While i would like us to win that many, i think JW will manage to continue mediocrity, hope for six and a bowl, and maybe a win

This is one of the easiest schedules we have faced in my memory.

All of the following are winnable if we are just average:

Home vs UC Davis
Home vs SDSU
Home vs Miami
Home vs NC State
@Pitt
Home vs Oregon State
@Wake
Home vs Syracuse
Home vs Stanford

The never say never, but…
@Auburn
@Florida State
@SMU

Given the above, 8 or 9 wins should be the expectation. 6 wins would be serious underachieving, but sure, I could see that happening and Cal fans celebrating "two bowls in a row."

With the expanded playoff, is there even an acc championship game anymore?

Ugh. This is kind of lame. All of the championships continue and all of them are in north cackalaki. Hardly a "neutral" site unless it's duke and North Carolina playing in hoops, which of course is the plan. I hope we make a statement in this conference, in both revenue sports.

The top two teams based on conference winning percentage will compete in the ACC Football Championship Game on the first Saturday in December at Bank of America Stadium in Charlotte, North Carolina.

10 wins get it done Wilcox or GTFO

"If we are just average"

Tough when your coach is not average?

calumnus said:

---

This is one of the easiest schedules we have faced in my memory.

---

It's nothing compared to 2025:

HOME

Minnesota
UNLV
Duke
UNC
SMU
UVA

AWAY

OSU
SDSU
BC
Louisville
Stanford
VA Tech

No excuses if that's not a minimum 10 win season.

WalterSobchak said:

---

calumnus said:

---

This is one of the easiest schedules we have faced in my memory.

---

It's nothing compared to 2025:

HOME

Minnesota
UNLV
Duke
UNC
SMU
UVA

AWAY

OSU
SDSU
BC
Louisville
Stanford
VA Tech

No excuses if that's not a minimum 10 win season.

---

Good point. We may ending being the 2025 version of 2023 Florida State. Assuming we can replace Ott I suspect will be in the NFL, this could look downright good. Lott of our starters should still be here.

BTW, for those that like to travel to games, Va Tech is a treat. Constantly rated one of the best atmospheres in college football, adding to the feeling of a stadium that is in a beautiful area.

BTW, the Clemson site, of all people, just came out with ranking of ACC away games, and they listed Cal as number 4. The said Memorial was the best stadium location and stadium in the ACC, but Cal got knocked down to 4th because of the lackluster fan attendance and atmosphere.

A Clemson site ranked CMS ahead of (the other) Death Valley? Be still my heart.

calumnus said:

---

This is one of the easiest schedules we have faced in my memory.

All of the following are winnable if we are just average:

Home vs UC Davis
Home vs SDSU
Home vs Miami
Home vs NC State
@Pitt
Home vs Oregon State
@Wake
Home vs Syracuse
Home vs Stanford

The never say never, but…
@Auburn
@Florida State
@SMU

Given the above, 8 or 9 wins should be the expectation. 6 wins would be serious underachieving, but sure, I could see that happening and Cal fans celebrating "two bowls in a row."

---

BTW, Miami requested more than 30K tickets so don't expect a full home court advantage.

NS State is a top 20 team - Cal will need to better than average. They are top 15 in most way to early rankings. I would switch out SMU and NC State.

This is the time of year when hope springs eternal. As the summer progresses, we'll hear tales of Fernando throwing pinpoint darts to promising receivers, Ott looking all-world (highly plausible), and our O-line acting like road graders. Curiously, given all the offensive hype, we'll also hear that the defense is really "flying around out there" and filled with ball-hawks with a real nose for turnovers.

Long story short, 62% believing in 8 wins or more is par for the course as of late spring. Like the swallows returning to Capistrano, this optimism -- misguided though it may turn out to be -- is an annual rite of passage for Cal football diehards.

wifeisafurd said:

---

calumnus said:

---

This is one of the easiest schedules we have faced in my memory.

All of the following are winnable if we are just average:

Home vs UC Davis
Home vs SDSU
Home vs Miami
Home vs NC State
@Pitt
Home vs Oregon State
@Wake
Home vs Syracuse
Home vs Stanford

The never say never, but…
@Auburn
@Florida State
@SMU

Given the above, 8 or 9 wins should be the expectation. 6 wins would be serious underachieving, but sure, I could see that happening and Cal fans celebrating "two bowls in a row."

---

BTW, Miami requested more than 30K tickets so don't expect a full home court advantage.

NS State is a top 20 team - Cal will need to better than average. They are top 15 in most way to early rankings. I would switch out SMU and NC State.

