Thought?

Hawaii Bowl, please.

The Hawaii Bowl would be interesting for obvious reasons, but the venue will be at the University of Hawaii campus where they have a makeshift stadium while their new stadium is waiting to get built. There is limited bleacher seating and even less parking.

The post-game show for Hawaii vs Wyoming is talking about how Cal can get into the Hawaii Bowl, which has a MW and American Athletic Conference tie in. There are 8 bowl tie ins for the AAC and 8 bowl eligible teams.

However, if the AAC champion goes to the CFP, then there will only be 7 teams for 8 bowls which gives some flexibility to ESPN which owns the Hawaii Bowl.

Tulane is the highest ranked G5 team and if they win their CCG, then Cal to the Hawaii Bowl is possible.

There are 6 bowl with tie-ins for former Pac-12 teams and 8 teams are bowl eligible:
Oregon
USC
UW
Utah
ASU
Arizona
Cal
WSU

Only WSU has a worse record. Assuming Oregon makes the CFP, we are one of the six, but last of the six. It appears we would be back in the Independence Bowl against an AAC team.

I think the Hawaii Bowl speculation is because it is also Hawaii vs an AAC team and there are supposedly not enough AAC teams eligible for all their bowls, the PAC-12 has 1 extra, so we would go there instead. Or maybe WSU would?

I think the fact ESPN owns the Hawaii Bowl, we are their West Coast darling, they see the storylines with Sagapolutele and Rolovich and TV rules makes it more likely.

PAC-10-BEAR said:

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The Hawaii Bowl would be interesting for obvious reasons, but the venue will be at the University of Hawaii campus where they have a makeshift stadium while their new stadium is waiting to get built. There is limited bleacher seating and even less parking.

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So what? Few people go most years.

Hawaii Bowl was where SI had us projected. However, I think that was predicated on us losing to SMU. But the magic of ESPN could still make it happen. "JKS returns home" is a great storyline. ESPN can sell that to fans who would otherwise have no interest. Also (and I know alums who hate night games don't want to read this) Cal often makes for a great late night game for the Eastern and Central time zones. The Hawaii Bowl would fit that pattern.

calumnus said:

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There are 6 bowl with tie-ins for former Pac-12 teams and 8 teams are bowl eligible:
Oregon
USC
UW
Utah
ASU
Arizona
Cal
WSU

Only WSU has a worse record. Assuming Oregon makes the CFP, we are one of the six, but last of the six. It appears we would be back in the Independence Bowl against an AAC team.

I think the Hawaii Bowl speculation is because it is also Hawaii vs an AAC team and there are supposedly not enough AAC teams eligible for all their bowls, the PAC-12 has 1 extra, so we would go there instead. Or maybe WSU would?

I think the fact ESPN owns the Hawaii Bowl, we are their West Coast darling, they see the storylines with Sagapolutele and Rolovich and TV rules makes it more likely.

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HI bowl has so many made to order college football and NFL and social story angles tied to it (read eyeballs = money) how could ESPN resist.

#HawaiiFB head coach Timmy Chang says the focus between today and Dec. 24’s Hawai’i Bowl is academics, player retention and giving the younger players more reps. pic.twitter.com/3nrkdxMzBE

— Christian Shimabuku (@c_shimabuku) November 30, 2025

https://hawaiiathletics.com/sports/football/roster/2001

I'll tell you one observation of Rolo, other than the timing of the pandemic, the man is lucky. The guy has won more than his share of close games.

He even got into the Hawaii Bowl in 2016 with a 6-7 record, his first year.

Mind you, the year before Rolo, in 2015, Hawaii went 3-10.

2017 - there was coaching drama and the usual year 2 let down (happened to June Jones in 2000, after the greatest turnaround in NCAA history in 1999).

2018, 8-6
2019, 10-5

One projection is Hawaii bowl vs…Hawaii

Another prediction is liberty bowl vs…TCU (chee zit redux)

bluehenbear said:

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Another prediction is liberty bowl vs…TCU (chee zit redux)

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noooooo!!!!!

While it makes perfect sense, the Hawaii Bowl v. Hawaii would be so lame.

Cabin14 said:

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While it makes perfect sense, the Hawaii Bowl v. Hawaii would be so lame.

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There are recruits to be had. It's a great opportunity to strengthen the pipeline.

PAC-10-BEAR said:

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Cabin14 said:

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While it makes perfect sense, the Hawaii Bowl v. Hawaii would be so lame.

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There are recruits to be had. It's a great opportunity to strengthen the pipeline.

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Including retaining Sagapolutele.

