California Golden Bears Football

California opens the 2026 season against UCLA on Saturday, Sep 5 at California Memorial Stadium.

The Read

California opens a 2.5-point underdog. Our model gives California a 44% chance.

WIN PROBABILITY

UCLA 56% CAL 44%

PROJECTED FINAL

UCLA

28

California

26

CAL win
44% One-score game
40%

What's driving the model

Ratings edge (Elo) CAL

Home-field edge CAL

Market lean UCLA

Model projection UCLA

Each game samples a margin around the market spread and a final total around the market total.

Sim the game UCLA @ California

Your sims:Sims: CAL 0, UCLA 0

@

UCLA @ California

Sat, Sep 5 · 7:30 PM PDT

CFB VIBES MODELUCLA 55% to win

ESPNSIM NOW →

@

California @ Syracuse

Sat, Sep 12 · 3:30 PM EDT

CFB VIBES MODELCAL 52% to win

ACC NetworkSIM NOW →

WAG@

Wagner @ California

Sat, Sep 19 · 12:30 PM PDT

CFB VIBES MODELCAL 98% to win

ACC NetworkSIM NOW →

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Clemson @ California

Fri, Sep 25 · 7:30 PM PDT

CFB VIBES MODELCLEM 65% to win

ESPNSIM NOW →

Standings

Full standings →

Place	TEAM	CONF	OVERALL
7	LOULouisvilleLOU	0–0	0–0
8	BCBoston CollegeBC	0–0	0–0
9	CALCaliforniaCAL	0–0	0–0
10	CLEMClemsonCLEM	0–0	0–0
11	DUKEDukeDUKE	0–0	0–0

Rankings

All rankings →

Rank	AP TOP 25
1	OSUOhio StateOSU
2	OREOregonORE
3	UGAGeorgiaUGA
4	NDNotre DameND
–	CALCaliforniaCAL

Rank	COACHES
1	OSUOhio StateOSU
2	OREOregonORE
3	UGAGeorgiaUGA
4	TEXTexasTEX
–	CALCaliforniaCAL