Cal Football: Nov. 7 Hasn't Always Been Kind To The Bears - No Wins Since 1953

The season opens at home against fellow Pac-12 North contender Washington

When Cal faces Washington in its season opener on Nov. 7, it will have been exactly 67 years since the Golden Bears posted a victory on that date.

Cal beat the Huskies 53-25 on that day in 1953, but has not won a Nov. 7 game since.

Unless you traffic in conspiracy theories -- certainly a popular, if ridiculous modern currency -- there is nothing more to the Bears' eight-game losing streak on Nov. 7 than random coincidence.

Still, the date has produced some noteworthy results and storylines even dating back to 1903, the first of 16 games played on that occasion.

Cal had shut out seven straight opponents in 1903 entering its Nov. 7 matchup Nevada, contested 40 days before the Wright Brothers' first flight. The Bears were 6-0-1 that point, outscoring foes 120-to-nothing. But the Bears lost 6-2 to Nevada and closed out a 6-1-2 season with a 6-6 tie vs. Stanford.

The Bears won their next seven Nov. 7 games, although two of them -- in 1908 and 1914 -- were played on the rugby pitch rather than the football field.

The 1953 home victory over the Huskies marked the only time one of coach Pappy Waldorf's team played a Nov. 7 game. His glory years -- from 1947 through '51 when the Bears were 46-6-1 -- were in the rear-view mirror by then. But the 53 points that quarterback Paul Larson and the Bears put on UW that day were the third-most they scored in Waldorf's 10 seasons.

Cal didn't play another game on this date until 1959, the year after Joe Kapp led the Bears to their most recent Rose Bowl. They beat Washington State to open the '59 season and won the Big Game to end it, but lost all nine games in between, inculding to Oregon on Nov. 7.

The Bears lost on Nov. 7, 1964 even while they were equipped with All-American quarterback Craig Morton.

They lost in '81 when they joined the parade of teams that could not contain Heisman Trophy winner Marcus Allen.

They lost in '92 when Keith Gilbertson took the returnees from Bryce Snyder's 10-2 farewell season and went 4-7.

They lost in 2009 when the mercurial Jahvid Best took flight against Oregon State crossing the goal line . . . but landed on his head in the end zone.

And they lost in '15 when Jared Goff passed for 329 yards at Oregon but Sonny Dykes' defense was badly overmatched once again.

Nov. 7 this year holds the promise of a different storyline for the Bears. Cal and Washington enter the season with aspirations of challenging Oregon for Pac-12 North supremacy, and all those Nov. 7 games of yesteryear won't mean a thing.

The Bears hope not, anyway.

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CAL'S FOOTBALL HISTORY ON NOVEMBER 7

1903: lost to Nevada, 6-2 — Bears had posted 7 straight shutouts before the loss

1908: beat Nevada, 11-0 — First of 2 straight Nov. 7 wins in rugby not football

1914: beat UC Alumni, 27-3 — Cal improved to 13-0 before losing to Stanford

1925: beat WSU, 35-7 — Coach Andy Smith’s final victory; he died 62 days later

1931: beat Washington 13-0 — Bears allowed more than 6 points just once all year

1936: beat USC, 13-6 — Cal's other five wins this season were shutouts 

1942: lost to USC, 21-7— At 5-5, this was the best of Cal's World War II-era teams

1953: beat Washington. 53-25 — Ex-HB Paul Larson led nation in total offense at QB

1959: lost to Oregon, 20-18 — Cal went 2-8 in season after most recent Rose Bowl

1964: lost to Washington, 21-16 — Cal's 2 BMOCs: Craig Morton & Mario Savio

1970: lost to Oregon State, 16-10 — Bears beat Jim Plunkett in Big Game but not OSU

1981: lost to USC, 21-3 — Marcus Allen had 243 of his 2,427 season rushing yards

1992: lost to Oregon, 37-17 — Bears go 4-7 under Keith Gilbertson a year after 10-2

1998: lost to Arizona State, 55-22 — QB Justin Vedder had 5 INTs and a lost fumble

2009: lost to Oregon State, 31-14 — Jahvid Best suffered concussion in end zone leap

2015: lost to Oregon, 44-28 — Among 27 games Cal allowed 40 under Sonny Dykes

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