Hawaii Is a Possible Bowl Destination for Cal

Cal could be spending New Year’s Eve in Hawaii – at least that’s what several college football experts predict.

The Golden Bears (5-3) still need another win to become bowl-eligible for the third straight year, and none of their four remaining games – starting with Saturday afternoon’s home game against 15th-ranked Virginia – is a sure win. Nonetheless, all nine of the reputable bowl-projection sites we cited predict that Cal will be in a bowl game.

What is surprising is that the Hawaii Bowl in Honolulu and the Pinstripe Bowl in New York are two postseason destinations predicted for the Bears by multiple experts.

The Hawaii Bowl is supposed to match a Mountain West team with an American Conference team, or possibly a Conference USA team, but ESPN’s Kyle Bonagura, On3’s Brett McMurphy and Athlon Sports’ Steven Lassan project that Cal will wind up in the Hawaii Bowl, with either New Mexico or the hometown team, Hawaii, as the Bears’ opponent.

The Pinstripe Bowl is supposed to pair a Big Ten team with an ACC team in its game at Yankee Stadium, and although Cal is an ACC team, the Bears are still supposed to play in one of the six Pac-12 bowls. Because of contract obligations, teams that were members of the Pac-12 in 2023, such as Cal, are tied to the Pac-12 bowls, which are listed at the end of this article.

However, CBS Sports’ Brad Crawford projects that Cal will face Maryland in the Pinstripe Bowl, while Pete Fiutak of College Football News predicts that Cal will play Northwestern in that bowl game.

Two experts also place Cal in the LA Bowl, which is a Pac-12-affiliated bowl and the game that Cal played in last year.

The Las Vegas Bowl and Holiday Bowl are the two other bowls offered as possible bowl destinations for the Bears, who, at this point, will just be happy to get to any bowl game.

Here are the nine bowl projections for Cal:

ESPN (Kyle Bonagura)

Hawaii Bowl – Cal vs. New Mexico

Wednesday, December 24

Clarence T.C. Ching Athletics Complex (Honolulu)

5 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)