California Golden Bears football: Difference between revisions

This article is related to a current sports-related event. For information on the topic, see 2007 California Golden Bears football team. Information may change rapidly as the event progresses, and initial news reports may be unreliable. The last updates to these articles may not reflect the most current information. Please feel free to improve this article (but note that updates without valid and reliable references will be removed) or discuss changes on the talk page. (Learn how and when to remove this message)

Program Information
Nickname:	Golden Bears
Conference Affiliation:	Pac-10
Current Head Coach:	Jeff Tedford (5th year, 43-20)
Awards
National Titles:	2
Conference Titles:	14
Heisman Winners:	0
Consensus All-American Selections:	26
College Football Hall of Famers (players and coaches):	18
Records
All-time Record:	590-458-51
Conference Record:	257-291-21
Bowl Record:	8-8-1
BCS Record:	0-0
Pageantry
Colors:	Blue and Gold
Outfitter:	Nike
Fight songs:	Fight for California Big 'C' Sons of California
Mascot:	Oski
Marching Band:	Cal Band
Stadium:	California Memorial Stadium (c. 73,347, Grassy Turf)
Rivals:	Stanford USC UCLA

The Golden Bears football team is the college football team of the University of California, Berkeley. The team plays its home games at picturesque California Memorial Stadium. Built to honor Berkeley alumni, students, and other Californians who died in World War I, and modeled after the Colosseum in Rome, Memorial Stadium was named one of the 40 best college football stadiums by the Sporting News.[1][2] The team also has produced two of the oddest and most memorable plays in college football: Roy "Wrong Way" Riegels' fumble recovery and run toward the Cal goal line in the 1929 Rose Bowl, and The Play in the 1982 Cal-Stanford game with the winning kickoff return after five laterals. The current head coach is Jeff Tedford, who began his tenure in 2002.

Football was first played on the Berkeley campus in 1882, albeit in a form that resembled rugby. It was not until 1886 that American football began play. Football was put on hiatus in 1906 when it was decided by the administration that American football was too dangerous a sport and rugby once again took over the scene. Football returned for good in 1915 and Cal has fielded a team in every year since.

The 1920s saw the first golden age of California football, as the Golden Bears went 50 straight games without a defeat from 1920 to 1925, with a record of 46 wins and 4 ties. As of 2006, this is the 3rd longest unbeaten (not to be confused with winning) streak in NCAA history. The 1920-1924 squads were so dominant that they were nicknamed "The Wonder Teams." The "Wonder Teams" were coached by Andy Smith. One of the stars during this era was Brick Muller and the University later established a freshman leadership group called the Brick Muller Society. Cal won four Pacific Coast Conference championships and made three trips to the Rose Bowl during this decade, in 1921 (28-0 win over Ohio State), 1922 (0-0 tie with Washington and Jefferson College), and 1929 (8-7 loss to Georgia Tech). One of the most famous (or infamous) moments in college football history occurred in the 1929 Rose Bowl Game. In the second quarter, Cal's defense forced a Georgia Tech fumble on their own 30 yard line, and the loose ball was scooped up by Cal center Roy Riegels. He began to run towards the Georgia Tech end zone for a score, but then in trying to get around the Tech players he inexplicably turned around and headed in the other direction. Riegels advanced all the way to the Cal one yard line before teammate Benny Lom was able to stop him, whereupon he was immediately tackled by what seemed like the entire Georgia Tech team. Cal elected to punt on the next play; the punt was blocked for a safety, giving the Yellow Jackets a 2-0 lead and what turned out to be the decisive points.^[1]

California football also achieved success in the 1930s, winning the PCC championship three times and appearing in the Rose Bowl in 1938, where they beat Alabama 13-0. Because of its staunch defense, the 1937 squad that went to the Rose Bowl was coined "The Thunder Team." In 11 games, Cal limited its opponents to only 33 points and 1,126 total yards.

The early 1940s witnessed average success, but 1947 saw a dramatic turnaround as Lynn "Pappy" Waldorf became the head coach. Known as "Pappy's Boys," the Cal teams of 1947-1950 won 33 consecutive regular season games, earning three PCC championships and three Rose Bowl berths.^[2] However Cal lost all three Rose Bowls (20-14 to Northwestern in 1949, 17-14 to Ohio State in 1950, and 14-6 to Michigan in 1951). Pappy Waldorf left Cal after the 1956 season, having compiled a record of 67-32-4. Cal again earned a conference title in 1958 and subsequently played in the 1959 Rose Bowl, where it lost to Iowa 38-12.

