Cal’s bowl picture is still hazy, even with a 2-1 start in hand.
As the Golden Bears get set for Friday night’s home game against Clemson, college football’s bowl forecasters aren’t lining up behind one clear destination for Cal. In fact, the split is stark: among the eight experts cited, three don’t think the Bears will reach a postseason game at all, while the other five send Cal to five different bowls.
The only real overlap comes at the Poinsettia Bowl, where two experts land the Bears. Beyond that, there’s no consensus on where Cal might wind up.
That uncertainty fits the broader setup for the Bears and the rest of the former Pac-12 teams. Cal, along with every school that was in the Pac-12 in 2023, is tied to Pac-12-affiliated bowl games this season. If those spots are all filled, Cal could end up in another bowl.
The Pac-12-affiliated lineup starts with the top-tier matchups: the Alamo Bowl, which pits a Legacy Pac-12 team against a Big 12 opponent on December 28 at 6 p.m. Pacific time in the Alamodome in San Antonio, Texas, on ESPN; the Las Vegas Bowl, featuring a Legacy Pac-12 team against the SEC or Big Ten on December 31 at 12:45 p.m.
Pacific time at Allegiant Stadium in Paradise, Nevada, also on ESPN; the Holiday Bowl, matching a Legacy Pac-12 team with the ACC on December 28 at 2 p.m. Pacific time at Snapdragon Stadium in San Diego, California, on ESPN; and the Sun Bowl, another Legacy Pac-12-ACC game, on December 31 at 11 a.m.
Pacific time at Sun Bowl Stadium in El Paso, Texas, on CBS.
The rest of the Pac-12 bowl structure includes the Poinsettia Bowl, which pairs a Legacy Pac-12 team with a current Pac-12 team on December 23 at 4:30 p.m. Pacific time at Snapdragon Stadium in San Diego, California, on the CW Network; the Independence Bowl, with a Legacy Pac-12 team against the Big 12 on December 22 at 5:30 p.m. Pacific time at Independence Stadium in Shreveport, Louisiana, on ESPN; and the ESPN bowl pool, which could include the Armed Forces Bowl, Gasparilla Bowl or First Responders Bowl.
The Legacy Pac-12 group consists of Cal, Stanford, USC, UCLA, Washington, Washington State, Arizona, Arizona State, Utah, Colorado, Oregon and Oregon State.
If there are no openings left for a bowl-eligible Cal team, the Bears could still wind up in a bowl tied to the ACC or another conference.
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