver, they got a couple instant impact guys in Notre Dame receiver Tobias Merriweather and Utah receiver Mikey Matthews, along with the guys they have back it could be a solid passing attack to compliment the run game. Cal’s biggest challenge on defense was their lack of pass rush, but with an experienced veteran group back on the line and some talent at linebacker there’s hope that improves. If it does, it will set up this strong secondary to get even better at what they do well which is forcing turnovers. The more time they give for the offense to command games the better. This is a roster built to compete right away in the ACC.
Screenshot from fbschedules.com1
2024 Schedule Thoughts: Watching Cal football is going to be so weird this year. There’s so many matchups you could never imagine happening. Cal at Florida State. Cal vs Miami FL & NC State (in ACC After Dark!?) Cal at Wake Forest in Friday Night ACCtion. It’s going to be a strange ride and whether we like it or not were on this rollercoaster ride. Outside of that road game at Florida State this isn’t a bad ACC schedule, the remaining tough games are at home and there’s not many road games in tough environments. The non-conference schedule features a game against UC Davis that could be a challenge, the Aggies had a coaching change but are still expected to contend for the FCS playoffs, San Diego State has a new offense and will pose a challenge too. Playing at Auburn will be very difficult even if the Golden Bears have revenge on their mind after a litany of RedZone blunders cost them the game against Auburn last year.
Vegas Projection: Cal’s win total is set at 6.5 with the odds geared toward the under. Vegas sees them having some adjustment to their new life but still possibly making a bowl.
2024 Best Case: Cal is ready to take their new conference by storm. They open the season with a win over UC Davis before taking on Auburn and reversing what happened last season, Cal takes advantage of every opportunity especially in the RedZone and takes down Auburn for a huge win and they beat San Diego State to open 3-0. Cal takes their first loss of the season to Florida State but they follow up well after the bye taking down Miami FL at home for a massive win. The Golden Bears avoid a letdown against Pitt and pull off yet another upset this time over NC State in ACC After Dark. Cal avoids any upsets during the final stretch to finish the regular season 11-1. The Golden Bears miss the ACC title game by virtue of the tiebreaker with Florida State but that’s ok with an 11-1 record they can’t be left out of the playoff. They get an opening playoff game draw with Texas and despite odds on the contrary Cal keeps their recent hex of Texas going as the Golden Bears pull off the huge upset. They bow out in the next round but this is the most relevant the program has been in a long time, meanwhile they ask USC how life in the Big Ten is when the Trojans struggle to finish with a winning record.
2024 Worst Case: Maybe joining an East Coast conference will be too much for Cal. The defense still struggles and the offense goes back to being bad. Cal struggles past UC Davis but they’re blown out by Auburn and beaten at home by San Diego State. It quickly appears life in the ACC won’t be good to them when they lose in blowouts in their first 4 conference games. Cal finishes the season only winning 1 of the last 5 games and it’s not against Stanford who takes the Axe. The Cardinal even make a surprise bowl run allowing them to ask Cal why they think this is so difficult.
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