---

By current SP+ rankings SMU is #23 and NC State is #29. FSU is highest opponent at #12 and Miami is at #19. Auburn at #31 is the other one of Cal's opponents ranked higher than Cal which is #52 currently.

WalterSobchak said:

---

A Clemson site ranked CMS ahead of (the other) Death Valley? Be still my heart.

---

Said best stadium in the ACC. And Call got knocked down to 4th overall due to lack of attendance, crowd energy and game experience. Pretty good considering Clemson has never played in CMS. Don't be surprised if Cal gets a fair number of visiting fans to games this year.

StillNoStanfurdium said:

---

wifeisafurd said:

---

calumnus said:

---

This is one of the easiest schedules we have faced in my memory.

All of the following are winnable if we are just average:

Home vs UC Davis
Home vs SDSU
Home vs Miami
Home vs NC State
@Pitt
Home vs Oregon State
@Wake
Home vs Syracuse
Home vs Stanford

The never say never, but…
@Auburn
@Florida State
@SMU

Given the above, 8 or 9 wins should be the expectation. 6 wins would be serious underachieving, but sure, I could see that happening and Cal fans celebrating "two bowls in a row."

---

BTW, Miami requested more than 30K tickets so don't expect a full home court advantage.

NS State is a top 20 team - Cal will need to better than average. They are top 15 in most way to early rankings. I would switch out SMU and NC State.

---

By current SP+ rankings SMU is #23 and NC State is #29. FSU is highest opponent at #12 and Miami is at #19. Auburn at #31 is the other one of Cal's opponents ranked higher than Cal which is #52 currently.

---

Ok, drop Home against NC State and Miami into the "Never say Never, but…." And we still have 7 games a #50 Cal should win.

In year eight, 10 wins should be the absolute minimum we *should* expect for Wilcox to keep his job.

But let's get real: Wilcox is going to win 5-7 games. 8 if we are really lucky. 3-4 if there are key injuries.

Then BI posters and the administration will defend him. Just give him more time, he needs more NIL support, the transition to the ACC, blah, blah, blah.

The following year, he will do the same.

Also, the year after that.

Then again, the year after that.

Then the administration will finally have enough. And the most ardent Wilcox supporters on this board will claim that they were in fact calling for his head all the way back in 2020-2024.

wifeisafurd said:

---

WalterSobchak said:

---

calumnus said:

---

This is one of the easiest schedules we have faced in my memory.

---

It's nothing compared to 2025:

HOME

Minnesota
UNLV
Duke
UNC
SMU
UVA

AWAY

OSU
SDSU
BC
Louisville
Stanford
VA Tech

No excuses if that's not a minimum 10 win season.

---

Good point. We may ending being the 2025 version of 2023 Florida State. Assuming we can replace Ott I suspect will be in the NFL, this could look downright good. Lott of our starters should still be here.

BTW, for those that like to travel to games, Va Tech is a treat. Constantly rated one of the best atmospheres in college football, adding to the feeling of a stadium that is in a beautiful area.

BTW, the Clemson site, of all people, just came out with ranking of ACC away games, and they listed Cal as number 4. The said Memorial was the best stadium location and stadium in the ACC, but Cal got knocked down to 4th because of the lackluster fan attendance and atmosphere.

---

Even in South Carolina they have indoor plumbing

I really don't put us as a dog in any of those games besides auburn and fsu.
And auburn is iffy if I'd have us as the dog. That said both of those games are winnable.
This team and the enthusiasm around it are palpable.
I think the difference between an 8 win season and a 10 win season is the quality of harris/rogers behind Mendoza (at some point he's going to go out for a stretch and they need to be at least serviceable)…
And any sort of improvement in special teams.
Quality backup qb play and an average special teams unit and we win 10 games next year

calumnus said:

---

All of the following are winnable if we are just average:

---

Historical perspective: The Bears have finished undefeated at home only twice in the last 70 years, and both times there was at least one future Hall of Famer in the backfield. Maybe it will happen again this year.

Hedge your bets on road games on the east coast, no matter the opponent. The pattern in college football is that teams from one coast often underperform when playing on the other coast.

Having said that, and being of the opinion that some of our opponents are better than you might think, I'll predict 8-4.

BearSD said:

---

calumnus said:

---

All of the following are winnable if we are just average:

---

Historical perspective: The Bears have finished undefeated at home only twice in the last 70 years, and both times there was at least one future Hall of Famer in the backfield. Maybe it will happen again this year.

Hedge your bets on road games on the east coast, no matter the opponent. The pattern in college football is that teams from one coast often underperform when playing on the other coast.

