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Cal Football: Bears' Opener vs. Washington Set For 7:30 p.m. Kickoff on ESPN
Cal’s latest-starting football season in 128 years will kickoff with a late-night matchup against Pac-12 North rival Washington.
The Bears and Huskies will play at 7:30 p.m. on Saturday, Nov. 7 at Memorial Stadium with the game set to be televised on ESPN.
No fans will be admitted to Memorial Stadium due to COVID-19 restrictions.
Cal and Washington are expected to challenge near the top of the Pac-12 North, along with preseason favorite Oregon.
The Pac-12 season initially was postponed until possibly the winter or spring, then reinstated with a shorter schedule and a later start date. The six-game regular season gets under way a week from Saturday.
The Bears have not started a season this late in the calendar since 1892, when they opened Dec. 12 with a 12-0 victory over San Francisco Boys High School.
In 1882, Cal opened its debut season with a 7-4 loss to the Phoenix Club on Dec. 2.
The Huskies figure to be somewhat more challenging than either of those 19th-century foes.
Here's the full Nov. 7 opening-day Pac-12 schedule :
-- ASU at USC, 9 a.m., ESPN
-- Arizona at Utah, 1 p.m., ESPNU
-- UCLA at Colorado, 4 p.m., ESPN2
-- Stanford at Oregon, 4:30 p.m., ABC
-- Washington at Cal, 7:30 p.m., ESPN
-- WSU at OSU, 7:30 p.m., FS1
Cal knows its entire six-game regular-season schedule, but the only other game with a kickoff time assigned is the 123rd Big Game against Stanford on Friday, Nov. 27 at Berkeley. That game, the day after Thanksgiving, will begin at 1 p.m. on FOX.
When they face UW, the Bears will play at home for the first time in 356 days, dating back to a 41-17 loss to USC on Nov. 16, 2019. Cal closed last season with two road victories before beating Illinois in the Redbox Bowl at Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara.
Cal owns a two-game win streak over Washington, and hasn’t enjoyed a longer stretch of success against the Huskies since winning five in a row from 2002 through ’06.
Washington will make its debut under new coach Jimmy Lake, and will feature a new quarterback, still to be determined during training camp.
Cal is 87-45-5 all-time in 137 season openers and has a current win streak of six straight dating back to 2014, including victories in all three under coach Justin Wilcox. The six-game win streak in season-openers is tied for the second-longest in school history behind only the 14 in a row from 1919-32.
2020 Cal Football Schedule
Day, Date – Opponent (Time, TV)
Sat., Nov. 7 – Washington (7:30 pm, ESPN)
Sat., Nov. 14 – at Arizona State (TBA)
Sat., Nov. 21 – at Oregon State (TBA)
Fri., Nov. 27 – Stanford (1 pm, FOX)
Sat., Dec. 5 – Oregon (TBA)
Sat., Dec. 12 – at Washington State (TBA)
Fri., Dec. 18 – Pac-12 Championship Game
– OR –
Sat., Dec. 19 – TBA
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Follow Jeff Faraudo of Cal Sports Report on Twitter: @jefffaraudo
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