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The original was posted on /r/cfb by /u/jimbobbypaul on 2023-06-27 18:02:35+00:00.
Main hub thread with the full 131 rankings
“And the Bears! The Bears have won! The Bears have won! Oh, my God! The most amazing, sensational, dramatic, heart-rending...exciting, thrilling finish in the history of college football! California has won the Big Game over Stanford! Oh, excuse me for my voice, but I have never, never seen anything like it in the history of I have ever seen any game in my life! The Bears have won it! There will be no extra point!” - Joe Starkey
No matter what they do, whether they go 12-0 or 0-12, Cal will always have The Play. Just like Joe Starkey described, The Play perfectly encapsulates everything great about college football: The rivalries, the wackiness of the band out on the field, the passion of the Cal player slamming the ball into a trombone player, the crazy play, the controversy of whether the player’s knee was down or not, a tremendous announcer call—it’s the perfect college football moment. Tightwad Hill, named after the $0 view of the field, is a great place to watch a game, perched on a hill with a perfect aerial view of the stadium, see the picture above. Between all this, a tradition of pumping out top tier NFL talent, and competing for the Bay Area’s premier college football team with Stanford, a good Cal is good for college football. They bring a clean, fun brand of football and tap into a massive market with the Bay Area.
Best Seasons and Highlights
1. 1991: 9. California: 10-2 (31.511)
2. 2004: 9. California: 10-2 (30.500)
3. 2006: 13. California: 10-3 (29.794)
4. 2008: 21. California: 9-4 (19.959)
5. 1993: 25. California: 9-4 (11.785)
6. 1990: 30. California: 7-4-1 (9.497)
7. 2015: 39. California: 8-5 (8.997)
8. 2003: 39. California: 8-6 (8.645)
9. 2002: 38. California: 7-5 (5.817)
10. 2005: 32. California: 8-4 (4.999)
11. 2009: 49. California: 8-5 (2.084)
12. 2007: 48. California: 7-6 (1.861)
13. 2019: 46. California: 8-5 (0.363)
14. 2011: 55. California: 7-6 (-4.395)
15. 1983: 50. California: 5-5-1 (-6.309)
16. 1988: 52. California: 5-5-1 (-6.396)
17. 2018: 62. California: 7-6 (-6.644)
18. 1996: 52. California: 6-6 (-9.156)
19. 1987: 51. California: 3-6-2 (-10.909)
20. 1998: 57. California: 5-6 (-11.741)
21. 2017: 75. California: 5-7 (-12.394)
22. 2010: 67. California: 5-7 (-13.320)
23. 2016: 72. California: 5-7 (-13.751)
24. 2020: 82. California: 1-3 (-13.943)
25. 1992: 63. California: 4-7 (-14.827)
26. 2014: 82. California: 5-7 (-16.239)
27. 2021: 84. California: 5-7 (-18.193)
28. 1999: 75. California: 4-7 (-19.195)
29. 1989: 70. California: 4-7 (-19.914)
30. 1985: 67. California: 4-7 (-20.450)
31. 2022: 92. California: 4-8 (-22.123)
32. 1994: 75. California: 4-7 (-22.516)
33. 2000: 80. California: 3-8 (-25.252)
34. 1997: 78. California: 3-8 (-26.896)
35. 1995: 79. California: 3-8 (-29.915)
36. 2012: 93. California: 3-9 (-31.376)
37. 1986: 89. California: 2-9 (-36.670)
38. 1984: 90. California: 2-9 (-40.367)
39. 2001: 104. California: 1-10 (-49.536)
40. 2013: 114. California: 1-11 (-56.801)
Overall Score: 17228 (59th)
- 215-248-5 record
- 1 conference title
- 10-5 bowl record
- 11 consensus All-Americans
- 121 NFL players drafted
Some of Cal’s statistics here are STUPID. 121 NFL players drafted is by far the most we’ve seen, with the second most being Illinois with 101. After that is Purdue with just 87. So, Cal averages about 3 players a draft despite just 15 winning seasons in 40 years. And they’re not pumping out quantity over quality, either. Notable alumni include QB Aaron Rodgers, TE Tony Gonzalez, RB Marshawn Lynch, WR Desean Jackson, WR Keenan Allen, QB Jared Goff, DE Cameron Jordan, C Alex Mack, CB Nnamdi Asomugha, OT Mitchell Schwartz, the list goes on and on. Consensus All-Americans include LB Ron Rivera (1983), who’s gone on to coach for over a decade in the NFL, TE Tony Gonzalez (1996), CB Deltha O’Neal (1999), who led the both the NCAA (9 in 1999) and NFL (10 in 2005) in interceptions, 7th overall pick DL Andre Carter (2000), P Nick Harris (2000) who set the NCAA record for career punting yards, and LB Evan Weaver (2019), who recorded the 4th most tackles in a season ever with 181.
