The 2004 California Golden Bears football team was an

American football American football (referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada), also known as gridiron, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular field with goalposts at each end. The offense, the team with ...

team that represented the

University of California, Berkeley The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California) is a public land-grant research university in Berkeley, California. Established in 1868 as the University of California, it is the state's first land-grant u ...

in the

Pacific-10 Conference The Pac-12 Conference is a collegiate athletic conference, that operates in the Western United States, participating in 24 sports at the NCAA Division I level. Its football teams compete in the Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS; formerly Division ...

(Pac-10) during the 2004 NCAA Division I-A football season. In their third year under head coach

Jeff Tedford Jeffrey Raye Tedford (born November 2, 1961) is an American football coach and former player who is currently serving as the head coach at Fresno State, a position which he also previously held from 2017 to 2019. From 2002 to 2012, Tedford was t ...

, the Golden Bears compiled a 10–2 record (7–1 against Pac-10 opponents), finished in second place in the Pac-10, and outscored their opponents by a combined score of 441 to 192. The Golden Bears were ranked No. 4 at the end of the regular season, its only loss having been

USC USC most often refers to: * University of South Carolina, a public research university ** University of South Carolina System, the main university and its satellite campuses **South Carolina Gamecocks, the school athletic program * University of ...

by a 23–17 score. In that game, quarterback Aaron Rodgers set a school record for consecutive completed passes with 26 and tied an NCAA record with 23 consecutive passes completed in one game. He set a Cal single-game record for passing completion percentage of 85.3. Rodgers' performance set up the Golden Bears at first and goal with 1:47 remaining and a chance for the game-winning touchdown. On the first play of USC's goal-line stand, Rodgers threw an incomplete pass. This was followed by a second-down sack by Manuel Wright. After a timeout and Rodgers' incomplete pass on third down, USC stopped Cal's run play to win the game. Rodgers commented that it was "frustrating that we couldn't get the job done." After

Texas Texas (, ; Spanish language, Spanish: ''Texas'', ''Tejas'') is a state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. At 268,596 square miles (695,662 km2), and with more than 29.1 million residents in 2 ...

was picked over Cal for a Rose Bowl berth, the fourth-ranked Bears were awarded a spot in the

Holiday Bowl The Holiday Bowl is a post-season NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision college football bowl game that has been played in San Diego since 1978. San Diego County Credit Union has been the game's title sponsor since 2017, and the bowl has ...

, which they lost to

Texas Tech Texas Tech University (Texas Tech, Tech, or TTU) is a public research university in Lubbock, Texas. Established on , and called Texas Technological College until 1969, it is the main institution of the five-institution Texas Tech University Sys ...

, 45–31. The team's statistical leaders included Aaron Rodgers with 2,566 passing yards, J. J. Arrington with 2,018 rushing yards, and Geoff McArthur with 862 receiving yards. Three California players received first-team honors on the 2004 College Football All-America Team: running back J. J. Arrington (AP, FWAA, TSN, SI, ESPN, CBS); offensive lineman Marvin Phillip (SI); and defensive lineman Ryan Riddle (TSN, SI). After the season, Rodgers decided to forgo his senior season to enter the

2005 NFL Draft The 2005 NFL draft was the procedure by which National Football League teams selected amateur college football players. It is officially known as the NFL Annual Player Selection Meeting. The NFL draft, draft was held April 23–24, 2005 NFL seaso ...

. He was drafted in the first round by the Green Bay Packers.

Schedule

College Football @ Sports-Reference.com

Roster and Coaching Staff

Game summaries

at Air Force

New Mexico State

at Oregon State

at No. 1 USC (College Gameday)

UCLA (Rivalry)

at Arizona

No. 20 Arizona State

Oregon

at Washington

Stanford (The Big Game)

*Source:''

at Southern Miss

vs. No. 20 Texas Tech (2004 Holiday Bowl)

References

{{California Golden Bears football navbox

California California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...

California Golden Bears football seasons

California Golden Bears football The California Golden Bears football program represents the University of California, Berkeley in college football as a member of the Pac-12 Conference at the NCAA Division I, NCAA Division I FBS level. The team plays its home games at Californi ...