Bowl Projections: Some Experts Put Cal in a Bowl; Some Don't

How does the New Mexico Bowl in Albuquerque the day after Christmas sound for Cal’s bowl destination? Or how about a bowl game in a Dallas suburb on December 27 for the Golden Bears?

Those are the early predictions -- based on no data -- for possible bowl games for the Golden Bears this season.

No college football team has run a single play in the 2025 season, but a number of reputable sites have already posted bowl projections.

Five people that can call themselves experts were cited for their projections in this report.  Three predict Cal will be in a bowl game for the second straight season after losing to UNLV in the LA Bowl last season, and two don’t expect the Golden Bears to play in a postseason game.

Since the over-under win total for Cal is 5.5 at most betting sites, it makes sense that the Golden Bears will be right on the cusp of getting the six wins needed for bowl-eligibility.

What is interesting, though, is that the three experts that project Cal to be in a bowl game put the Bears in the New Mexico Bowl or the First Responder Bowl, which are not among the bowls with tie-ins to the Pac-12.

Remember, teams that were members of the Pac-12 in 2023 still have tie-ins to six Pac-12 bowl games for one more season. Those Pac-12 bowl contracts run out after this season, so in 2026, Cal presumably would be in line for bowls affiliated with the ACC.

Here are the bowl projections for Cal from five experts:

ESPN (Kyle Bonagura)

Cal vs. Hawaii -- New Mexico Bowl

University Stadium, Albuquerque, New Mexico

Saturday, December 27, 2:45 p.m. Pacific time, ESPN

CBS Sports

Cal vs. Oklahoma State – First Responder Bowl

Gerald R. Ford Stadium, University Park, Texas

Friday, December 26, 5 p.m. Pacific time, ESPN

College Football News

Cal vs. Houston -- First Responder Bowl

Gerald R. Ford Stadium, University Park, Texas

Friday, December 26, 5 p.m. Pacific time, ESPN

ESPN (Mark Schlabach)

No bowl for Cal

Athlon Sports

No bowl for Cal

Here are the bowls that have tie-ins to schools that were in the Pac-12 in 2023:

LA Bowl -- December 13, 6 p.m. Pacific time, SoFi Stadium (Inglewood, California), ESPN

Independence Bowl – December 30, noon Pacific time, Independence Stadium (Shreveport, Louisiana), ESPN

Las Vegas Bowl – December 31, 12:30 p.m. Pacific time, Allegiant Stadium (Las Vegas), ESPN

Sun Bowl – December 31, noon Pacific time, Sun Bowl Stadium (El Paso, Texas), CBS

Alamo Bowl – December 30, 6 p.m., Alamodome (San Antonio), ESPN

Holiday Bowl – Date and time to be determined, Snapdragon Stadium (San Diego), Fox

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