Cal Football: Bowl Projections -- Will Bears Get a Crack at Mack Brown?

Cal could face Brown's North Carolina team in the Sun Bowl, and Bears fans recall what Brown did

Well, it’s unanimous this week. All nine experts we cited for their bowl projections predict Cal will be in a bowl game. Last week, Sports Illustrated did not have the Bears participating in a postseason game, but SI has come around.

SI is one of two experts who have Cal playing in the Redbox Bowl in nearby Santa Clara. As we have noted previously, that would barely seem like a bowl game for a school in Berkeley.

The only other bowl cited more than once by our group of experts is the Sun Bowl, which is where 247 Sports, ESPN's Mark Schlabach and CBS Sports peg the Bears’ postseason destination. Both 247 Sports and CBS Sports project North Carolina to be the Bears’ opponent in that Sun Bowl, and that would be interesting.

The Tar Heels are coached by Mack Brown, whose name still sticks in the craw of long-time Cal fans. His public lobbying when he was head coach of Texas helped the Longhorns move up to the critical No. 4 spot in the final 2004 BCS standings, leapfrogging Cal, which had held the No. 4 spot the previous week. As a result Texas played in the Rose Bowl that season and Cal did not. (Aaron Rodgers is still upset about it, or at least was three years ago.)

A bowl possibility that is nearly as intriguing was provided by USA Today, which projects Cal to play in the Frisco Bowl against SMU, a team coached by Sonny Dykes, who was Cal’s head coach until he was fired following the 2016 season. The Frisco Bowl will be played not far from SMU’s Dallas campus. 

Overall the experts have Cal in six different bowls against eight different opponents.

Here are the bowl projections this week:

USA Today: Cal vs. SMU, Frisco Bowl, Dec. 20 

CBS Sports: Cal vs. North Carolina, Sun Bowl, Dec. 31  

247 Sports: Cal vs. North Carolina, Sun Bowl, Dec. 31  

College Football News: Cal vs. Indiana, Redbox Bowl (Santa Clara), Dec. 30 

Sports Illustrated: Cal vs. Maryland, Redbox Bowl, Dec. 30  

ESPN (Kyle Bunagura): Cal vs. San Diego State, Las Vegas Bowl, Dec. 21  

ESPN (Mark Schlabach): Cal vs. Virginia, Sun Bowl, Dec. 31

Sporting News: Cal vs. Miami, Independence Bowl, Dec. 26  

Brett McMurphy: Cal vs. West Virginia, Cheez-It Bowl, Dec. 27