The 2020 California Golden Bears football team represented the University of California, Berkeley during the 2020 NCAA Division I FBS football season. 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; 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. 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.
Offseason Position key BackBCenterCCornerbackCBDefensive backDBDefensive endDEDefensive linemanDLDefensive tackleDTEndEFullbackFBGuardGHalfbackHBKickerKKickoff returnerKROffensive tackleOTOffensive linemanOLLinebackerLBLong snapperLSPunterPPunt returnerPRQuarterbackQBRunning backRBSafetySTight endTEWide receiverWR
Offseason departures Nine Golden Bears graduated in 2020, and three were selected in the 2020 NFL draft.
2020 California offseason departures Name Number Pos. Height Weight Year Hometown Notes Ashtyn Davis 27 S 6'1 202 Senior Santa Cruz, CA Declared for NFL draft, drafted in the third round by New York Jets. Jaylinn Hawkins 6 S 6'2 210 RS senior Buena Park, CA Declared for NFL draft, drafted in the fourth round by Atlanta Falcons. Evan Weaver 89 LB 6'3 235 Senior Spokane, WA Declared for NFL draft, drafted in the sixth round by Arizona Cardinals. Ricky Walker III 21 WR 5'11 190 Senior Graduated Colt Doughty 42 LB 6'1 230 Senior Graduated Trey Turner III 5 S 6'1 185 Senior Graduated Lone Toailoa 55 DE 6'2 290 Senior Graduated Chinedu Udeogu 91 TE 6'4 275 Senior Graduate transfer to Illinois. Gabe Siemieniec 46 PK 6'1 210 Senior Graduate transfer to Louisiana Tech. Greg Thomas 39 PK 5'9 165 Senior Graduated
Recruiting
Preseason On January 3, 2020, Cal announced that it would hire former Denver Broncos offensive coordinator Bill Musgrave as its next offensive coordinator, replacing Beau Baldwin. Musgrave, an Oregon 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 in 2001–2002.
On January 10, Angus McClure was announced as the next offensive line coach. McClure spent 11 years at UCLA. 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 on January 24. Cal announced it would hire former Arizona 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. Media poll (North Division) 1 Oregon 222 (35) 2 California 176 (3) 3 Washington 161 4 Stanford 105 5 Oregon State 76 6 Washington State 58
Schedule Cal's 2020 regular season was announced on January 16. The Golden Bears had 3 games scheduled against UNLV, 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 COVID-19 pandemic.
On August 11, the Pac-12 Conference canceled all Fall 2020 sports competitions due to the COVID-19 pandemic. 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 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 UCLA on the morning of November 15; the Bruins' scheduled game against Utah had also been canceled after Utah had a COVID-19 outbreak.
Original 2020 California Golden Bears schedule Date Opponent Site August 29 at UNLV* Allegiant Stadium • Paradise, NV September 5 TCU* California Memorial Stadium • Berkeley, CA September 12 Cal Poly* California Memorial Stadium • Berkeley, CA September 26 Utah California Memorial Stadium • Berkeley, CA October 3 at Washington State Martin Stadium • Pullman, WA October 10 at USC Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum • Los Angeles, CA October 17 Oregon California Memorial Stadium • Berkeley, CA October 24 at Oregon State Reser Stadium • Corvallis, OR October 31 Washington California Memorial Stadium • Berkeley, CA November 7 at Arizona State Sun Devil Stadium • Tempe, AZ November 21 Stanford California Memorial Stadium • Berkeley, CA (Big Game) November 27 UCLA California Memorial Stadium • Berkeley, CA (rivalry)
Game summaries
At UCLA
At Oregon State
Stanford
Oregon
Players drafted into the NFL
4 125 Camryn Bynum CB Minnesota Vikings
References