According to fbschedules.com, the former Pac-12 teams have these bowls:

LA Bowl, Dec 13
Alamo Bowl, Dec 30
Sun Bowl, Dec 31
Las Vegas Bowl, Dec 31
Holiday Bowl, Jan 2

Assuming Oregon is in the CFP, the teams for those bowls are

Utah 10-2
USC 9-3
Arizona 9-3
Arizona State 8-4
Washington 8-4
California 7-5
Washington State 6-6

Presumably the five bowls above go to Utah, USC, Arizona, Arizona State, and Washington in some order. By the rules the bowls use with former Pac-12 teams, a bowl could theoretically choose Cal over one of the 8-win teams, ASU or UW, but that seems very unlikely.

Cal and Wazzu will need ESPN to find them vacancies in other bowls. If Hawai'i has a vacancy, they probably would not want Wazzu given that Wazzu and Oregon State recently wrecked Hawai'i's conference, the Mountain West. So, Bears to Hawai'i is a decent guess if there is a spot open there.

BearSD said:

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According to fbschedules.com, the former Pac-12 teams have these bowls:

LA Bowl, Dec 13
Alamo Bowl, Dec 30
Sun Bowl, Dec 31
Las Vegas Bowl, Dec 31
Holiday Bowl, Jan 2

Assuming Oregon is in the CFP, the teams for those bowls are

Utah 10-2
USC 9-3
Arizona 9-3
Arizona State 8-4
Washington 8-4
California 7-5
Washington State 6-6

Presumably the five bowls above go to Utah, USC, Arizona, Arizona State, and Washington in some order. By the rules the bowls use with former Pac-12 teams, a bowl could theoretically choose Cal over one of the 8-win teams, ASU or UW, but that seems very unlikely.

Cal and Wazzu will need ESPN to find them vacancies in other bowls. If Hawai'i has a vacancy, they probably would not want Wazzu given that Wazzu and Oregon State recently wrecked Hawai'i's conference, the Mountain West. So, Bears to Hawai'i is a decent guess if there is a spot open there.

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Yes, I see that the Pac-12 is no longer affiliated with the Indepedence Bowl, so it is 7 teams for 5 bowls. Everyone is projecting us for the Hawaii Bowl.

Next year in the ACC bowls should be interesting.

Quote:

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1. How did Rolo fix the false start penalties in one week? We had only ONE false start. A couple games ago we had something like eight.

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Amusing story there. Until about a week ago this was very unclear even to Cal itself who thought we were likely to be heading back to Shreveport. I told them this was wrong and we had an extended debate on the Pac 12 tie-ins. The reason this was a mess was because the Independence Bowl itself in their bowl guide said that they had the Pac 12 tie in. Which they do not (it's Big-12 vs. Conference USA this year). They just hadn't updated their guide from the prior year. Cal got on the phone with them and pointed out to their error and they were pretty shocked.

In terms of where we are going to go it will be either Hawaii, Holiday or Sun. Holiday is expressing some strong interest so we shall see. Selfishly I would love to see us in Hawaii. And I have very, very unpleasant associations with Cal playing football in San Diego. But it's still going to beat being in El Paso. We will see how this shakes out, but my gut says Holiday.

Sebastabear said:

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Quote:

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1. How did Rolo fix the false start penalties in one week? We had only ONE false start. A couple games ago we had something like eight.

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Amusing story there. Until about a week ago this was very unclear even to Cal itself who thought we were likely to be heading back to Shreveport. I told them this was wrong and we had an extended debate on the Pac 12 tie-ins. The reason this was a mess was because the Independence Bowl itself in their bowl guide said that they had the Pac 12 tie in. Which they do not (it's Big-12 vs. Conference USA this year). They just hadn't updated their guide from the prior year. Cal got on the phone with them and pointed out to their error and they were pretty shocked.

In terms of where we are going to go it will be either Hawaii, Holiday or Sun. Holiday is expressing some strong interest so we shall see. Selfishly I would love to see us in Hawaii. And I have very, very unpleasant associations with Cal playing football in San Diego. But it's still going to beat being in El Paso. We will see how this shakes out, but my gut says Holiday.

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I would love the Holiday Bowl. That would be a fun game but it does feature the ACC as the other opponent as does the Sun. Typically these bowls try to avoid pitting conference opponents against each other, but with these conferences so big now you can easily find 2 teams from the same conference that did not play each other during the season. I have seen projections for Pitt in the Holiday. Cal did not play them.

With Cal winning that last game and JKS being a drawing card it is possible for sure to have either the Holiday or Sun allow Cal to jump an 8 win UW or ASU. The bowls can select a team with less wins if there is just 1 game difference.