The 1960s was a period of particular mediocrity, as Cal had only one winning season (1968), although in that year after beating Syracuse Cal was ranked in the top 15. The coach during this era was Ray Willsy. Craig Morton, future Super Bowl quarterback for the Dallas Cowboys and Denver Broncos was an All-American in 1964.

In 1972, Mike White was hired. After two losing seasons, he brought home three winning seasons over the next four. In 1975, behind an NCAA leading offense anchored by All Americans Chuck Muncie, Joe Roth, Wesley Walker, Steve Rivera and Ted Albrecht, the Golden Bears were co-Champions of the Pacific 8 Conference, but UCLA went to the Rose Bowl based on their head-to-head victory. Steve Bartkowski ('75) was another noted player who started for the Atlanta Falcons at quarterback. However, White left in a storm of controversy over recruiting violations. Roger Theder succeeded him and lead the Bears to three winning seasons, but each was less successful than the predecessor. In 1979, Cal played in the Garden State Bowl, losing to Temple 28-17 after a 6-5 regular season.

The 1980s saw a return to mediocrity, with Cal posting only one winning season in the entire decade. Joe Kapp was the most famous coach in this period. Kapp had been the quarterback of the 1959 Rose Bowl team, and later lead the Minnesota Vikings to the Super Bowl. Even so, he was not able to overcome the recruiting drag created by the off-field notoriety of the Berkeley campus. Of note, however, was the 1982 Big Game versus Stanford, which became famous for The Play. The Golden Bears used five lateral passes on the ensuing kickoff return to score the winning touchdown and turn defeat into a 25-20 victory. The Play has been named by numerous media organizations as one of the best football, and even American sports, moments.^[3]

Bruce Snyder arrived at Berkeley in 1987, and slowly turned the program around. He was able to recruit a number of outstanding players, such as Russell White, from football power such as USC and UCLA. The reemergence of Cal football as a thriving programs was signaled by the October 19, 1991 game against the future national co-champion Washington Huskies. Cal lost 24-17 at home in a game that came down to the Bears' last possession deep in Husky territory and was probably the Huskies most difficult game that season. (The Oakland Fire erupted in the hills south of California Memorial Stadium the next day.) Cal football had some success in the early 1990s, earning three postseason bowl berths and winning all three. Cal beat Wyoming 17-15 in the Copper Bowl of 1990, and Clemson 37-13 in the 1992 Citrus Bowl. Snyder resigned before that game to take a position at Pac-10 rival Arizona State. Iowa 37-3 in the 1993 Alamo Bowl. The Golden Bears attempted to steal some of the Huskies' magic by hiring assistant Keith Gilbertson, but he delivered only one winning season in the next four.

After the loss of momentum, Cal hired Green Bay Packers assistant Steve Mariucci for the 1996 season. He lead the Bears to a winning regular season (and losing to Navy in the Aloha Bowl 42-38, but the San Francisco 49ers struck yet again (as with Waldorf) and hired Mariucci as head coach for 1997, ending the promise of an early revival. The rest the late 1990s saw little success, and the down period reached its nadir in 2001 when the Bears managed only one victory the entire season. Much-maligned coach Tom Holmoe resigned near the end of this season and was replaced with Jeff Tedford, previously the offensive coordinator from the Oregon Ducks. Worse yet, Cal lost seven straight to archrival Stanford.

California began a renaissance under Tedford, who dramatically turned around the long-suffering program. Under Tedford the Golden Bears have posted five consecutive winning seasons, a feat that hadn't been accomplished since the days of Pappy Waldorf.^[4] After being ruled ineligible for a bowl game in 2002 due to academic infractions under the previous administration, Cal has also appeared in four straight bowl games.

The Jeff Tedford era began with a bang, as California defeated Baylor 70-22, and went on to finish 7-5, their first winning season since 1993. The 2002 team defeated three nationally ranked opponents on the road for the first time in school history including Cal's first win over conference foe Washington in 26 years, and won the annual Big Game against archrival Stanford for the first time in eight years.

In 2003 the Golden Bears posted an 8-6 record, highlighted by a dramatic 34-31 triple-overtime victory over No. 3 ranked and eventual national co-champion USC. This victory revived a long moribund rivalry with the Trojans, even as the Trojans reemerged as a national power under Pete Carroll. In the Insight Bowl, the Bears edged Virginia Tech 52-49 on a last-second field goal.

