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California Golden Bears

ACCBerkeley, CACalifornia Memorial Stadium

2026: 3–⁠4 (2–⁠2 ACC). Last: lost to No. 21 Wake Forest 41–⁠7 at home. Next: at SMU, Saturday, Oct 24, noon ET.

  1. L 24–⁠45UCLA
  2. W 21–⁠18at Syracuse
  3. W 49–⁠7Wagner
  4. L 10–⁠24Clemson
  5. L 31–⁠39at UNLV
  6. W 25–⁠20Virginia Tech
  7. L 7–⁠41No. 21 Wake Forest
  8. Oct 24at SMU
  9. Oct 31at NC State
  10. Nov 14at Virginia
  11. Nov 21Stanford
  12. Nov 28Pittsburgh
  • Outfitted by Nike

California has played football since 1886 and is 612–⁠561–⁠31 in the 1,204 games on record here, which start in 1899. California claims five national championships (1920, 1921, 1922, 1923, 1937). Their best finish in the final AP poll is No. 2, in 1937. They have won 14 Pacific Coast Conference titles (the last in 1958) and two Pac-12 Conference titles, counting shared titles. Since 1936, the NFL Draft has taken 161 players from here in its first seven rounds, 26 of them in the first round. The College Football Hall of Fame holds 17 players and 4 coaches from California. Jeff Tedford (2002–⁠2012) won more games here than any other coach: 82. The most-played rival is USC: 110 meetings, USC leads 72–⁠32–⁠6. This season, under Tosh Lupoi, they’re 3–⁠4.

California Memorial Stadium in Berkeley
California Memorial StadiumPhoto: Quintin Soloviev, CC BY 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

On this date in 1991No. 7 California lost to No. 3 Washington 24–⁠17 at home.

Résumé

All-time record
710–⁠587–⁠51 official; 612–⁠561–⁠31 on file; how we count
Postseason
12–⁠14 bowls, title games, playoff
AP No. 1 finishes
0
Weeks at No. 1
4 of 184 ranked
Elo now
1430 108th of 138 FBS
Computer rankings
Massey No. 78 · Composite No. 76 in FBS, Oct 17; down 5 since Oct 11. From Massey Ratings
Best season by Elo
1949 rated 1743
Conference titles
16 last in 2006
Bowl record
12–⁠14–⁠1 official, bowls only
Seasons
112 since 1899, 1,204 games

Identity

Fight song
Fight for California
Mascot
Oski
Student section
The Bench
Apparel
Nike
Band
University of California Marching Band since 1891, 240 members

2026 season 3–⁠4

RosterFull 2026 season
DateOpponentResultElo
Sep 5vsUCLAL 24–⁠4562%
Sep 12atSyracuseW 21–⁠1841%
Sep 19vsWagnerW 49–⁠786%
Sep 25vsClemsonL 10–⁠2442%
Oct 3atUNLVL 31–⁠3927%
Oct 10vsVirginia TechW 25–⁠2046%
Oct 17vs21Wake ForestL 7–⁠4135%
Oct 24atSMUPreview16%
Oct 31atNC StatePreview29%
Nov 14atVirginiaPreview28%
Nov 21vsStanfordPreview56%
Nov 28vsPittsburghPreview40%

Elo: a pregame chance from scores alone.

This season, game by game

California’s Elo through 2026: 1482 going into the opener, 1430 after the latest game.1425145014751500Elo 1482 going in; lost to UCLA 45–24Elo 1442 going in; beat Syracuse 21–18Elo 1459 going in; beat Wagner 49–7Elo 1468 going in; lost to Clemson 24–10Elo 1446 going in; lost to UNLV 39–31Elo 1435 going in; beat Virginia Tech 25–20Elo 1454 going in; lost to Wake Forest 41–7Now: Elo 1430 after the latest game1430
UCLASyracuseWagnerClemsonUNLVVirginia TechWake ForestNow
Elo going into each game, then after the latest. Filled dots: wins; open: losses. Dashed line: 1500, an average FBS team.

Future schedule

2027–⁠32
202712 games: 6 home, 6 away
202811 games: 6 home, 5 away
202911 games: 5 home, 6 away
20309 games: 4 home, 5 away
20311 game: 1 away, non-conference only
20321 game: 1 home, non-conference only

California’s announced games beyond the seasons on our schedule, as its Wikipedia article lists them (announced schedules as of June 25, 2026). Schedules change; a season shows only the games named so far, and many articles list non-conference games only. Future schedules: Wikipedia (CC BY-SA).