I get that Hawaii is a great destination and there are recruiting reasons Cal would like that bowl. But if that does not happen the Holiday Bowl would be a really nice game for the program.

Sebastabear said:

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Quote:

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1. How did Rolo fix the false start penalties in one week? We had only ONE false start. A couple games ago we had something like eight.

---

Amusing story there. Until about a week ago this was very unclear even to Cal itself who thought we were likely to be heading back to Shreveport. I told them this was wrong and we had an extended debate on the Pac 12 tie-ins. The reason this was a mess was because the Independence Bowl itself in their bowl guide said that they had the Pac 12 tie in. Which they do not (it's Big-12 vs. Conference USA this year). They just hadn't updated their guide from the prior year. Cal got on the phone with them and pointed out to their error and they were pretty shocked.

In terms of where we are going to go it will be either Hawaii, Holiday or Sun. Holiday is expressing some strong interest so we shall see. Selfishly I would love to see us in Hawaii. And I have very, very unpleasant associations with Cal playing football in San Diego. But it's still going to beat being in El Paso. We will see how this shakes out, but my gut says Holiday.

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Have to imagine the team would be VERY motivated to wipe the bad taste of their last visit to San Diego. Could be some fun matchups too GT or Pitt seem to be the ACC tie-ins mocked there currently

From a recruiting perspective… letting Tosh loose in Hawaii , SoCal, Texas all seem like solid options

Cabin14 said:

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While it makes perfect sense, the Hawaii Bowl v. Hawaii would be so lame.

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The players themselves might disagree. How many of the Bears have been to Hawaii? Hawaii is 8-4 with some good wins, including San Diego State. It will be a game. Christmas Eve in Hawaii sounds fun - but not for everyone. My family can make the more land locked bowl games, but we checked airfare yesterday to Honolulu - $700+ from LA. My kids with their kids can't make that. The Holiday Bowl has good and bad memories as does the one-time-only Poinsettia Bowl vs Utah which reeked. San Diego an easy drive and more convenient. What would the players and their families like?

Alamo = USC
Holliday = Washington
Vegas = Arizona
Sun = ASU
LA = WSU
Hawaii = Cal?

Utah and Oregon to the CFP

Johnfox said:

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Alamo = USC
Holliday = Washington
Vegas = Arizona
Sun = ASU
LA = WSU
Hawaii = Cal?

Utah and Oregon to the CFP

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I suspect the Holiday Bowl will pull Cal (or ASU) before Udub to get butts in seats. About 1/4 of Cal alums live in SoCal. LA might pull Cal though bowls typically don't like the same team two games in a row.

6956bear said:

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I would love the Holiday Bowl. That would be a fun game but it does feature the ACC as the other opponent as does the Sun. Typically these bowls try to avoid pitting conference opponents against each other, but with these conferences so big now you can easily find 2 teams from the same conference that did not play each other during the season.

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We could finally have a winning conference record!

6956bear said:

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Sebastabear said:

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Quote:

---

1. How did Rolo fix the false start penalties in one week? We had only ONE false start. A couple games ago we had something like eight.

---

Amusing story there. Until about a week ago this was very unclear even to Cal itself who thought we were likely to be heading back to Shreveport. I told them this was wrong and we had an extended debate on the Pac 12 tie-ins. The reason this was a mess was because the Independence Bowl itself in their bowl guide said that they had the Pac 12 tie in. Which they do not (it's Big-12 vs. Conference USA this year). They just hadn't updated their guide from the prior year. Cal got on the phone with them and pointed out to their error and they were pretty shocked.

In terms of where we are going to go it will be either Hawaii, Holiday or Sun. Holiday is expressing some strong interest so we shall see. Selfishly I would love to see us in Hawaii. And I have very, very unpleasant associations with Cal playing football in San Diego. But it's still going to beat being in El Paso. We will see how this shakes out, but my gut says Holiday.

---

I would love the Holiday Bowl. That would be a fun game but it does feature the ACC as the other opponent as does the Sun. Typically these bowls try to avoid pitting conference opponents against each other, but with these conferences so big now you can easily find 2 teams from the same conference that did not play each other during the season. I have seen projections for Pitt in the Holiday. Cal did not play them.

With Cal winning that last game and JKS being a drawing card it is possible for sure to have either the Holiday or Sun allow Cal to jump an 8 win UW or ASU. The bowls can select a team with less wins if there is just 1 game difference.

I get that Hawaii is a great destination and there are recruiting reasons Cal would like that bowl. But if that does not happen the Holiday Bowl would be a really nice game for the program.

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Cal vs. Clemson in the Holiday Bowl. My gut.

