Cal Bowl Projections: All Nine Experts Put the Bears in a Bowl

The experts are unanimous: All nine reputable college football authorities that we cite put Cal in a bowl game in their bowl projections this week.

What is not unanimous is their predictions of the Bears’ bowl destination. Three experts predict Cal will wind up in the Las Vegas Bowl. Three have the Golden Bears in the LA Bowl for the second straight season. One projects Cal will go to the First Responder Bowl, one expects the Golden Bears to be in the Holiday Bowl, and one puts the Bears in the Sun Bowl.

What is strange about the projections of CBS Sports and College Football News is that they both have SMU as Cal’s bowl opponent. That would be an odd pairing since Cal is scheduled to face SMU in both teams’ final regular-season game. Having the same teams meet two games in a row doesn’t make sense.

Cal is 2-0 heading into the Bears home game against Minnesota (2-0) on Saturday night. On Monday virtually every betting site had Minnesota as a 2.5-point favorite. But on Tuesday, the Gophers were down to a 1.5-point favorite on about half the betting sites and down to a 1-point pick on the other half.

It should be noted that teams that were members of the Pac-12 in 2023, such as Cal, still have tie-ins to six Pac-12 bowl games for this season. The contracts for those six Pac-12 bowl games run out after this season, so Cal will not be tied to those bowls in 2026.

Here are the nine experts’ bowl projections for Cal (all times are Pacific time):

ESPN (Kyle Bonagura)

Las Vegas Bowl – Cal vs. Michigan

Wednesday, December 31

Allegiant Stadium (Las Vegas)

12:30 p.m., ESPN

ESPN (Mark Schlabach)

Las Vegas Bowl – Cal vs. Nebraska

Wednesday, December 31

Allegiant Stadium (Las Vegas)

12:30 p.m., ESPN

CBS Sports (Brad Crawford)