Cal looks to build on strong 2023 finish as the Bears begin 1st season in ACC
After a long stretch of Cal football struggling (or worse), there is reason for optimism for the California Golden Bears as they head into their inaugural season with the ACC.
The team had a strong finish to their final season in the Pac-12, winning their final three regular-season contests including a resounding victory over arch rival Stanford to go to a bowl game for the first time since 2019. It was announced that both Cal and Stanford would join the ACC in September of last year.
Now coach Justin Wilcox's team will try to carry that over into a season full of change with Cal leaving its longtime conference home on the West Coast to be part of a conference with schools mostly on the Eastern seaboard.
"There's a lot going on," Wilcox said. "New schedule, new teams and new conference. But at the end of the day, we're playing the same game. All we can do right now is we have to be better tomorrow than we were today."
The Bears will travel more than 20,000 miles to and from road games this season, leading to changes, including leaving a day earlier for most trips and using a bigger plane to give players more room to spread out.
But Wilcox is downplaying the impact that will have on his players.
"What's most important is that we prepare the best that we possibly can so we can play good football." he said. "But the travel will not be an excuse to not play well."
Cal hopes the conference switch will lead to a change in fortunes for a program that had a losing record in conference play for the last 14 seasons. The Bears last had a winning record in conference play in 2009, when they went 5-4 in the old Pac-10 under coach Jeff Tedford and have gone longer than any other team in a power conference since last avoiding a losing conference record.
Cal's late-season push in 2023 was helped by the insertion into the lineup of quarterback Fernando Mendoza, who threw for 14 TD passes in eight starts. But Mendoza also had 15 turnovers and fractured his sternum in a bowl game loss to Texas Tech.
"There's a ton of optimism with this team," Mendoza said. "Last year, I was third string, didn't have much playing experience. This year I have (eight) games under my belt."
He is being challenged in camp by North Texas transfer Chandler Rogers, who threw for 3,382 yards and 29 TDs last season, and Ohio transfer CJ Harris.
The Bears offense will rely heavily on star running back Jaydn Ott, who led the Pac-12 last season with 1,315 yards rushing and was tied for second with 15 total touchdowns. Ott is a big-play threat any time he touches the ball, with nine carries in his career for at least 30 yards and five runs of at least 50 yards the past two seasons.
Wilcox is known as a strong defensive coach, which made last year's struggles on that side of the ball very concerning. The Bears allowed 32.8 points per game for their worst mark by 4.4 points in Wilcox's seven-year tenure.
They allowed 31 pass plays of at least 25 yards last season as they struggled to stop the big play. But they did manage 27 takeaways and will be anchored by linebacker Cade Uluave, who won Pac-12 Freshman Defensive Player of the Year.
The move to the ACC does add some travel difficulties but the actual competition should be easier than what the Bears faced in their final season in the Pac-12 when they played five out of six games against ranked teams during one stretch.
Cal faces only three teams ranked in the preseason poll, with the games against No. 19 Miami and No. 24 North Carolina State coming at home. The Bears travel to No. 10 Florida State, which is one of three cross-country trips, including a nonconference game at Auburn in Week 2.
The Bears open the season at home against UC Davis on Aug. 31.