Players

The 2026 rosterRecord bookAll-time letterwinnersThe money

On the 2026 team

Photos: Wikimedia Commons, free licenses; credits on each player’s page.

Program greats See all

Heisman finalists, College Football Hall of Famers, consensus All-Americans, national award winners and first-round picks, for what they did at California.

Photos: Wikimedia Commons, free licenses; credits on each player’s page.

Around the program

Apparel
Nike · Official source
Mascot
Oski · Official source
Student section
The Bench · Official source
Offensive coordinator
Jordan Somerville · Official source
Defensive coordinator
Michael Hutchings · Official source

Found by several AI researchers searching the web, then kept only where the page loads and says so in words naming the program; every quote is checked again each time the data is rebuilt. Official source: the school’s own page. All of them.

The apparel deal

Nike, from July 2023. Three years as announced in 2023. The 2023 deal was announced for three years. A renewal hasn't been confirmed here yet.

Before: Under Armour, through 2023.

Apparel deals: Field Drip. Terms as the outlets reported them; checked Oct 3, 2026.

Program strength since 1899

Best seasons ever
California end-of-season Elo from 1899 to 2026, best in 1949 at 1743.130015001700190019001920194019601980200020201949 peak: Elo 1743
End-of-season Elo. Dashed line: 1500, an average FBS team.

More coverage

Found through the GDELT Project, which indexes news sites worldwide. Each link opens the story on the outlet’s own site; each picture is that outlet’s own preview of its story, shown from its site and credited to it.

Head coaches

CoachYearsRecord
Tosh Lupoi20263–⁠4
Nick Rolovich20251–⁠1
Justin Wilcox2017–⁠202548–⁠55
Sonny Dykes2013–⁠201619–⁠30
Jeff Tedford2002–⁠201282–⁠57
Tom Holmoe1997–⁠200116–⁠39
Steve Mariucci19966–⁠6
Keith Gilbertson1992–⁠199520–⁠26
Bruce Snyder1987–⁠199129–⁠24–⁠4
Joe Kapp1982–⁠198620–⁠34–⁠1
Roger Theder1978–⁠198117–⁠28
Mike White1972–⁠197734–⁠31–⁠1
Ray Willsey1964–⁠197140–⁠42–⁠1
Marv Levy1960–⁠19638–⁠29–⁠3
Pete Elliott1957–⁠195910–⁠21
Pappy Waldorf1947–⁠195667–⁠32–⁠4
Frank Wickhorst19462–⁠7
Buck Shaw19454–⁠5–⁠1
Stub Allison1935–⁠194458–⁠42–⁠2
William Ingram1931–⁠193427–⁠14–⁠4
Nibs Price1926–⁠193027–⁠17–⁠3
Andy Smith1916–⁠192574–⁠16–⁠7
Garrett Cochran18990–⁠1

Most-played series

All rivalries
OpponentGamesCAL record
USC11032–⁠72–⁠6 ‡
Stanford12751–⁠65–⁠11 ‡
Washington9941–⁠55–⁠3
UCLA9534–⁠59–⁠1 †
Washington State8449–⁠30–⁠5
Oregon8239–⁠42–⁠1
Oregon State7740–⁠37
Arizona3615–⁠19–⁠2

Official records. † Without wins the NCAA vacated. ‡ The rivalry’s own count, where it differs from the games on file. Each series page gives both.

Every opponent (118)

Every program California has played, A to Z, with California’s record against it. Each links to the series, game by game.

Official records. † Without wins the NCAA vacated, or with forfeits counted. ‡ The rivalry’s own count, where it differs from the games on file.

Conference titles

16, counting shared titles
Pac-12 Conference 2
1975 (shared), 2006 (shared)
Pacific Coast Conference 14
1918, 1920, 1921, 1922, 1923, 1924 (shared), 1929 (shared), 1935 (shared), 1937, 1938 (shared), 1948 (shared), 1949, 1950, 1958

As the program counts them in its Wikipedia article, shared titles included, and listed under each conference’s current name (a Western Conference title of the 1900s counts as a Big Ten title); season pages use the name the conference had that year. A title the article files under a conference the team wasn’t in that season is listed under the one it was. Division titles include years the team tied for its division.