Having said that, and being of the opinion that some of our opponents are better than you might think, I'll predict 8-4.

---

Although I agree that the increased travel of the ACC will make road games harder, it should also lead to a greater home field advantage, thus cancelling out the overall impact of travel.

I'd really like to see Cal start scheduling 7 home games a year, if possible. Preferably buying a game off of one of Hawaii's opponents that has to travel to Hawaii, so we can schedule a week zero game. I'd love to make a habit of playing week zero.

CNHTH said:

---

I really don't put us as a dog in any of those games besides auburn and fsu.
And auburn is iffy if I'd have us as the dog. That said both of those games are winnable.
This team and the enthusiasm around it are palpable.
I think the difference between an 8 win season and a 10 win season is the quality of harris/rogers behind Mendoza (at some point he's going to go out for a stretch and they need to be at least serviceable)…
And any sort of improvement in special teams.
Quality backup qb play and an average special teams unit and we win 10 games next year

---

Winnable indeed, but the real difference is that ACC officials will make sure they're NOT winnable.

golden sloth said:

---

BearSD said:

---

calumnus said:

---

All of the following are winnable if we are just average:

---

Historical perspective: The Bears have finished undefeated at home only twice in the last 70 years, and both times there was at least one future Hall of Famer in the backfield. Maybe it will happen again this year.

Hedge your bets on road games on the east coast, no matter the opponent. The pattern in college football is that teams from one coast often underperform when playing on the other coast.

Having said that, and being of the opinion that some of our opponents are better than you might think, I'll predict 8-4.

---

Although I agree that the increased travel of the ACC will make road games harder, it should also lead to a greater home field advantage, thus cancelling out the overall impact of travel.

I'd really like to see Cal start scheduling 7 home games a year, if possible. Preferably buying a game off of one of Hawaii's opponents that has to travel to Hawaii, so we can schedule a week zero game. I'd love to make a habit of playing week zero.

---

I've always been a big advocate of having a regular series with Hawaii. Among other reasons, including recruiting, week zero, 13th game, great destination, we are the nearest school to them with the cheapest flights. Instead we let our rivals UCLA, USC, Oregon, Washington, Stanford…. get that advantage.

Their OOC games going forward:

2024
Delaware State
UCLA
@Sam Houston
Northern Iowa
@WSU

2025
Stanford
@Arizona
Sam Houston
Portland State

2026
@Stanford
New Mexico State
@ASU
UMass

2027
@UMass
Northwestern State
@New Mexico State
UCLA

2028
Kansas
Fordham
UCLA

2029
Arizona

2030
@Stanford
@Washington

2031
@Otegon

2032
Oregon
@Kansas

God Hawaii every other year would be incredible. Let's do it!

bearsandgiants said:

---

God Hawaii every other year would be incredible. Let's do it!

---

I like the idea of playing @ Hawaii Thanksgiving weekend.

golden sloth said:

---

bearsandgiants said:

---

God Hawaii every other year would be incredible. Let's do it!

---

I like the idea of playing @ Hawaii Thanksgiving weekend.

---

Yes, that would be great.

With 3 road trips to the East Coast every year we need to focus our OOC on strategic western recruiting areas and good easy road trips..

We now seem to be focused on recruiting Texas but now have a regular series with SMU that will put us in Dallas every other year.

My wish would be we lock up:
Hawaii
San Diego State

Beyond that maybe UNLV?

Once things settle down, my vote would be UCLA.

If we are going to play an FCS team every year, I think we should just host UC Davis every year at CMS and make it a tradition, a beginning of the school year party, let their students sit in an expanded Cal student section.,.. not a rivalry but a fellowship. Turn them them into our JV team, with their best players moving up and guys on our bench who want PT moving down, but between UC's with good academics and degrees.

calumnus said:

---

golden sloth said:

---

bearsandgiants said:

---

God Hawaii every other year would be incredible. Let's do it!

---

I like the idea of playing @ Hawaii Thanksgiving weekend.

---

Yes, that would be great.

With 3 road trips to the East Coast every year we need to focus our OOC on strategic western recruiting areas and good easy road trips..

We now seem to be focused on recruiting Texas but now have a regular series with SMU that will put us in Dallas every other year.

My wish would be we lock up:
Hawaii
San Diego State

Beyond that maybe UNLV?

Once things settle down, my vote would be UCLA.

If we are going to play an FCS team every year, I think we should just host UC Davis every year at CMS and make it a tradition, a beginning of the school year party, let their students sit in an expanded Cal student section.,.. not a rivalry but a fellowship. Turn them them into our JV team, with their best players moving up and guys on our bench who want PT moving down, but between UC's with good academics and degrees.

