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Cal Football

Additional Kickoff Times Set For 2025 Cal Football Season

May 29, 2025
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Kickoff times for six of the California football team’s first eight games of the 2025 season have been announced by the Atlantic Coast Conference.

In addition to its earlier announcement of the Golden Bears’ season opener at Oregon State being a 7:30 p.m. PT kickoff on ESPN, Cal had five more of its games assigned start times and television designation.

After its trip to Corvallis, the Golden Bears will face Texas Southern at 3 p.m. PT on ACC Network Extra in their home opener Sept. 6 at California Memorial Stadium. This will be the first matchup between the Bears and Tigers.

Cal will then host the Minnesota Golden Gophers on Sept. 13 at 7:30 p.m. PT on ESPN. The matchup will mark the seventh time the Bears and Gophers have faced one another, and the first time since 2009. The Bears are 4-2 all-time against the Gophers.

In week four, the Bears will travel south to face San Diego State on Sept. 20. Kickoff against the Aztecs has been set for 7:30 p.m. PT and will be televised on CBS Sports Network.

It will be the 10th meeting between the Golden Bears and Aztecs. Cal is seeking the series' first-ever victory on the road in 2025. In the previous nine meetings, the home team was victorious. With last season’s victory over the Aztecs, Cal now leads the series, 5-4.

The Bears will have back-to-back Friday night games in October, one at home on Oct. 17 against North Carolina at 7:30 p.m. PT followed a road matchup at Virginia Tech on Oct. 24 at 4:30 p.m. PT. Both games will be televised by ESPN. It will be the first matchup between Cal and UNC since 2018. The Bears and Hokies haven’t met since the 2003 Insight Bowl, which Cal won 52-49. Overall, Cal is a combined 3-0 versus the Tar Heels and Hokies.

The times for Cal’s games against Boston College, Duke, Virginia, Louisville, Stanford and SMU will be announced at a later date. 

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Additional Kickoff Times Set For 2025 Cal Football Season

1,438 Views | 14 Replies | Last: 22 min ago by mbBear
oskidunker
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11:57a, 5/29/25
All night games. Glad I did not buy season tickets. Ugh
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Sebastabear
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1:13p, 5/29/25
My first thought in glancing at this was "Look at all the night games. People are going to be pissed." But on a deeper dive I'm actually pretty pleased by these slots and wouldn't have designed anything different (for these at least) even with a totally blank sheet of paper.

@OSU - August 30, 7:30 pm. Almost has to be a night game. It can be really hot in Oregon that time of year. May head up for this one as our last trip up there in 2022 was not bueno - that was the game where I believe Milchalczik told us candidly that we had the worst coached offensive line he had ever seen. Not unrelated that was the only time where I sent an email to Justin voicing an opinion on one of his assistant coaches. Think the talent differential will still allow this to be a solid W this year.

Texas Southern - September 6, 3:00 pm. Perfect time for an FCS game.

Minnesota - September 13, 7:30 pm. Our big OOC for the year. Need the students to show up and as we have discussed night games work for them. 1:00 PM kickoffs do not. Plus, it can be pretty hot in mid-September in Berkeley as well. We should be undefeated at this point, which will also get people to show up . Should be great. Was at the 2009 game where we played them @Minnesota and Jahvid Best went off. God, I loved watching him play.

@San Diego State - September 20, 7:30 pm. It's absolutely ridiculous that we have never beaten these guys in San Diego. Four losses down there. That streak has to end. Still a hot time of the year. Good for night games.

UNC - October 17, 7:30 pm. Not a fan of the mid-October or later night games but given it's a Friday night there's no other option. Plus, once again, we need the students for this one and a 7:30 PM kickoff will be perfect to maximize student attendance. Calgorithm should be running wild by this point in the season if we're doing well. A lot of material to work with. We definitely need a few "Our Jordan is better than your Jordon" signs. Hopefully by then either Moko or King are going off.

@Virginia Tech - October 24, 7:30 pm. Another Friday night game so there's really no option. Should be an amazing atmosphere though. Hope the team is rolling by then.

Of course it's the unassigned part of the roster that will really tell the tale for us. . If we are winning, we'll start getting better and better slots. Lose and these won't be the only night games we will be facing.
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sycasey
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1:43p, 5/29/25
I know the old dudes here don't love the 7:30 start times for attending games, but the truth is that those time slots actually draw a pretty good TV audience. The reason? Not many other games are on at that time, so football fans will just watch whatever football is in front of them.