Conferences

  1. Independent 1886–⁠1905 and 1915
  2. Pacific Coast Conference 1916–⁠1958
  3. AAWU 1959–⁠1967
  4. Pac-8 1968–⁠1977
  5. Pac-10 1978–⁠2010
  6. Pac-12 2011–⁠2023
  7. ACC since 2024
  • 1959Joined the AAWU from the Pacific Coast Conference. Source
  • 2024Joined the ACC from the Pac-12, announced September 1, 2023. Source

California’s football conferences by season, from CollegeFootballData.com’s memberships (renamed conferences keep the name of the time). The moves and their announcement dates from Wikipedia’s lists of NCAA Division I conference changes; the year is the first season in the new conference. Conference realignment: Wikipedia (CC BY-SA).

National award winners

All awards
2008Alex Mack OLCampbell Trophy

Consensus All-Americans 30

2024Nohl Williams DB
2019Evan Weaver LB
2006Dante Hughes DB
2006DeSean Jackson APB
2004J.J. Arrington RB
2000Andre Carter DE
2000Nick Harris P
1999Deltha O’Neal CB
1996Tony Gonzalez TE
1992Sean Dawkins WR
1991Russell White RB
1983Ron Rivera LB
1975Chuck Muncie RB
1975Steve Rivera WR
1974Steve Bartkowski QB
1971Sherman White DT
1968Ed White DT
1951Les Richter OG/LB
1950Les Richter OG/LB
1949Rod Franz OG
1948Jackie Jensen FB
1938Vic Bottari RB
1937Sam Chapman RB
1935Larry Lutz OT
1930Ted Beckett OG
1928Irvine Phillips E
1924Edwin C. Horrell C
1922Harold Muller E
1921Dan McMillan OT
1921Harold Muller E

Led the nation 10

2006DeSean Jackson punt return average (18.2)
2004J.J. Arrington rushing yards (2,018 yds)
1992Sean Dawkins receiving touchdowns (14 TD)
1974Steve Bartkowski passing yards (2,580 yds)
1972Barry Smith receiving touchdowns (13 TD)
1954Jim Hanifan receptions (45 catches)
1954Paul Larson passing yards (1,537 yds)
1953Paul Larson total offense (1,572 yds)
1944Joe Stuart punt return yards (372 yds)
1942Frank Porto kickoff return yards (483 yds)

The NCAA’s official national leaders since 1937, from Wikipedia’s yearly leader lists.

Heisman runners-up and finalists

The votes
1975Chuck Muncie RB2nd
1958Joe Kapp QB5th
1954Paul Larson QB5th
1948Jackie Jensen RB4th
1938Vic Bottari RB5th

Second to fifth in the vote, from each season’s Wikipedia article.

In the Hall of Fame

Every inductee
Players
17
Coaches
4
2025Alex Mack OL
2012Steve Bartkowski QB
1999Ed White DT
1992Craig Morton QB
1989Matt Hazeltine LB
1984Jackie Jensen FB
1984Sam Chapman RB
1982Les Richter OG/LB
1981Vic Bottari RB
1977Rod Franz OG
1975Walter Gordon OG/OT
1973Bill Ingram coach, career 1922–⁠1934
1972Buck Shaw coach here, 1945
1972Joe Kapp QB
1971Dan McMillan OT
1969Edwin C. Horrell C
1966Pappy Waldorf coach here, 1947–⁠1956
1964Bob Herwig C
1954Stan Barnes C/OT
1951Andy Smith coach here, 1916–⁠1925
1951Harold Muller E

In the NFL Draft

By college
Drafted, rounds 1–⁠7
161 since 1936
First-round picks
26
2016Jared Goff QBNo. 1, Los Angeles Rams
2011Cameron Jordan DENo. 24, New Orleans Saints
2010Tyson Alualu DTNo. 10, Jacksonville Jaguars
2010Jahvid Best RBNo. 30, Detroit Lions
2009Alex Mack CNo. 21, Cleveland Browns
2007Marshawn Lynch RBNo. 12, Buffalo Bills
2005Aaron Rodgers QBNo. 24, Green Bay Packers
2003Kyle Boller QBNo. 19, Baltimore Ravens

Who came and went in the 2026 transfer portal, and every portal year.

The school

University of California–Berkeley
Enrollment
45,882 33,070 undergraduates, fall 2024
Where
Berkeley, California
Public or private
Public Research 1
Founded
1868
Graduates’ median earnings
$92,446 10 years after starting

Enrollment, place and Carnegie research tier from the National Center for Education Statistics (IPEDS, public domain). Earnings from the US Department of Education’s College Scorecard (CC BY 4.0): the median for students who received federal aid and were working, not in school. Founding year from Wikidata. Every school’s in the data.

