Cal on the Verge of Continuing a Troubling Football Streak

The 2009 college football season was a high point for Cal football, although Bears fans didn’t think so at the time.

Afterall, Cal had finished with better Pac-10 records in three of the five seasons immediately before 2009, when the Bears went 5-4 in the conference.

Little did Cal fans know then that a winning conference record would become a thing of he past. In the 16 seasons since 2009, Cal has failed to finish with a winning conference record in any of them.

Boston College is the only other FBS school in the country that matches Cal’s 16 consecutive seasons of failing to win more games than it lost in conference play.

The closest competitor in this dubious active streak is Maryland, a Big Ten member that has gone 15 straight years without a winning conference record and has already clinched a 16th straight losing conference mark.

For Cal (3-6, 2-4 ACC) or Boston College (4-4, 2-3 ACC) to relinquish the “honor” of owning the most consecutive seasons without a winning conference record the Bears or Eagles each must win all of their remaining three ACC games.

With that in mind, it seems both Cal and Boston College seem destined for a 17th consecutive season without a winning record in conference games.

Cal ended a run of 15 straight seasons with losing conference records when the Bears went 4-4 last year, but Boston College has finished with .500 conference marks seven time since going 5-3 in the ACC in 2009.

But neither has had a winning conference record since then.

Neither is close to what Vanderbilt did between 1983 and 2011 when the Commodores went 29 consecutive seasons without a winning conference mark.

But we’re talking about active streaks, so let’s see what awaits Cal and Boston College the rest of the season as they battle to unload the onerous streak on the other.

Boston College (4-4, 2-3 ACC)

The Eagles play only eight ACC games this season while Cal plays nine, so winning two of their final three ACC games would only give Boston College a 4-4 mark. The Eagles need to win all three remaining ACC games (aside from a November 14 nonconference game against Notre Dame) to finish 5-3 for a winning conference mark.

The Eagles were picked to finish 16th in the preseason ACC poll, but they have wins over Pitt and Georgia Tech and played SMU and Virginia Tech tough. However, they got clobbered by Duke 47-2 on Saturday.

Here’s what Boston College has left:

November 7 – Florida State at Boston College

Somewhat surprisingly, Florida State has opened as a 7.5-point favorite on the road in this game, according to FanDuel. Florida State is 3-5 overall and 1-4 in the ACC and has lost three games in a row, including Saturday’s 36-24 home loss to Clemson on Saturday.

November 28 – Syracuse at Boston College

The Orange (4-4, 2-4 ACC) is coming off two impressive wins – a 31-30 road victory over North Carolina and Saturday’s 30-27 upset of SMU, which was ranked 19th at the time.

November 28 – Boston College at Miami

Unbeaten, No. 1-ranked Miami presumably will still be in the running for a berth in the ACC title game and the College Football Playoff, so the Hurricanes won’t lose at home to Boston College. Will they?

Cal (3-6, 2-4 ACC)

The Bears have lost three in a row by a combined margin of 137-37 (an average of 43.6 to 12.3), and Cal was outscored 70-7 in the second half of those three games. When Cal upset Virginia Tech with a backup as the Bears quarterback, Cal was 2-1 in the ACC and a winning conference record looked possible, but now they have to win their final three game to achieve it.

Cal has a bye this week, and here is what awaits the Bears after that:

November 14 – Cal at Virginia

Virginia (4-5, 2-4 ACC) has lost three in a row, including Saturday’s 51-7 beat-down by Wake Forest, which had done similar damage to Cal the week before. The Cavaliers have no impressive wins, but they are 4-1 at home.

November 21 – Stanford at Cal

It should be noted that Cal head coach Tosh Lupoi gets a $25,000 bonus if Cal beats the Cardinal based on his contract, but last year’s 31-10 Stanford victory in the Big Game, which led to the firing of Justin Wilcox the next day, should be incentive enough. The Cardinal hasn’t done anything spectacular this season and is coming off a 52-24 loss to Louisville. But Stanford already has more wins than expected in Tavita Pritchard’s first season as a head coach. Cal fans will be saddened to know that Stanford has had winning conference records in 10 of the past 16 seasons when Cal has had none.

November 28 – Pitt at Cal

Pitt is 6-3 overall and 3-3 in the conference, but the Panthers lost three games in a row after quarterback Mason Heintschel suffered a season-ending injury. Pitt halted that skid on Saturday with a 34-11 home win over last-place Georgia Tech behind quarterback Holden Geriner, but the Panthers remain vulnerable.

Bottom Line

Despite its recent struggles, Cal has a better chance than Boston College to win its final three conference games, primarily because the Eagles must play Miami

Cal seems capable of beating any of its three remaining flawed opponents, but the odds of Cal sweeping all three games are long.

Before the season began a look at Cal’s ACC schedule suggested the Bears might end their 16-year streak of conference futility. Cal had neither of the only two ACC teams in the preseason AP top-25 poll – No. 7 Miami and No. 24 Louisville – on its schedule. But unless Cal comes up with a three-game winning streak to end the regular season, the Bears are headed for their 17th consecutive season without a winning conference record.

Ah, 2009.

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