In 2004, the Bears posted a 10-2 record under Tedford and quarterback Aaron Rodgers, with their only regular season loss coming against the eventual national champion, USC. California finished the regular season ranked No. 4 according to polls, and appeared to have an excellent chance to receive an at-large BCS bowl berth, most likely in the Rose Bowl. However, in a controversial case, the Texas Longhorns coach Mack Brown made impasioned pleas to media asking poll voters reconsider their final votes. 10-1 Cal was mysteriously rated as low as 7th by some coaches, and Texas received an increase in votes in the last Coaches Poll of the season--despite Cal's win in their final game--allowing Texas to pass the Bears into the No. 4 spot in the BCS rankings, guaranteeing Texas the BCS berth. Cal lost to Texas Tech 45-31 in the Holiday Bowl and finished the season ranked No. 9.

The next year, despite inconsistent quarterback play and an overall inexperienced roster, Cal finished 8-4 and earned a berth in the 2005 Las Vegas Bowl, beating BYU 35-28.

In 2006, Cal went on to post a 10-3 (7-2 in Pac-10) record. Despite falling to the Tennessee Volunteers in their first game of the season in Knoxville, the team rebounded, winning eight straight games, including impressive victories over the 20th ranked Arizona State Sun Devils and the 11th ranked Oregon Ducks at home. On October 21, Cal rallied from an early 10-0 deficit to defeat the Washington Huskies 31-24 in overtime. Cal defeated the UCLA Bruins on November 4 38-24. On November 11, California was upset 24-20 by the Arizona Wildcats. The following week Cal lost the 2007 Rose Bowl bid on November 18, losing 23-9 to the USC Trojans. In the final game of the regular season on December 2, Cal defeated Stanford 26-17 in the 109th Big Game for the fifth straight time. Coupled with UCLA's upset of reigning conference champion USC on the same day, the victory earned Cal its first share of the Pac-10 champsionship since 1975.^[5]

Cal accepted an invitation to the 2006 Holiday Bowl, its second appearance there in three years. Cal went on to rout Texas A&M 45-10, the largest margin of victory for a bowl game in the 2006-2007 season, and finished with a No. 14 ranking, an improvement from the No. 20 spot that it started with at the beginning of the season.

Cal began the 2007 season ranked 12th in both the AP/USA Today Polls. In a nationally televised game on September 1st, the Golden Bears defeated the University of Tennessee Volunteers 45-31. After that victory they were ranked 10th in the AP/USA Today Polls. A 34-28 victory against the Colorado State Rams boosted California to the 8th seed in the country. Following their 42-12 defeat of Louisiana Tech they moved up two places to the No. 6 spot. Cal then extended its 2007 winning streak to 4-0 after a 45-27 win over the Arizona Wildcats. The following week, Cal defeated the then No. 11 ranked Oregon Ducks in Eugene 31-24. This win, combined with a series of losses from Oklahoma, Florida, and West Virginia, allowed Cal to break through into the top five. Cal had a bye the following week, but as a result of Stanford's surprise upset of then No. 2 USC on October 6, the Bears were ranked No. 2 in the country in the AP, Coaches, and Harris polls behind No. 1 LSU. This was the highest the team has been ranked since 1951.^[6] With the LSU loss to Kentucky on October 13, 2007, the Bears had a shot at being the number one team in the nation (along with Ohio State), but an upset loss to unranked Oregon State that night squelched any hopes of a top ranking. The Bears followed that game up with disappointing losses at UCLA and Arizona State the next two weeks, dropping out of the Top 25. The three game losing streak was broken on November 3 with a victory over Washington State which allowed the Bears to creep back into the AP Top 25 at #24. However they dropped out again following a loss to USC the following week. This was followed up by a loss at Washington, ending a five game win streak over the Huskies. Cal faced Stanford in the 25th annniversary of The Play after a bye week. Stanford led the Bears the entire game, coming up with a 20-13 victory and regaining The Stanford Axe for the first time in six years. On the day preceding the Armed Forces Bowl, Tedford declared there would be open competition for all positions on the team in 2008.^[7]

Tedford also has become a noted "quarterback" coach. After developing Joey Harrington at Oregon he produced two quarterbacks who went high in the NFL draft, Kyle Boller in the 2003 draft, and Aaron Rodgers in the 2005 draft. However, Tedford also was able to cobble together a winning season in 2005 without an outstanding quarterback.