Top 5 Seasons
Worst Season: 2013 (1-11 overall, 0-9 Pac-12)
Heading into the year, Cal had a new coach in Sonny Dykes, and a 5-star freshman QB in Zach Kline who was the #2 pro style passer coming out of high school. But it wasn’t Kline who Dykes would end up choosing for the starting job, it was a lanky true freshman by the name of Jared Goff who’d win the role and never look back. 2013 Cal struggled mightily, but not necessarily because of their offense. Goff led the Bears to 23.0 PPG, while the defense gave up a whopping 45.9 PPG. Their only win was 37-30 over FCS Portland State, and losses included 16-55 to #2 Oregon, 22-44 to Washington State, 10-37 to #11 UCLA, 17-49 to Oregon State, 28-62 to USC, and last and definitely least, 13-63 to Stanford. There were signs of promise in Dykes and Goff’s first year though. A 34-52 loss to Ohio State was the 4th most points given up by the Buckeyes all season, and Goff threw for nearly 400 yards with 3 TDs to 1 INT. By the end of the year, he had thrown for 3500 yards with 18 TD 10 INT, and would go on to throw 78 more TDs over the next 2 years and be drafted #1 overall by the St. Louis Rams.
5. 1993 (9-4 overall, 4-4 Pac-10)
Like many Cal teams we’ll see in these top 5 season descriptions, this team had a lot of talent. A 5-0 start included 2 Pac-10 wins and a #16 ranking, before losing 4 straight to fall to 5-4 and 2-4 in the Pac. Cal saved their best for last though, finishing as one of the hottest teams in the country with a win over #13 Arizona, 46-17 over Stanford, 42-18 over Hawaii, and 37-3 over Iowa in the Alamo Bowl. The reason for the 0-4 midseason stretch was mainly QB Dave Barr’s shoulder, injured in the first loss against #13 Washington. Barr finished 2nd in the NCAA in passer rating with 68% completions for 2619 yards 21 TD 12 INT. 13 players were drafted over the next 3 years, including Barr and 1st rounders OT Todd Steussie, DE Regan Upshaw, and DE Duane Clemons.
4. 2008 (9-4 overall, 6-3 Pac-10)
Cal won 9 games despite a QB controversy that lasted the entire year. Nate Longshore, a 2 year starter, entered the year as the backup to talented sophomore Kevin Riley, but the two would trade positions periodically. The one constant was future 1st round RB Jahvid Best, who ran for 1580 yards and 15 TD on 8.1 YPC. In the opener against Michigan State, Best and backup Shane Vereen ran for 100 yards each in a 38-31 win, with Riley looking like the much better QB over Longshore. But their play would both be up and down just as the season was. Following a 66-3 demolition of Washington State, the #25 Bears lost in a 27-35 upset at Maryland. A 6-2 start saw a win over #23 Oregon, who’d finish the year #10, but also a loss to Arizona. They’d lose 2 more road games against #6 USC and Oregon State, before finishing with home wins over Stanford and Washington, and a 24-17 win over Miami (FL) in the bowl. Cal was 7-0 at home but just 1-4 away. Riley completed just 51% of throws for 1360 yards 14 TD 6 INT, while Longshore wasn’t much better with 57% for 1051 yards 10 TD 4 INT, finishing as Cal’s 5th all time leading passer. Dominant LB Zack Follett had 87 tackles, 10.5 sacks, and 12.5 TFL, finishing #1 in the country in total TFL with 23. C Alex Mack won the Pac-10’s Morris Trophy for the 2nd straight year as the conference’s best lineman, and also took home the “Academic Heisman” with the Draddy Trophy.
3. 2006 (10-3 overall, 7-2 Pac-10)
Spirits were high in Berkeley. Jeff Tedford had built a serious Pac-10 contender and dark horse national title contender, starting the season ranked #9, their highest preseason ranking since 1952. Lee Corso even predicted them to win the national title. A slow start, however, saw them go down 0-35 to Tennessee in the opener before losing 18-35. That’s when the win streak began. Minnesota, Portland State, #22 Arizona State, Oregon State, all beaten by 25+ points. #16 Cal hosted #11 Oregon for Homecoming, with a sold out crowd of 72,516 turning up for one of the biggest wins of the 2000s, beating the brakes off the Ducks 45-24. A few weeks later, in a sleepy 31-24 OT win over Washington, Marshawn Lynch took over, racking up 203 yards from scrimmage and 2 4th quarter/OT touchdowns. To celebrate, he stole one of the golf carts in the stadium and “ghost rode the whip” around the field in true Marshawn fashion. Everything was setting up for a top 10 matchup to decide the Pac-10 title vs USC later in the season. After the Trojans had lost to Oregon State, Cal was alone in first place. But things would be derailed after an upset loss to Arizona, falling from #8 to #17, and then a 9-23 loss sealed their fate of no outright Pac-10 title. However, with a win on the final day over Stanford and a USC upset loss to UCLA, Cal tied for the Pac-10 title at 7-2, their first since 1975. A dominant 45-10 win over #21 Texas A&M in the Holiday Bowl sealed a 10 win season and #14 finish.
Lynch won Pac-10 Offensive POTY, rushing for 1350 yards with 11 TD, also adding 328 receiving yards and 4 TD. WR Desean Jackson was 1st Team All Pac-10 with over 1000 receiving yards and 9 TD on 59 catches, also earning consensus All-American as a ...
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