As USC Visits, Cal Coach Justin Wilcox Calls Death of Pac-12 Rivalries `Shameful'

The Bears and Trojans, who will both exit the Pac-12 after this year, set to square off for the 110th time.

Cal coach Justin Wilcox has his hands full this week, tying to figure out how to slow down Heisman Trophy winner Caleb Williams of USC and halt his own team’s two-game losing streak in the Pac-12 Conference.

But asked specifically about this being the 110th and possibly final meeting against the Trojans before the two programs head to new conferences next season, Wilcox paused before using the words “sad” and “shameful” to describe the seismic change in college football’s landscape.

“Right now all we’re focused on is putting together the best plan we can, having a great week of practice because that’s what it will take to win,” Wilcox said Tuesday during his weekly media session.

“Setting that aside, it’s just . . . it’s really sad, you know and kind of shameful, the way this whole thing went down,” he added.

USC and UCLA triggered the dissolution of the Pac-12 a year ago when they announced plans to join the Big Ten Conference in the fall of 2024.

Oregon and Washington followed them this past summer, before the Arizona schools, Utah and Colorado opted to move into the Big 12 and Cal and Stanford accepted an invitation to join the Atlantic Coast Conference.

The changes, all made in the name of football TV earnings, will have a serious ripple effect on team travel and other sports. But the reshuffling of conferences also signals the end of popular rivalries, some of which date back more than a century.

Cal already has played Washington for likely the last time for a while, losing 59-32 to the unbeaten and now-No. 5 Huskies on Sept. 23. Cal and UW first squared off in 1904 — two years before the San Francisco earthquake — and it’s anyone’s guess if and when they’ll meet again.

A week from now, the Bears venture north to face Oregon, whom they beat 12-0 in the series debut in 1899 — the same year a pedestrian was killed by an automobile for the first time in America. You think it might cross Wilcox’s mind that he’s facing his alma mater for perhaps the last time.

And Cal’s regular season ends on Nov. 25 at Pasadena with a farewell duel vs. younger sibling UCLA. The Bears and Bruins have met every year since 1933, when the series began.

“We’re excited to be part of the ACC moving forward. I’d love to sit down at the end of the season and we could have a great talk about all this because I do have a lot of strong feelings about it,” Wilcox said. “I know for the fans of the conference, the schools individually, it’s a sad deal.

“The in-state rivalries are special. We’re excited to play this weekend. Our entire focus is on that.”

Cal took the first-ever meeting vs. USC, winning 18-0 in Los Angeles in 1912. The Bears were 9-1-2 against the Trojans through 1924.

The pendulum swing hard in USC’s favor after that, and the Trojans now have a robust 72-32-5 all-time series lead.

But Cal has won two of the past four meetings, including a 15-14 victory in 2018 that snapped a 17-game losing streak in series.

This is the 20th anniversary of Cal’s 34-31 triple-over win vs. the Trojans when Tyler Frederickson delivered a 38-yard, game-winning field goal as time ran out.

In 1991, the Bears trounced USC 52-30 in Berkeley, posting their highest point total ever against the Trojans and claiming their largest margin of victory in the series since 1921.

Cal enters Saturday’s 1 p.m. kickoff at Memorial Stadium with a 3-4 overall record, 1-3 in Pac-12 play.

USC, which began the season with national championship aspirations, is 6-2 and 4-1 in the Pac-12 after consecutive losses to Notre Dame and Utah.

Cover photo of Cal coach Justin Wilcox

Follow Jeff Faraudo of Cal Sports Report on Twitter: @jefffaraudo