The 2020 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 ...

during the

2020 NCAA Division I FBS football season The 2020 NCAA Division I FBS football season was the 151st season of college football games in the United States. Organized by the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) at its highest level of competition, the Football Bowl Subdivisio ...

. The team was led by head coach Justin Wilcox, in his fourth year as head coach. The team's offense was led by Bill Musgrave, who replaced

Beau Baldwin Beau Daniel Baldwin (born May 21, 1972) is an American football coach and former player. He is the offensive coordinator at Arizona State. Previously, He was the head football coach at California Polytechnic State University, a position he held fr ...

; Baldwin left to become the head coach at Cal Poly. On August 11, 2020, the Pac-12 Conference canceled all Fall 2020 sports competitions due to the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identi ...

. On September 24, it was announced that a seven-game season would be played in 2020, and the schedule was officially announced on October 3. Due to additional COVID-related game cancellations, the Bears ultimately only played four games and finished with a 1–3 record for the season, with the sole win coming against No. 23 ranked

Oregon Oregon () is a state in the Pacific Northwest region of the Western United States. The Columbia River delineates much of Oregon's northern boundary with Washington, while the Snake River delineates much of its eastern boundary with Idaho. T ...

Offseason

Position key

Offseason departures

Nine Golden Bears graduated in 2020, and three were selected in the 2020 NFL Draft.

Recruiting

Preseason

On January 3, 2020, Cal announced that it would hire former

Denver Broncos The Denver Broncos are a professional American football franchise based in Denver. The Broncos compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's American Football Conference (AFC) West division. The team is headquar ...

offensive coordinator Bill Musgrave as its next offensive coordinator, replacing

. Musgrave, an

alumnus like Wilcox, began his coaching career as quarterbacks coach for the Oakland Raiders in 1997. He last coached at the collegiate level as an offensive coordinator for

Virginia Virginia, officially the Commonwealth of Virginia, is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Southeastern regions of the United States, between the Atlantic Coast and the Appalachian Mountains. The geography and climate of the Commonwealth ar ...

in 2001–2002. On January 10, Angus McClure was announced as the next offensive line coach. McClure spent 11 years at

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 ...

. Four days later, Aristotle Thompson was hired as the running backs coach. Thompson was the running backs coach at Cal Poly prior to being hired at Cal. Cal's defensive line coach, Gerald Alexander, was hired to the same position by the

Miami Dolphins The Miami Dolphins are a professional American football team based in the Miami metropolitan area. They compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member team of the league's American Football Conference (AFC) East division. The team p ...

on January 24. Cal announced it would hire former

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 ...

defensive coordinator Marcel Yates to replace him the following day. On March 4, it was announced that Peter Sirmon would be made co-defensive coordinator alongside Tim DeRuyter.

Pac-12 media poll

In the 2020 Pac-12 preseason media poll, California was voted to finish in second place in the North Division.

Schedule

Cal's 2020 regular season was announced on January 16. The Golden Bears had 3 games scheduled against

UNLV The University of Nevada, Las Vegas (UNLV) is a public land-grant research university in Paradise, Nevada. The campus is about east of the Las Vegas Strip. It was formerly part of the University of Nevada from 1957 to 1969. It includes th ...

, TCU, and Cal Poly, but canceled these games on July 10 due to the Pac-12 Conference's decision to play a conference-only schedule due to the

. On August 11, the Pac-12 Conference canceled all Fall 2020 sports competitions due to the

. However, following an agreement that boosted testing capacity for players and personnel, the conference announced it would play a seven-game football schedule beginning in November. The schedule would see Cal play all five division opponents, Arizona State from the Pac-12 South division, and a season-closing game against the equally-ranked team in the opposite division (the division winners will play each other in the conference championship, while the team that finishes second in the North division plays the team that finishes second in the South division). On November 13, Cal's scheduled game at

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 ...

for November 14 was canceled after a COVID-19 outbreak within the Arizona State program. The Pac-12 then announced that Cal would instead play at

on the morning of November 15; the Bruins' scheduled game against

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 ...

had also been canceled after Utah had a COVID-19 outbreak.

Rankings

Game Summaries

at UCLA

at Oregon State

Stanford

Oregon

Players drafted into the NFL

References

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California California is a state in the Western United States, located along the Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the most populous U.S. state and the 3rd largest by area. It is also the m ...

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