Which College Football Teams Should Cal Fans Root For This Fall?

Three teams might earn the allegiance of Golden Bears supporters for a while with Cal not playing football until . . . who knows?

Jake Curtis | Sep 11, 2020

Which College Football Teams Should Cal Fans Root For This Fall? /

Cal won't be playing football until at least November, and probably later than that, if at all. So where do Golden Bears fans with a thirst for college football put their allegiance this fall?

We have suggestions for three teams Cal fans can root for over the next couple months:

1. Boston College

Luc Bequette is by all measures a good guy, someone who's easy to pull for. He also happens to be a pretty good football player who has NFL aspirations.

He left Cal last month so he could play football this fall and try to impress NFL scouts in his final season of college eligibility. Bequette ended up at Boston College, and should be ready to play in the Eagles' Sept. 19 season opener against Duke.

Boston College is picked to finish last in the seven-team ACC Atlantic Division, so you would not be accused of latching on to a front-runner. And wouldn't you like to see Bequette sack Clemson quarterback Trevor Lawrence when the Eagles face Clemson on Halloween, Oct. 31?

2. Virginia

Cal and Virginia are state universities with reputations for top-notch academics and similar fortunes on the football field.

Virginia has never finished alone in the first place in the ACC, which was organized in 1953, but the Cavaliers did tie for the title twice, in 1989 and 1995.

Cal has not finished alone in first place in its conference since 1957, but has tied for first place twice since then, in 1975 and 2006.

Since 1999, Virginia has played in 11 bowl games, had four head coaches and won nine games or more three times.

Since 1999, Cal has played in 11 bowl games, had four head coaches and won nine games or more three times.

But the exlamation point on this pairing came when Cal athletic director Jim Knowlton introduced Mark Fox as Cal's new basketball coach in the spring of 2019 and suggested Cal could do what Virginia has done in hoops.

"I look at us, and I look at what Virginia does, and I say there's so many similarities, from a school, from an education, those are the things I think are possible here," Knowlton said.

Virginia opens at Virginia Tech on Sept. 19.

3. West Virginia

Have you ever flicked on the TV at 10 a.m. on an October Saturday, see a team with distinctive blue and gold uniforms and say, "Hey, I didn't know Cal was playing this morning."

It has happened to me, and it turns out to be West Virginia, whose uniforms are eerily similar to Cal's. Pull for the Mountaineers and you can support the Cal look, perhaps even convince yourself that Cal is on the field.

The Mountaineers begin their season Saturday, Sept. 12, at home against Eastern Kentucky.

Here are three comparisons of West Virginia and Cal uniforms -- A, B and C:

A. West Virginia

A. Cal

Photo by Neville E. Guard - USA TODAY Sports

B. West Virginia

B. Cal

C. West Virginia

C. Cal

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Published Sep 11, 2020

JAKE CURTIS

Jake Curtis worked in the San Francisco Chronicle sports department for 27 years, covering virtually every sport, including numerous Final Fours, several college football national championship games, an NBA Finals, world championship boxing matches and a World Cup. He was a Cal beat writer for many of those years, and won awards for his feature stories.