Preseason ACC Predictions Reveal an Unpredictable Cal Season

Four major preseason college football magzines came out earlier this month, and their predictions about the ACC tell us what we already know: It's nearly impossible to predict how Cal will fare in the conference in 2026.

Cal has a head coach (Tosh Lupoi) who has never been head coach at any level, but has recruits and alumi excited. The Bears have a young offensive coordinator (Jordan Somerville) and a young defensive coordinator (Michael Hutchings) who have never been coordinators before. The Bears brought in a lot of transfers with high ratings, but it's unclear how they will fit the new Cal system. And Cal has a quarterback (Jaron-Keawe Sagapolutele) who had an outstanding freshman season, but now must duplicate of surpass that effort in as a sophomore when the pressure is on him to lead the team to great things.

It's a recipe for unpredictability.

The four preseason college football magazines cited are The Sporting News, Athlon, Lindy's and Phil Steele. And their predictions for Cal in the 17-team ACC vary from an eighth-place finish to a 14th-place finish. That's a variation of six spots, and no other ACC team has that much of gap between its highest and lowest prediction. The only one that's close is Pitt, which is as high as fifth and as low as 10th, a gap of five places. All the other teams have predictions within two or three spots.

The Sporting News and Lindy's both predict Cal will finish eighth, Lindy's pegs Cal for a 10th-place finish, and Phil Steele projects the Golden Bears to end up in 14th place, ahead of only Syracuse, Stanford and Boston College.

That's an average predicted finish of 10th, which is lower than Cal fans expect and lower than where the Bears will finish if Lupoi and the two coordinators have better-than-expected success in their first years at their respective positions and if Sagapolutele has the kind of Heisman-caliber season that optimists are hoping for.

What is also important is how Cal's 2026 conference opponents are picked to finish. All four magazines pick Miami to win the ACC, and Cal does not face the Hurricanes this season. Two of the magazines -- The Sporting News and Lindy's -- pick Louisville to finish second, and the Bears don't face the Cardinals either. It suggests Cal's schedule is made for Golden Bear success. But the Bears don't face two teams picked to finish near the bottom -- Boston College and North Carolina.

Here's how Cal's nine 2026 ACC opponents are predicted to finish:

Cal at Syracuse, September 12

Predicted finish for the Orange:

The Sporting News: 14th

Athlon: 15th

Lindy's: 15th

Phil Steele: 15th

Average: 14.75

Clemson at Cal, September 25

Precited finish for the Tigers:

The Sporting News: 5th

Athlon: 4th

Lindy's: 4th

Phil Steele: 3rd

Average: 4th

Virginia Tech at Cal, October 10

Predicted finish for the Hokies:

The Sporting News;: 4th

Athlon: 5th

Lindy's: 5th

Phil Steele: 7th

Average: 5.25

Wake Forest at Cal, October 17

Predicted finish for the Demon Deacons:

The Sporting News: 12th

Athlon: 12th

Lindy's: 12th

Phil Steele: 13th

Average: 12.25

Cal at SMU, October 24

Predicted finish for the Mustangs:

The Sporting News: 3rd

Athlon: 2nd

Phil Steele: 2nd

Average: 2.5

Cal at North Carolina State, October 31

Predicted finish for the Wolfpack:

The Sporting News: 9th

Athlon: 9th

Lindy's: 10th

Phil Steele: 8th

Average: 9th

Cal at Virginia, November 14

Predicted finish for the Cavaliers:

The Sporting News: 6th

Athlon: 6th

Lindy's: 9th

Phil Steele: 6th

Average: 6.75

Stanford at Cal, November 21

Predicted finish for the Cardinal:

The Sporting News: 16th

Athlon: 17th

Lindy's: 17th

Phil Steele: 16th

Average: 16.5

Pitt at Cal, November 28

Predictions for Panthers' finish:

The Sporting News:10th

Athlon: 7th

Lindy's: 7th

Phil Steele: 5th

Average:7.25

Cal's average finish of 10th would theoretically make it a favorite against three of its nine ACC opponents and an underdog against the other six. A 3-6 conference record is certainly not what Lupoi and general manager Ron Rivera have in mind for 2026. However, this elementary calculation does not figure in home-field advantage or how one team matches up against another in terms of personnel and strengths and weaknesses. It also does not calculate how much a team will improve over the course of a season. And, of course, injuries will play an important role.

What it does tell us is that we have a hard time predicting how Cal will fare in 2026.

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