2023 Cal Football Schedule Announced

10/28 College Gameday comes to Berkeley

I am so sick of seeing ucla at the end of the schedule. Good riddance, klepto-traitors!

Pretty brutal.

That OSU-@Utah,-USC-@Oregon stretch is a 4-game losing streak waiting to happen. Closing the season with 3 road games out of 4 isn't fun either.

Well, here's my prediction:

Date Opponent
Sept. 2 at North Texas W (we should handle them)
Sept. 9 Auburn L (Auburn has 2nd highest rated transfer class in country)
Sept. 16 Idaho W (again, they should be no problem for us)
Sept. 23 at Washington* L (Penix is the man. Jaden Rashada may go to UW)
Sept. 30 Arizona State* L (Drew Pyne transfers in and their inbound transfers are ranked high)
Oct. 7 Oregon State* L (we always have problems with them plus DJ Uiagalelei is inbound)
Oct. 14 at Utah* L (too much talent)
Oct. 28 USC* L (even with their crap defense)
Nov. 4 at Oregon* L (Nix gets the nod here)
Nov. 11 Washington State* W (not sure why but I think we win)
Nov. 18 at Stanford* W (they have no talent)
Nov. 25 at UCLA* L (Dante Moore to end the rivalry up to that point)

4-8. Its early days but based on what we saw last season, the transfer moves that have been made for us and for other teams in the P12, I think this is a likely outcome.

Opening 5 we go 5-0
Next 4 we go 4-0
Last 4 we go 4-0



Sept. 2 at North Texas = W = This will be an easy game for Wilcox.
Sept. 9 Auburn = W = SEC teams always fail in the intimidating Memorial environment.
Sept. 16 Idaho = W = This game will be a challenge.
Sept. 23 at Washington* = W = This team will take a step down this season.
Sept. 30 Arizona State* = W = This coaching staff is a joke. Easy W.
Oct. 7 Oregon State* = W = This will be an easy one.
Oct. 14 at Utah* = W = They will be distracted by the In N Out they eat the night before.
Oct. 28 USC* = W = Lincoln Riley will be on the hot seat.
Nov. 4 at Oregon* = W = The Lanning-aissance hits the brick wall of the Wilcox-aissance.
Nov. 11 Washington State* = W = The Cougs will coug it.
Nov. 18 at Stanford* = W = Wilcox will win this one with one hand tied behind his back.
Nov. 25 at UCLA* = W = Chip will go through the wood chipper.

Predicting 4-8 again basically means you think the coaching changes that were made were pointless. I can't buy that. This is the last hurrah for Wilcox.

Wilner is definitely on the bandwagon!

10. Cal: The Bears peaked in 2019, lost all momentum when the pandemic struck and have plunged into a rut: solid on defense, wayward on offense and seemingly destined to win or lose by a score of 24-17. Next season will bring a system change under new playcaller Jake Spavital, an Air Raid practitioner. But the talent is lacking up front, and the loss of receiver J.Michael Sturdivant (to UCLA) cuts deep. We expect more of the same, with Cal losing ground relative to its competition.

LOL, he could've said exactly the same thing about UW a year ago before they hired DeBoer and look how that worked out. Sturdivant was a very nice piece for Cal and clearly Ucla's best portal acquisition so far this cycle. Would've been great if he were a man of his word but he's not so on to the next. But he wasn't irreplaceable and Cal has had a much better overall portal class than Ucla so far.

Lost in all the angst about losing Sturdivant is the fact that Hunter is flat-out better. The top 5 producing WR in the Pac last year were Odunze and McMillan at UW; Singer and Cowing at UofA; and Hunter at Cal. Not necessarily in that order. Sturdivant didn't come close to that group. Odunze and McMillan were HS recruits to UW and are both coming back for 2023. Singer was a HS recruit to UofA and got poached by USC. Cowing was a transfer from UTEP and is coming back for UofA. Hunter was a HS recruit to Cal and unless something crazy happens in the Spring is coming back to Cal.

The thing is the UW and AZ guys played in wide open spread systems and Hunter did what he did for Cal playing in Musgrave's antiquated system most of the year. Not only that, he played in only 11 games, one fewer than everyone else around him except McMillan, who played in 13, making his stats even more impressive. The simple fact is Hunter outperformed Sturdivant in every statistical category except total receptions and total touchdowns playing one less game. The sky is truly the limit for Hunter in Spav's system and he must be ecstatic. Ditto for the other guys. Under Spav in 2016 not only did Webb lead the Pac in passing but FCS transfer Hansen led the Pac in receiving and true frosh DRob was also in the top 10. Most of Hansen's 2016 numbers would've led the Pac again this season by a wide margin, and incredibly he did what he did in only 10 games! No disrespect to Hansen, but IMO Hunter is a superior athlete. In addition to adding Bloesch we also retained Plough, who is also a former OC and was the de facto OC as consultant when we opened things up the last 2 games.

Meanwhile Ucla is desperate for quality receivers because their production at the position has been terrible and they lose their top 2 guys. Cal had 2 WR arguably in the top 10 of the Pac (although Sturdivant drops WAY down in terms of YPC; Hunter does not) but Ucla had arguably 1 (Bobo) in the top 10 AND top 30. Hunter and Sturdivant both outperformed Bobo even in Musgrave's system, so it's anybody's guess what lies in store for him down in LA. Will he continue to get better or will he stagnate? Sturdivant and and Bobo were very close in production, but Hunter had far better numbers than Bobo even playing in two fewer games and than Sturdivant in one fewer. Ford and Allen are so far down the list they're hard to find. Hunter statistically outplayed half of the Pac's first and second team WR, including the guy who's universally projected as a top 5 WR pick in April. Bobo is projected as a UDFA and Ucla does not put WR into the NFL. Hopefully Sturdivant got paid because his prospects for individual success are not as good in their offense as ours, at least based on their past results. Cal will be fine as long as we hang on to Hunter. Whether Sturdivant will improve at Ucla is a huge question mark. It will be very interesting to see who has the better year between Sturdivant and Hightower.

Hansen (2016) (#1 rec (92 in 10!), #1 ypg (124.9), #7 ypc (13.6))

Odunze (#3 rec (75 in 12), #1 ypg (95.4), #7 ypc)
Singer (#6 rec (66 in 12), #2 ypg, #3 ypc)
Hunter (#9 rec (60 in 11), #3 ypg, #4 ypc)
Cowing (#1 rec (84 in 12), #4 ypg, #11 ypc)
McMillan (#2 rec (79 in 13), #5 ypg, #1 ypc (18.0))

Sturdivant (#7 rec (65 in 12), #10 ypg, #21 ypc)
Bobo (#12 rec (57 in 13!), #11 ypg, #10 ypc)
Allen (#18 rec (49 in 11), #31 ypg, #31 ypc)
Ford (NL rec (20 in 12), #41 ypg, NL ypc)

https://stats.pac-12.com/sports/fball/2022-23/players?sort=wyg&view=&pos=wr&r=0
https://static.pac-12.com/sports/football/stats/2016-17/HTML/confldrs.htm#conf.wi2

Ucla will probably have a better record than Cal this year but it won't be based on Sturdivant or Oladejo. It will be mostly based on schedule. I'll be shocked if Spav isn't at least a moderate upgrade over Musgrave, and not at all surprised if he's a massive upgrade.