– Last Updated on August 28, 2019 7:08 am
2019 Football Preview – Pac-12 – Golden Bears
Looking for 2019 Cal Golden Bears predictions? The Golden Bears have made improvements under Justin Wilcox and more specifically on the defensive side of the ball. In a conference and an era of football where points aren’t hard to come by, Cal plays a refreshing brand of defense that is well schooled, well coached, and just overall fundamentally sound.
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2019-20 College Football Preview – Cal Golden Bears
Head Coach: Justin Wilcox
2018 Record: 7-6
Cal Golden Bears Odds to win the 2019 FBS Championship:
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That shouldn’t change this year as most of their defensive unit from last year comes back.
Unfortunately, Cal’s ceiling is limited given their ineptitude on the offensive side of the ball. It was pretty bad last year and it might not get a whole lot better this year.
2019 Cal Golden Bears Predictions: Team Strengths
Tenacious D: As mentioned above, Cal’s defense is their clear strength and they will keep Cal in every game this year. Last year, Cal’s defense carried the Golden Bears to seven wins and with just a little bit more offense Cal could have easily won another two or three games.
Their only clunker was a home game versus UCLA where they allowed 37 points in a weird game.
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Linebacker Evan Weaver is the anchor of the Cal defense. If he stays healthy and has another good year he’ll end up as a potential first or second round pick in the upcoming draft.
Other seniors leading the Golden Bears will be defensive backs Traevon Beck, Evan Rambo, and Jaylinn Hawkins. Plus, you can throw in Luc Bequette, Camryn Bynum and Ashtyn Davis who have been selected as preseason Pac-12 honors.
Cal’s defense is legit. They proved it last year and they’ll look to build upon that success this year, as well.
2019 Cal Golden Bears Predictions: Team Weaknesses
19th Century Offense: While the defense will be leaned upon to keep the Golden Bears competitive, the offense is going to have to make some noise and actually score some points.
Last year’s bowl game against TCU kind of summed up the Golden Bears season where the defense did everything they could, but Cal could only muster seven points.
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Cal’s offense is going to have to take a significant step forward and it starts with their quarterback play. Chase Garbers and Devon Modster will be battling it out to see who takes the majority of snaps under center.
Garbers didn’t exactly improve last year as the season goes on, so we’ll see what happens. Modster is a transfer from UCLA who was sought after coming out of high school. It should be an interesting quarterback battle.
Cal Golden Bears Prediction: 5-7
Cal may improve greatly this year from last year, but their record might be pretty much the same. Cal has a tough schedule and their first four road games this season will be played in some of the toughest environments in all of college football.
They open Pac-12 play in Seattle. Two weeks later they travel across the country to play Ole Miss; a couple of weeks later they play in Autzen Stadium and then and then they play in Salt Lake City in late October.
That is quite the gauntlet of road games right there. If they can somehow find one win after all that, that would be a win. On the plus side, their home games are very manageable in that time span.
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UC Davis, North Texas, Arizona State, and Oregon State are all games they should win; Arizona State not nearly as much of a slam dunk, but they’ll be favored in that one.
So, if they are 4-4 after eight games there next four games are pretty much coin tosses. They play at home versus Washington State and USC, and then end the season on the road at Stanford and at UCLA.
With all this I think Cal goes 6-6 and I think that’s a pretty solid bet. I’d be a bit surprised if they finished below .500 and missed out on a bowl game.
2019 Cal Golden Bears Football Schedule
Date Time vs
- 8/31/19 6:30 PM ET UCD
- 9/7/19 10:30 PM ET @WASH
- 9/14/19 4:15 PM ET UNT
- 9/21/19 TBD @MISS
- 9/27/19 10:30 PM ET ASU
- 10/5/19 TBD @ORE
- 10/19/19 TBD ORST
- 10/26/19 TBD @UTAH
- 11/9/19 TBD WSU
- 11/16/19 TBD USC
- 11/23/19 TBD @STAN
- 11/30/19 TBD @UCLA
What do you think about our 2019 Cal Golden Bears predictions? Please leave us a comment below telling us how you think they’ll do in 2019!
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