The 2019 California Golden Bears football team 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 2019 NCAA Division I FBS football season. They competed as members of the North Division of the

Pac-12 Conference The Pac-12 Conference is a collegiate List of NCAA conferences, athletic conference, that operates in the Western United States, participating in 24 sports at the NCAA Division I level. Its College football, football teams compete in the NCAA D ...

. In their third year under head coach Justin Wilcox, the Bears improved to an 8–5 record for only the second time since 2009, finishing 2nd in the Pac-12 North. The Bears started off the season strong, achieving a No. 15 AP ranking (their highest since 2009) after a 4–0 start, including a 20–19 upset win against No. 14 ranked

Washington Washington commonly refers to: * Washington (state), United States * Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States ** A metonym for the federal government of the United States ** Washington metropolitan area, the metropolitan area centered o ...

. However, after injury to quarterback

Chase Garbers Chase Garbers (born June 6, 1999) is an American football quarterback for the San Antonio Brahmas of the United Football League (UFL). He played college football for the California Golden Bears. Early years Garbers attended Corona del Mar Hi ...

during the

Arizona State Arizona State University (Arizona State or ASU) is a public research university in the Phoenix metropolitan area. Founded in 1885 by the 13th Arizona Territorial Legislature, ASU is one of the largest public universities by enrollment in the ...

game, the Bears proceeded to lose the next four games. With the return of Garbers, Cal notably defeated Stanford in the Big Game for the first time since 2009. This win clinched bowl eligibility for the Bears while making the Cardinal ineligible for the post-season for the first time in ten years. The Bears went to the

Redbox Bowl The San Francisco Bowl was an annual postseason college football bowl game certified by the NCAA and played in the San Francisco Bay Area. Originally named the Diamond Walnut San Francisco Bowl during its first two editions from 2002 to 2003, it w ...

, where they defeated the

Illinois Fighting Illini The Illinois Fighting Illini () are the intercollegiate athletic teams that represent the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. The university offers 10 men's and 11 women's varsity sports. The University operates a number of athletic faci ...

35–20, their first bowl win since 2015. Senior linebacker Evan Weaver was the standout player of the season after leading the nation with a school-record and Pac-12 record 182 tackles, earning him the Pac-12 Defensive Player of the Year and becoming the first consensus All-American from Cal since 2006.

Previous season

In 2018, the Bears went 7–6 under second-year head coach Justin Wilcox. After the Bears upset #15 Washington 12–10 and defeated USC 15–14 at the Coliseum in Los Angeles to snap a 14-year losing streak to the Trojans, the Bears lost 10–7 in overtime to TCU in the

2018 Cheez-It Bowl The 2018 Cheez-It Bowl was a college football bowl game played on December 26, 2018 at Chase Field in Phoenix, Arizona. It was one of the 2018–19 bowl games concluding the 2018 FBS football season. It was the 30th edition of a bowl game tha ...

. The Bears’ offensive efficiency ranked as the second worst among all Power Five teams.

Preseason

Coaching changes

On February 26, 2019, defensive line coach Tony Tuioti left the Golden Bears to become the new defensive line coach for the

Nebraska Cornhuskers The Nebraska Cornhuskers (often abbreviated to Huskers) are the intercollegiate athletic teams that represent the University of Nebraska–Lincoln. The university is a member of the Big Ten Conference, and the Cornhuskers compete in NCAA Divis ...

under

Scott Frost Scott Andrew Frost (born January 4, 1975) is a former American football coach and player. He was the head football coach at the University of Nebraska–Lincoln from 2018 to 2022. Born in Lincoln, Nebraska, Frost played college football as a qu ...

. Andrew Browning was named the Bears' new defensive line coach on February 27, 2019. Browning is the third defensive line coach in three years under Justin Wilcox after

Jerry Azzinaro Gerald A. Azzinaro Jr. (; born July 11, 1958) is an American football coach who most recently served as the defensive coordinator for the UCLA Bruins football team. He played college football as a linebacker at American International College ...

's departure in 2017.

Pac-12 media days

Pac-12 media poll

In the 2019 Pac-12 preseason media poll, California was voted to finish in fifth place in the North Division.

