Cal-Justin Wilcox has been the head coach of Cal for eight years and discounting the lost COVID season has a record of 41-47 with his best season happening in his third year where they went 8-5 and were ranked 34th nationally. Last year, Cal’s first in the ACC, the Golden Bears finished 6-7 although their win over Stanford in late November got them the 6th win they needed to be bowl eligible. But Nevada-Las Vegas proved too much and they lost that game 24-13. According to CBS Sports Clemson is expected to win what would be a back-to-back conference title this year in the ACC over Miami and SMU. Having the good fortune to avoid Clemson in their schedule Cal will only have to deal with two of the top five ACC teams—both late in the year. The first on the road against Lousville and will have SMU at home in their last game of the regular season. Justin Wilcox talked about this year’s Golden Bears at the ACC Media Days https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VfbPExzIUl4
Read what College Football News has to say here https://collegefootballnews.com/college-football/cal-football-preview-2025-can-the-golden-bears-be-this-years-smu and what Athlon Sports wrote here https://athlonsports.com/college-football/california-football-golden-bears-prediction-preview-2025
Stanford-The Cardinal hasn’t had a decent season since 2018 when they finished 9-4 in a year in which they upset USC and Oregon—both nationally ranked in the Top 20—and beat Pitt in the Sun Bowl. The next year they were 4-8 under head coach David Shaw then 3-9 two years in a row after COVID. In 2023 Troy Taylor took over as head coach and hasn’t done any better posting a 3-9 record in 2023 and 2024, ranking 112th and 114th respectively. And unlike Cal there is very little upside in their schedule with BYU in Week 2 on the road, SMU on the road in Week 6, Florida State at home right after that and then Miami on the road the next week only to finish the season by hosting Notre Dame. They will probably be lucky to win three games this season. Here’s what new Head Coach Frank Reich had to say at ACC Media Day https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=imcpfF-Lu74
Read Athlon Sports Stanford Season Preview and Prediction here https://athlonsports.com/college-football/stanford-football-cardinal-prediction-preview-2025 and what College Football News had to say here https://collegefootballnews.com/college-football/stanford-football-2025-preview-transition-season-cardinal