---

I like the idea of that with UC Davis and it is probably most ideal with them, but I'd also be cool with rotating between Davis and Cal Poly SLO. Ideally our lower division opponent would be one of Davis, SLO, or Sac state.

golden sloth said:

---

calumnus said:

---

golden sloth said:

---

bearsandgiants said:

---

God Hawaii every other year would be incredible. Let's do it!

---

I like the idea of playing @ Hawaii Thanksgiving weekend.

---

Yes, that would be great.

With 3 road trips to the East Coast every year we need to focus our OOC on strategic western recruiting areas and good easy road trips..

We now seem to be focused on recruiting Texas but now have a regular series with SMU that will put us in Dallas every other year.

My wish would be we lock up:
Hawaii
San Diego State

Beyond that maybe UNLV?

Once things settle down, my vote would be UCLA.

If we are going to play an FCS team every year, I think we should just host UC Davis every year at CMS and make it a tradition, a beginning of the school year party, let their students sit in an expanded Cal student section.,.. not a rivalry but a fellowship. Turn them them into our JV team, with their best players moving up and guys on our bench who want PT moving down, but between UC's with good academics and degrees.

---

I like the idea of that with UC Davis and it is probably most ideal with them, but I'd also be cool with rotating between Davis and Cal Poly SLO. Ideally our lower division opponent would be one of Davis, SLO, or Sac state.

---

I like Davis as an annual tradition with a nearby fellow UC, but am not wedded to it.

Just no more distant FCS teams like Idaho or Presbyterian with one exception: HBUs that are bringing celebrated bands.

Over under 6.5, i will takr the under due to my faith in JW

Oakbear said:

---

Over under 6.5, i will takr the under due to my faith in JW

---

5 or 6 wins, even 4, would not be too surprising. I think 6.5+/- 1.5 (5 to 8 wins) is a very astute guess.

I agree. Along with an international game with Hawaii every 4 years.

calumnus said:

---

golden sloth said:

---

calumnus said:

---

golden sloth said:

---

bearsandgiants said:

---

God Hawaii every other year would be incredible. Let's do it!

---

I like the idea of playing @ Hawaii Thanksgiving weekend.

---

Yes, that would be great.

With 3 road trips to the East Coast every year we need to focus our OOC on strategic western recruiting areas and good easy road trips..

We now seem to be focused on recruiting Texas but now have a regular series with SMU that will put us in Dallas every other year.

My wish would be we lock up:
Hawaii
San Diego State

Beyond that maybe UNLV?

Once things settle down, my vote would be UCLA.

If we are going to play an FCS team every year, I think we should just host UC Davis every year at CMS and make it a tradition, a beginning of the school year party, let their students sit in an expanded Cal student section.,.. not a rivalry but a fellowship. Turn them them into our JV team, with their best players moving up and guys on our bench who want PT moving down, but between UC's with good academics and degrees.

---

I like the idea of that with UC Davis and it is probably most ideal with them, but I'd also be cool with rotating between Davis and Cal Poly SLO. Ideally our lower division opponent would be one of Davis, SLO, or Sac state.

---

I like Davis as an annual tradition with a nearby fellow UC, but am not wedded to it.

Just no more distant FCS teams like Idaho or Presbyterian with one exception: HBUs that are bringing celebrated bands.

---

Do local matchups just to get fans into the stadium, this can be UC Davis, Sac State, San Jose State, maybe even Nevada since they show up well.

Strykur said:

---

calumnus said:

---

golden sloth said:

---

calumnus said:

---

golden sloth said:

---

bearsandgiants said:

---

God Hawaii every other year would be incredible. Let's do it!

---

I like the idea of playing @ Hawaii Thanksgiving weekend.

---

Yes, that would be great.

With 3 road trips to the East Coast every year we need to focus our OOC on strategic western recruiting areas and good easy road trips..

We now seem to be focused on recruiting Texas but now have a regular series with SMU that will put us in Dallas every other year.

My wish would be we lock up:
Hawaii
San Diego State

Beyond that maybe UNLV?

Once things settle down, my vote would be UCLA.

If we are going to play an FCS team every year, I think we should just host UC Davis every year at CMS and make it a tradition, a beginning of the school year party, let their students sit in an expanded Cal student section.,.. not a rivalry but a fellowship. Turn them them into our JV team, with their best players moving up and guys on our bench who want PT moving down, but between UC's with good academics and degrees.