Schedule

Three of California first four games were non-conference games, starting on August 31 against

UC Davis The University of California, Davis (UC Davis, UCD, or Davis) is a public land-grant research university near Davis, California. Named a Public Ivy, it is the northernmost of the ten campuses of the University of California system. The institut ...

of the

Big Sky Conference The Big Sky Conference (BSC) is a collegiate athletic conference affiliated with the NCAA's Division I with football competing in the Football Championship Subdivision. Member institutions are located in the western United States in the eig ...

. The Golden Bears then played their conference opener against

. Rounding out the non-conference slate was a home game against

North Texas North Texas (also commonly called North Central Texas) is a term used primarily by residents of Dallas, Fort Worth, and surrounding areas to describe much of the north central portion of the U.S. state of Texas. Residents of the Dallas–Fort Wo ...

of Conference USA and a road game against Ole Miss of the

Southeastern Conference The Southeastern Conference (SEC) is an American college athletic conference whose member institutions are located primarily in the South Central and Southeastern United States. Its fourteen members include the flagship public universities of ...

(SEC). In

play, Cal played the other members of the North Division and faced

UCLA The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California. UCLA's academic roots were established in 1881 as a teachers college then known as the southern branch of the California St ...

, USC, and

Utah Utah ( , ) is a state in the Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. Utah is a landlocked U.S. state bordered to its east by Colorado, to its northeast by Wyoming, to its north by Idaho, to its south by Arizona, and to it ...

from the South Division. They did not play

Arizona Arizona ( ; nv, Hoozdo Hahoodzo ; ood, Alĭ ṣonak ) is a state in the Southwestern United States. It is the 6th largest and the 14th most populous of the 50 states. Its capital and largest city is Phoenix. Arizona is part of the Fou ...

and

Colorado Colorado (, other variants) is a state in the Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It encompasses most of the Southern Rocky Mountains, as well as the northeastern portion of the Colorado Plateau and the western edge of t ...

. Source:

Game summaries

* Home games are in dark blue

UC Davis

At Washington

The game started at 7:30 pm, but was paused at the end of first quarter due to a lightning storm; the pause lasted for approximately two and a half hours. By the time of the restart - 10 pm, there was only approximately 16,000 of the original approximately 60,000 fans left at the venue. Relying on rushing of running backs Christopher Brown (80 yards), and Marcel Dancy (72 yards, 2 touchdowns) and quarterback

(42 yards), Cal won on a last minute field goal by Greg Thomas. This was the Golden Bears second straight win against the Huskies. In the 2018 home game Cal upset No. 15 Washington 12 to 10.

North Texas

At Ole Miss

Arizona State

In the final drive of the first half, quarterback

was injured, breaking his right collarbone. Gabrers would not be cleared to play again until he started against USC.

At Oregon

Oregon State

At Utah

This defeat was the first shutout of a California team since a 1999 defeat to No. 5 Nebraska. Starting quarterback

and backup Devon Modster were injured for the game.

Washington State

USC

At Stanford

With this victory, Cal ended Stanford's nine-year win streak in the Big Game. The win also ensured the Bears' qualification to a bowl game for the second consecutive year, the first time this has happened in ten years. Likewise, the loss put Stanford at 4–7 for the season, ending its hopes of making its tenth consecutive bowl game.

At UCLA

Vs. Illinois (Redbox Bowl)

Personnel

Coaching staff

Roster

Rankings

Media affiliates

Radio

* KGO 810 AM -

Joe Starkey Joseph K. Starkey (born 1941) is an American sportscaster who has served as the radio play-by-play announcer of California Golden Bears football from 1975 to 2022. He previously worked as the sports director of KGO radio in San Francisco, Califor ...

Mike Pawlawski Mike Pawlawski (born July 18, 1969) is a former professional football player, a quarterback in the National Football League, Arena Football League, and XFL. Born in Los Angeles, Pawlawski played college football at the University of California ...

, Todd McKim, Hal Ramey *

KALX KALX (90.7 FM) is an FM radio station that broadcasts from the University of California, Berkeley in Berkeley, California, United States. KALX, a community and student-run radio station licensed to the university, broadcasts in stereo with 50 ...

90.7 FM

TV

* Pac-12 Network * FSN/

ESPN ESPN (originally an initialism for Entertainment and Sports Programming Network) is an American international basic cable sports channel owned by ESPN Inc., owned jointly by The Walt Disney Company (80%) and Hearst Communications (20%). The ...

Players drafted into the NFL

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 Redbox Bowl champion seasons California Golden Bears football