California vs. Pittsburgh

California and Pittsburgh have 6 meetings on file, the first in 1955; Pittsburgh leads the series 4–⁠2 in the games on file. Over the last 6 meetings it’s Pittsburgh 4–⁠2.

Scheduled 2027 at Pittsburgh; 2028 at California. As the programs’ Wikipedia articles list them (CC BY-SA).

California wins
2
Pittsburgh wins
4
Ties
0
Earliest on file
1955
Longest streak
2 Pittsburgh
Current streak
1 Pittsburgh
Last 10 meetings
Pittsburgh 4–⁠2
Most recent
2024

The series at a glance

Every meeting by decade, colored by the winner
’0’1’2’3’4’5’6’7’8’9W–L
1950s1–⁠1
1960s1–⁠2
2020s0–⁠1
Average margin
12.2 points; 2 decided by one score (8 or fewer)
At California
2–⁠1 California’s record at home
At Pittsburgh
3–⁠0 Pittsburgh’s record at home
Shutouts
1

Every meeting on file, as played. Ranks are the AP poll’s going in.

Games that tell the story

  1. California’s biggest win1966: California 30, Pittsburgh 15by 15 points
  2. Pittsburgh’s biggest win1963: Pittsburgh 35, California 15by 20 points
  3. Upset1956: California 14, Pittsburgh 0California had a 33% chance, by our ratings before kickoff

Both programs through the years

End-of-season Elo ratings of California and Pittsburgh, 1955 on1300150017001960197019801990200020102020

Our Elo rating at the end of each season, a measure of how strong a team was, not a forecast; 1500 is an average FBS team.

From the newspapers

  • The Evening star's story of the 1955 game: Pitt Trounces Golden Bears With Late Burst

    1955 · Evening star, Washington, D.C., Sep 18, 1955

Public-domain newspapers from the Library of Congress’s Chronicling America, found through the American Stories dataset (Dell and Harvard, CC BY 4.0). The earliest meetings with a story on file; each game’s page has the full text.

Every game

Nov 28, 2026Pittsburgh at California upcomingat California
Oct 12, 202422Pittsburgh 17, California 15at Pittsburgh
Oct 1, 1966California 30, Pittsburgh 15at California
Oct 5, 19639Pittsburgh 35, California 15at Pittsburgh
Oct 6, 1962Pittsburgh 26, California 24at California
Oct 6, 1956California 14, 7Pittsburgh 0at California
Sep 17, 1955Pittsburgh 27, California 7at Pittsburgh

Every game is listed as played on the field.