---

I like the idea of that with UC Davis and it is probably most ideal with them, but I'd also be cool with rotating between Davis and Cal Poly SLO. Ideally our lower division opponent would be one of Davis, SLO, or Sac state.

---

I like Davis as an annual tradition with a nearby fellow UC, but am not wedded to it.

Just no more distant FCS teams like Idaho or Presbyterian with one exception: HBUs that are bringing celebrated bands.

---

Do local matchups just to get fans into the stadium, this can be UC Davis, Sac State, San Jose State, maybe even Nevada since they show up well.

---

We get 4 OOC games, 5 if we play In Hawaii. Only one can be an FCS team. I would prefer an an annual tradition with UC Davis over Sac State, Cal Poly…. I think we could make the UC Davis game somewhat meaningful. A Davis and Berkely tradition.

My preference is regular (home and home) series with
Hawaii and San Diego State (unless we start playing UCLA again) to help establish and maintain SoCal and Hawaii for recruiting and connect with SoCal alums.

That is 3 games. So we would only get 1 or 2 more if we play in Hawaiii.

I think one needs to be from another P4 conference. A regular series with UCLA would solve that and be my ideal as it could replace San Diego State and be a rivalry game. Otherwise, just let it float, mostly playing B1G teams. We play SMU every year, so I'd see no reason to schedule a Big-12 Texas team but maybe Texas or Oklahoma. We will play in the Southeast enough that I don't see any reason to schedule other SEC teams. So focus on B1G teams. That could be our future conference anyway. 2 B1G teams per year if we play UCLA regularly.

If we are scheduling a 5th game: UNLV, Oregon State, San Diego State if we play UCLA, with consideration to Nevada and San Jose State….

golden sloth said:

---

BearSD said:

---

calumnus said:

---

All of the following are winnable if we are just average:

---

Historical perspective: The Bears have finished undefeated at home only twice in the last 70 years, and both times there was at least one future Hall of Famer in the backfield. Maybe it will happen again this year.

Hedge your bets on road games on the east coast, no matter the opponent. The pattern in college football is that teams from one coast often underperform when playing on the other coast.

Having said that, and being of the opinion that some of our opponents are better than you might think, I'll predict 8-4.

---

Although I agree that the increased travel of the ACC will make road games harder, it should also lead to a greater home field advantage, thus cancelling out the overall impact of travel.

I'd really like to see Cal start scheduling 7 home games a year, if possible. Preferably buying a game off of one of Hawaii's opponents that has to travel to Hawaii, so we can schedule a week zero game. I'd love to make a habit of playing week zero.

---

I think the travel will be much harder on hoops than football. Cal will travel east 4 times every other season. In odd years one road game will be at Stanford. I personally believe traveling to Pittsburgh to play Pitt is an easier trip than playing Oregon, UW, Utah or USC on the road where the quality of the team is much better. Yes the plane ride is longer but I would prefer many of ACC teams on the road over some of the programs Cal faced in the P12.

BC, GaTech, Syracuse, Wake Forest, UVa IMO are all preferable to most of the former P12 teams. And of course Stanford is also an ACC opponent. Really only FSU and Clemson seem insurmountable. And they will not play them every season. Notre Dame will be an opponent some times as well. But not a conference game.

Navy. Fleet Week. Early October. Blue Angel fly over. Cal alum SEAL (they exist) parachutes in to Memorial with game ball. South end zone filled with enlisted dress whites, every one else in dark blue t shirts "Navy blue out."

Make it happen!

calumnus said:

---

I've always been a big advocate of having a regular series with Hawaii. Among other reasons, including recruiting, week zero, 13th game, great destination, we are the nearest school to them with the cheapest flights. Instead we let our rivals UCLA, USC, Oregon, Washington, Stanford…. get that advantage.

Their OOC games going forward:

2024
Delaware State
UCLA
@Sam Houston
Northern Iowa
@WSU

2025
Stanford
@Arizona
Sam Houston
Portland State

2026
@Stanford
New Mexico State
@ASU
UMass

2027
@UMass
Northwestern State
@New Mexico State
UCLA

2028
Kansas
Fordham
UCLA

2029
Arizona

2030
@Stanford
@Washington

2031
@Otegon

2032
Oregon
@Kansas

---

Such a great idea. The failure to pursue this opportunity is more evidence of the incompetence of our Athletic Department (and the Chancellor who extended the AD's contract).

The main downside with the Hawaii as it is presented here is the extra 13th game and its implications in wear and tear going into the bowl game. It might be better from that standpoint to play Hawaii as just one of the 4 OOC games.