Sebastabear said:

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6956bear said:

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Sebastabear said:

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Quote:

---

1. How did Rolo fix the false start penalties in one week? We had only ONE false start. A couple games ago we had something like eight.

---

Amusing story there. Until about a week ago this was very unclear even to Cal itself who thought we were likely to be heading back to Shreveport. I told them this was wrong and we had an extended debate on the Pac 12 tie-ins. The reason this was a mess was because the Independence Bowl itself in their bowl guide said that they had the Pac 12 tie in. Which they do not (it's Big-12 vs. Conference USA this year). They just hadn't updated their guide from the prior year. Cal got on the phone with them and pointed out to their error and they were pretty shocked.

In terms of where we are going to go it will be either Hawaii, Holiday or Sun. Holiday is expressing some strong interest so we shall see. Selfishly I would love to see us in Hawaii. And I have very, very unpleasant associations with Cal playing football in San Diego. But it's still going to beat being in El Paso. We will see how this shakes out, but my gut says Holiday.

---

I would love the Holiday Bowl. That would be a fun game but it does feature the ACC as the other opponent as does the Sun. Typically these bowls try to avoid pitting conference opponents against each other, but with these conferences so big now you can easily find 2 teams from the same conference that did not play each other during the season. I have seen projections for Pitt in the Holiday. Cal did not play them.

With Cal winning that last game and JKS being a drawing card it is possible for sure to have either the Holiday or Sun allow Cal to jump an 8 win UW or ASU. The bowls can select a team with less wins if there is just 1 game difference.

I get that Hawaii is a great destination and there are recruiting reasons Cal would like that bowl. But if that does not happen the Holiday Bowl would be a really nice game for the program.

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Cal vs. Clemson in the Holiday Bowl. My gut.

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Rematch!

Sebastabear said:

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6956bear said:

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Sebastabear said:

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Quote:

---

1. How did Rolo fix the false start penalties in one week? We had only ONE false start. A couple games ago we had something like eight.

---

Amusing story there. Until about a week ago this was very unclear even to Cal itself who thought we were likely to be heading back to Shreveport. I told them this was wrong and we had an extended debate on the Pac 12 tie-ins. The reason this was a mess was because the Independence Bowl itself in their bowl guide said that they had the Pac 12 tie in. Which they do not (it's Big-12 vs. Conference USA this year). They just hadn't updated their guide from the prior year. Cal got on the phone with them and pointed out to their error and they were pretty shocked.

In terms of where we are going to go it will be either Hawaii, Holiday or Sun. Holiday is expressing some strong interest so we shall see. Selfishly I would love to see us in Hawaii. And I have very, very unpleasant associations with Cal playing football in San Diego. But it's still going to beat being in El Paso. We will see how this shakes out, but my gut says Holiday.

---

I would love the Holiday Bowl. That would be a fun game but it does feature the ACC as the other opponent as does the Sun. Typically these bowls try to avoid pitting conference opponents against each other, but with these conferences so big now you can easily find 2 teams from the same conference that did not play each other during the season. I have seen projections for Pitt in the Holiday. Cal did not play them.

With Cal winning that last game and JKS being a drawing card it is possible for sure to have either the Holiday or Sun allow Cal to jump an 8 win UW or ASU. The bowls can select a team with less wins if there is just 1 game difference.

I get that Hawaii is a great destination and there are recruiting reasons Cal would like that bowl. But if that does not happen the Holiday Bowl would be a really nice game for the program.

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Cal vs. Clemson in the Holiday Bowl. My gut.

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That would be fun.

6956bear said:

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Sebastabear said:

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Cal vs. Clemson in the Holiday Bowl. My gut.

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That would be fun.

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negative ghostrider.

only bad things happen in SD. I think maybe one time in my life as a cal fan we won down there. generally horrific things happen.

moonpod said:

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6956bear said:

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Sebastabear said:

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Cal vs. Clemson in the Holiday Bowl. My gut.

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That would be fun.

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negative ghostrider.

only bad things happen in SD. I think maybe one time in my life as a cal fan we won down there. generally horrific things happen.

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JMO but it would be a great opportunity. And if Clemson that would be really interesting.

moonpod said:

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6956bear said:

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Sebastabear said:

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Cal vs. Clemson in the Holiday Bowl. My gut.

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That would be fun.

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negative ghostrider.

only bad things happen in SD. I think maybe one time in my life as a cal fan we won down there. generally horrific things happen.

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Correct. The 2006 Holiday Bowl win over Texas A&M is the only game the Bears have won in San Diego.

Sebastabear said:

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Cal vs. Clemson in the Holiday Bowl. My gut.