I would also note that these night games are the most likely to be announced early in the season. There will probably be more day games in the upcoming TBD slots.
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bencgilmore
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1:45p, 5/29/25
SD State fans are pretty high on this years' team. Lot of castoff transfers from other programs. Definitely not a sure win.
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kal kommie
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3:21p, 5/29/25
Four is too many 7:30 or later kickoffs in my book and there are probably more yet to come. But I know we're powerless here, just like we are in every other aspect in which this sport has gone down the tubes.
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Calfan92
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3:32p, 5/29/25
ick.
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Bjorn91
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4:13p, 5/29/25
Now that I live on the East Coast…I can tell you these games are nearly unwatchable. Only a diehard cal fan will watch games that go to 2am. Not good for our brand.
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GivemTheAxe
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In reply to oskidunker • 7:27p, 5/29/25
oskidunker said:
All night games. Glad I did not buy season tickets. Ugh
I would prefer 12:30 start time for all home games. But in September and October games can be brutal on sunny days.
There are several advantages to night games:

1. Nights are warm and pleasant.

2. There is plenty of time for a pre-game tailgate OR to gather at La Vals (on Northside) for pre-game Pizza followed by an not too difficult walk up to Memorial Stadium.

3. Post-game walk to my parking spot near West Gate is very pleasant with a beautiful night view of the campus: Hearst Mining Building, Doe Library, Memorial Glade, Moffett Undergraduate Library and the East Asian Library. .
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calumnus
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In reply to Bjorn91 • 1:23a, 5/30/25
Bjorn91 said:
Now that I live on the East Coast…I can tell you these games are nearly unwatchable. Only a diehard cal fan will watch games that go to 2am. Not good for our brand.


Of the 5 games, 3 are 7:30 kickoffs on the West Coast (9:30 Central, 10:30 Eastern). Lots of people still in the bars at that time. Assuming the game ends 3 hours later is 12:30 Central, 1:30 Eastern. I am not in bars that late, but I understand many are.
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mbBear
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In reply to Bjorn91 • 8:39a
Bjorn91 said:
Now that I live on the East Coast…I can tell you these games are nearly unwatchable. Only a diehard cal fan will watch games that go to 2am. Not good for our brand.
Sharing the East Coast with you, I dread the starts, but yeah, I stay up most of the time.
The question is does being in "Prime Time" in the Pacific time zone off-set whatever loss there is on the East Coast? If I am remembering correctly(always a big IF), the numbers for "After Dark" aren't too bad...and, let's face it, this space exists because there is some level of success for the Networks.
Not for nothing, population growth over the last number of years in the Mountain Time Zone doesn't help matters for us in the East. Then, of course, it's "not quite as late" in the Central...
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BearoutEast67
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In reply to Bjorn91 • 8:40a
Bjorn91 said:
Now that I live on the East Coast…I can tell you these games are nearly unwatchable. Only a diehard cal fan will watch games that go to 2am. Not good for our brand.
It is hard to stay awake. But I try to do so anyway! On rare occasions, I'll record and watch in the morning but then that brings all the spoiler alerts and possible damage to the team's ju-ju during the game, as I wasn't wearing my lucky Bear feet slippers.
Donate to Cal's NIL at https://calegends.com/donation/
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sycasey
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In reply to calumnus • 9:14a
calumnus said:
Bjorn91 said:
Now that I live on the East Coast…I can tell you these games are nearly unwatchable. Only a diehard cal fan will watch games that go to 2am. Not good for our brand.


Of the 5 games, 3 are 7:30 kickoffs on the West Coast (9:30 Central, 10:30 Eastern). Lots of people still in the bars at that time. Assuming the game ends 3 hours later is 12:30 Central, 1:30 Eastern. I am not in bars that late, but I understand many are.
I will reiterate that the late games may not be ideal for the old men on this board, but they tend to draw better ratings than our afternoon games. It's simply not true that those games hurt Cal's media exposure.

They may hurt attendance, though again, our best-attended game last year was Miami . . . a late game.
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Jeff82
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9:22a
The games are being scheduled for TV, which I get. Also, if a night game is better for the students, so be it. But I am glad I decided not to buy season tickets, given that at least two of the six games are at night, which I doubt my 90-year-old Dad will be interested in going to. I probably will go to Minnesota, because a night game in mid-September should be good weather. October, not so much.
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mbBear
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In reply to Jeff82 • 10:19a
Jeff82 said:
The games are being scheduled for TV, which I get. Also, if a night game is better for the students, so be it. But I am glad I decided not to buy season tickets, given that at least two of the six games are at night, which I doubt my 90-year-old Dad will be interested in going to. I probably will go to Minnesota, because a night game in mid-September should be good weather. October, not so much.
I will say this, having experienced night games in the SEC: it's beyond electric. Now, you can tell me that (a lot) bigger crowds plays a part, and there is some tradition there, but it's fantastic....
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