I've gotta believe that if The Bears can put together a solid season this year, retain a good portion of the talent and hit the portal well again, next year's schedule looks pretty good.

- No Florida Teams (Mia and FSU)
- No Clemson
- And if they are truly rising programs, we also miss Pitt, Cuse, and NC ST.

Out of Conference:
- Road vs SDSU and Oregon St.
- Home vs Minnesota

The season finale at VTech could be a tough and very important game for both teams

The home games are easy but Boston College is coming on strong with Bill O'Brien and Louisville was always going to be tough, Virginia Tech could be formidable but will lose all the talent they brought back this season (and disappointed in week 1), as of right now it does look light.

BC is going to be a great road trip, it was one of the schools very high up on my OOC candidates list way back. All the better if the game is competitive.

OOC that year we have Minnesota at home and @OSU, @SDSU and the 4th should be a local FCS.

Yes, this is what I've been saying. 2025 is a HUGE opportunity, our best opportunity to get double digit wins or run the table since I've followed Cal football.

We have to be really careful how we judge it. 7 to 9 wins would be a severe underperformance, but with only two years left on his contract that might get Wilcox yet another extension.

The schedule is favorable for now but who knows what those teams look like next year with HS/portal recruiting and development through this year. Also, we're gonna lose a lot of important pieces of our own (Carleton, Reese, Harris, Woodson, Ott, and several OL/DL players in the trenches) we're gonna be a very different team next year as well so it's hard to judge this far out. Hell, it's even hard to judge in the offseason right before the games start

Bearly Clad said:

---

The schedule is favorable for now but who knows what those teams look like next year with HS/portal recruiting and development through this year. Also, we're gonna lose a lot of important pieces of our own (Carleton, Reese, Harris, Woodson, Ott, and several OL/DL players in the trenches) we're gonna be a very different team next year as well so it's hard to judge this far out. Hell, it's even hard to judge in the offseason right before the games start

---

That is why success this year is so important: our national exposure will give us huge recruiting momentum going into next year when we will have (what looks today) like the easiest schedule in my lifetime, possibly in Cal history.

Our year is now.