Official accounts

Football
X @CalFootballInstagram @cal_footballFacebook CalAthletics
Athletics department
Instagram @calathletics

Official accounts: the schools’ athletics websites: the ones calbears.com lists for its football program and athletics department, as of Oct 12, 2026.

Voices

play-by-play
  1. 1975–⁠2022Joe Starkey radio

With them: Monty Stickles (analyst, from 1968).

From the announcers’ Wikipedia articles (CC BY-SA), with the years as each article gives them: those in Wikipedia’s California football announcers category, and any whose article names them the program’s play-by-play voice. Television network crews and announcers whose articles give no years are left out.

On the newsreel

And 31 more

Universal Newsreel, National Archives (catalog record); some releases also via the Internet Archive. Story titles and words as Universal’s release sheet gives them; the films themselves may still be under copyright, so we link to the record rather than show them.

Season by season

National champions

Shaded: national title seasons, No. 1 in the final AP poll or claimed by California (5 claimed).

SeasonRecordConf.AP preAP finalCoachEloSP+
20263–⁠42–⁠2Tosh Lupoi1430-2.5
20257–⁠64–⁠4Justin Wilcox, Nick Rolovich1473-3.2
20246–⁠72–⁠6Justin Wilcox15214.0
20236–⁠74–⁠5Justin Wilcox1509-0.1
20224–⁠82–⁠7Justin Wilcox1419-3.0
20215–⁠74–⁠5Justin Wilcox14953.4
20201–⁠31–⁠3Justin Wilcox14952.4
20198–⁠54–⁠5Justin Wilcox1547-2.6
20187–⁠64–⁠5Justin Wilcox14833.9
20175–⁠72–⁠7Justin Wilcox1518-1.0
20165–⁠73–⁠6Sonny Dykes15132.4
20158–⁠54–⁠5Sonny Dykes154912.1
20145–⁠73–⁠6Sonny Dykes1409-0.6
20131–⁠110–⁠9Sonny Dykes1304-8.7
20123–⁠92–⁠7Jeff Tedford14265.3
20117–⁠65–⁠5Jeff Tedford152812.2
20105–⁠73–⁠6Jeff Tedford150610.0
20098–⁠55–⁠412Jeff Tedford15656.5
20089–⁠46–⁠3Jeff Tedford163418.0
20077–⁠63–⁠612Jeff Tedford157716.6
200610–⁠37–⁠2914Jeff Tedford172217.6
20058–⁠44–⁠41925Jeff Tedford165518.4
200410–⁠27–⁠1139Jeff Tedford170026.7
20038–⁠65–⁠3Jeff Tedford161816.8
20027–⁠54–⁠4Jeff Tedford152012.6
Every season back to 1899 (87 more)
SeasonRecordConf.AP preAP finalCoachEloSP+
20011–⁠100–⁠8Tom Holmoe1328-10.4
20003–⁠82–⁠6Tom Holmoe14335.0
19994–⁠73–⁠5Tom Holmoe1444-1.4
19985–⁠63–⁠5Tom Holmoe1433-2.5
19973–⁠81–⁠7Tom Holmoe14292.4
19966–⁠63–⁠5Steve Mariucci14484.6
19953–⁠82–⁠6Keith Gilbertson1434-4.9
19944–⁠73–⁠5Keith Gilbertson1493-2.8
19939–⁠44–⁠425Keith Gilbertson161411.0
19924–⁠72–⁠620Keith Gilbertson15097.3
199110–⁠26–⁠28Bruce Snyder168424.0
19907–⁠4–⁠14–⁠3–⁠1Bruce Snyder156111.3
19894–⁠72–⁠6Bruce Snyder1442-2.2
19885–⁠5–⁠11–⁠5–⁠1Bruce Snyder14964.9
19873–⁠6–⁠22–⁠3–⁠2Bruce Snyder14525.3
19862–⁠92–⁠7Joe Kapp1360-5.7
19854–⁠72–⁠7Joe Kapp1429-3.2
19842–⁠91–⁠8Joe Kapp1357-10.0
19835–⁠5–⁠13–⁠4–⁠1Joe Kapp14950.3
19827–⁠44–⁠4Joe Kapp15137.5
19812–⁠92–⁠6Roger Theder13831.9