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The prospect of a re-energized Cal team getting a chance to defeat another top-tier (at least traditionally) ACC foe would certainly be delicious!

Bearspot said:

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Sebastabear said:

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Cal vs. Clemson in the Holiday Bowl. My gut.

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The prospect of a re-energized Cal team getting a chance to defeat another top-tier (at least traditionally) ACC foe would certainly be delicious!

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And likely a deflated, ready for the offseason Clemson team at that

Sebastabear said:

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6956bear said:

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Sebastabear said:

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Quote:

---

1. How did Rolo fix the false start penalties in one week? We had only ONE false start. A couple games ago we had something like eight.

---

Amusing story there. Until about a week ago this was very unclear even to Cal itself who thought we were likely to be heading back to Shreveport. I told them this was wrong and we had an extended debate on the Pac 12 tie-ins. The reason this was a mess was because the Independence Bowl itself in their bowl guide said that they had the Pac 12 tie in. Which they do not (it's Big-12 vs. Conference USA this year). They just hadn't updated their guide from the prior year. Cal got on the phone with them and pointed out to their error and they were pretty shocked.

In terms of where we are going to go it will be either Hawaii, Holiday or Sun. Holiday is expressing some strong interest so we shall see. Selfishly I would love to see us in Hawaii. And I have very, very unpleasant associations with Cal playing football in San Diego. But it's still going to beat being in El Paso. We will see how this shakes out, but my gut says Holiday.

---

I would love the Holiday Bowl. That would be a fun game but it does feature the ACC as the other opponent as does the Sun. Typically these bowls try to avoid pitting conference opponents against each other, but with these conferences so big now you can easily find 2 teams from the same conference that did not play each other during the season. I have seen projections for Pitt in the Holiday. Cal did not play them.

With Cal winning that last game and JKS being a drawing card it is possible for sure to have either the Holiday or Sun allow Cal to jump an 8 win UW or ASU. The bowls can select a team with less wins if there is just 1 game difference.

I get that Hawaii is a great destination and there are recruiting reasons Cal would like that bowl. But if that does not happen the Holiday Bowl would be a really nice game for the program.

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Cal vs. Clemson in the Holiday Bowl. My gut.

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I like that far better than the two predictions I saw a week or two back that had us having a rematch with San Diego State in I forget which bowl.

Cal88 said:

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Sebastabear said:

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6956bear said:

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Sebastabear said:

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Quote:

---

1. How did Rolo fix the false start penalties in one week? We had only ONE false start. A couple games ago we had something like eight.

---

Amusing story there. Until about a week ago this was very unclear even to Cal itself who thought we were likely to be heading back to Shreveport. I told them this was wrong and we had an extended debate on the Pac 12 tie-ins. The reason this was a mess was because the Independence Bowl itself in their bowl guide said that they had the Pac 12 tie in. Which they do not (it's Big-12 vs. Conference USA this year). They just hadn't updated their guide from the prior year. Cal got on the phone with them and pointed out to their error and they were pretty shocked.

In terms of where we are going to go it will be either Hawaii, Holiday or Sun. Holiday is expressing some strong interest so we shall see. Selfishly I would love to see us in Hawaii. And I have very, very unpleasant associations with Cal playing football in San Diego. But it's still going to beat being in El Paso. We will see how this shakes out, but my gut says Holiday.

---

I would love the Holiday Bowl. That would be a fun game but it does feature the ACC as the other opponent as does the Sun. Typically these bowls try to avoid pitting conference opponents against each other, but with these conferences so big now you can easily find 2 teams from the same conference that did not play each other during the season. I have seen projections for Pitt in the Holiday. Cal did not play them.

With Cal winning that last game and JKS being a drawing card it is possible for sure to have either the Holiday or Sun allow Cal to jump an 8 win UW or ASU. The bowls can select a team with less wins if there is just 1 game difference.

I get that Hawaii is a great destination and there are recruiting reasons Cal would like that bowl. But if that does not happen the Holiday Bowl would be a really nice game for the program.

---

Cal vs. Clemson in the Holiday Bowl. My gut.

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Rematch!

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That was a great game. Clemson had a highly touted D lineman who, it was predicted, would tear us apart. We ran one wide play after another, so that by the 4th his tongue was hanging out.

This year, Clemson isn't what it used to be. We would be competitive with them.

moonpod said:

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6956bear said:

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Sebastabear said:

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Cal vs. Clemson in the Holiday Bowl. My gut.

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That would be fun.

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negative ghostrider.

only bad things happen in SD. I think maybe one time in my life as a cal fan we won down there. generally horrific things happen.

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No more donkey shows the night before games.