19803–⁠83–⁠5Roger Theder1425-6.2
19796–⁠65–⁠4Roger Theder155014.9
19786–⁠53–⁠4Roger Theder15197.9
19777–⁠43–⁠4Mike White156210.1
19765–⁠63–⁠415Mike White157711.6
19758–⁠36–⁠114Mike White164016.6
19747–⁠3–⁠14–⁠2–⁠1Mike White15487.8
19734–⁠72–⁠5Mike White1441-8.5
19723–⁠83–⁠4Mike White14340.8
19716–⁠54–⁠3Ray Willsey15174.6
19706–⁠54–⁠3Ray Willsey15409.2
19695–⁠52–⁠4Ray Willsey1516
19687–⁠3–⁠12–⁠2–⁠1Ray Willsey1579
19675–⁠52–⁠3Ray Willsey1492
19663–⁠72–⁠3Ray Willsey1428
19655–⁠52–⁠3Ray Willsey1497
19643–⁠70–⁠4Ray Willsey1400
19634–⁠5–⁠11–⁠3Marv Levy1428
19621–⁠90–⁠4Marv Levy1314
19611–⁠8–⁠11–⁠3Marv Levy1344
19602–⁠7–⁠11–⁠3Marv Levy1389
19592–⁠81–⁠3Pete Elliott1412
19587–⁠46–⁠116Pete Elliott1507
19571–⁠91–⁠6Pete Elliott1376
19563–⁠72–⁠5Pappy Waldorf1436
19552–⁠7–⁠11–⁠5–⁠1Pappy Waldorf1437
19545–⁠54–⁠312Pappy Waldorf1567
19534–⁠4–⁠22–⁠2–⁠214Pappy Waldorf1594
19527–⁠33–⁠38Pappy Waldorf1646
19518–⁠25–⁠2512Pappy Waldorf1705
19509–⁠1–⁠15–⁠0–⁠1145Pappy Waldorf1736
194910–⁠17–⁠0103Pappy Waldorf1743
194810–⁠16–⁠094Pappy Waldorf1677
19479–⁠15–⁠1815Pappy Waldorf1586
19462–⁠71–⁠6Frank Wickhorst1368
19454–⁠5–⁠12–⁠4–⁠1Buck Shaw1405
19443–⁠6–⁠11–⁠3–⁠1Stub Allison1331
19434–⁠62–⁠2Stub Allison1407
19425–⁠53–⁠4Stub Allison1506
19414–⁠53–⁠4Stub Allison1535
19404–⁠63–⁠4Stub Allison1477
19393–⁠72–⁠5Stub Allison1495
193810–⁠16–⁠1314Stub Allison1713
193710–⁠0–⁠16–⁠0–⁠112Stub Allison1725
19366–⁠54–⁠3Stub Allison1569
19359–⁠14–⁠1Stub Allison1601
19346–⁠63–⁠2William Ingram1425
19336–⁠3–⁠22–⁠2–⁠2William Ingram1545
19327–⁠3–⁠22–⁠2–⁠1William Ingram1530
19318–⁠24–⁠1William Ingram1567
19304–⁠51–⁠4Nibs Price1465
19297–⁠1–⁠14–⁠1Nibs Price1605
19286–⁠2–⁠23–⁠0–⁠2Nibs Price1538
19277–⁠32–⁠3Nibs Price1514
19263–⁠60–⁠5Nibs Price1408
19256–⁠32–⁠2Andy Smith1582
19248–⁠0–⁠22–⁠0–⁠2Andy Smith1692
19239–⁠0–⁠15–⁠0Andy Smith1711
19229–⁠04–⁠0Andy Smith1735
19219–⁠0–⁠14–⁠0Andy Smith1707
19209–⁠03–⁠0Andy Smith1683
19196–⁠2–⁠12–⁠2Andy Smith1471
1918partial7–⁠21–⁠0Andy Smith1450
19175–⁠5–⁠12–⁠1Andy Smith1441
19166–⁠4–⁠10–⁠3Andy Smith1442
1899few games on file0–⁠1Garrett Cochran1491

Officially 710–⁠587–⁠51 since 1886 (per Wikipedia, checked Oct 10, 2026); game by game here, 612–⁠561–⁠31 (1,204 of its 1,348 games are on file). Our file starts in 1899; the program began in 1886. Some games are missing from our source.

No season on file for 1900–⁠15: the program may not have played, or our source may be missing them.

Game by game, 111 of 112 seasons are complete on file. For one season (1918) the record comes from coaching totals and some games are missing, so early totals and streaks count only the games on file.

Records are computed from every game on file at CollegeFootballData.com, whose coverage of the earliest seasons can be incomplete. Elo is this site’s own rating; see how it works on the records page.