Cal Football 2011 Schedule: California Golden Bears To Play Presbyterian Blue Hose

The California Golden Bears completed filling out their 2011 college football schedule after finalizing their last two open non-conference slots. First, Cal managed to ensure they will play Colorado to fulfill the backend of a home-and-home series, which means the Bears will be playing in Boulder on September 10th. Second, Cal managed to secure their last non-conference game against the Presbyterian Blue Hose, a member of the FCS Big South conference. That game is scheduled to be played September 17th in AT&T Park.

Presbyterian is not a good football team. In fact, they’re a pretty bad one, finishing 2-9 in their conference. But Cal needed a home date, and most other teams have filled out their schedules. This will look like a bit of a joke to the rest of the Pac-12 teams, but with only four true home games in their Pac-12 season (including a Thursday night contest against USC), plus a neutral site game against Fresno State, Cal could use a breather in their path to try and obtain bowl eligibility.

And before teams start crying out at Cal for scheduling this team, remember Oregon scheduled 2-9 FCS opponent Portland State and beat them up 69-0. The Ducks ended up in the National title game. No one remembers this because they won the rest of their games. If Cal can be respectable against the upper echelon, no one else will remember at the end of the season that they scheduled Presbyterian either.

For more discussion on this game with fellow Cal fans, head over to the California Golden Blogs.

Cal-USC & Cal-Oregon Pac-12 Thursday Night Football Games, 6 PM PT On ESPN

The California Golden Bears football team will play their games against the USC Trojans and Oregon Ducks in nationally televised contests in 2011. That’s the non-surprising part, as Cal-Oregon and Cal-USC games are generally plum matchups that have been featured on ABC over the years.

The only difference is that this season, Cal will be playing their games on Thursday Night. Cal football will be playing the first two Thursday Night football contests on ESPN for the newly-minted Pac-12 conference. They will trek up to Autzen Stadium (a place they’ve only won once out of four times in the Jeff Tedford era) to face Oregon on October 6th for a 6 PM PT kickoff. Then they will head back to their temporary environs of AT&T Park the next Thursday to face off with their longstanding SoCal rivals in San Francisco; kickoff will also be at 6 PM.

It will not be an easy start to Cal’s conference schedule (they also have a road date at Washington before playing these two games), but they will definitely have a chance to showcase their talents to the rest of the nation and make their Pac-12 inaugural statement.

Cal Football To Play Colorado Buffaloes In 2011 In Boulder In Non-Conference Game

The California Golden Bears have already slated a neutral site game with the Fresno St. Bulldogs in Candlestick Park to fill one of their three non-conference slots, and now it appears they're on the verge of adding a second. Cal is about to gear up to finish a home-and-home series with the Colorado Buffaloes in Boulder, according to athletic director Sandy Barbour at a Cal recruiting event.

What makes this interesting is that Cal and Colorado are currently in the same conference, the Pac-12. But because Cal and Colorado scheduled the home-and-home BEFORE the Pac-12 expansion took place, the Bears were still very keen on playing this contest as opposed to rescheduling it. So the two teams will be playing this one as a non-conference game, just like last year, and the result of this game will not impact conference standings.

Cal crushed Colorado 52-7 in last year's contest, although a lot of key actors on both sides of the ball will not be returning for this year's contest. Safe to say no one really knows who will be the victor in this one, regardless of how dominant the Golden Bears were in the 2010 clash in Memorial.

Cal Football Offseason: California Golden Bears To Play Colorado Buffaloes In Non-Conference Game

With signing day over and the 2011 recruiting class for the California Golden Bears all locked up, we turn our attention to the long and dry offseason. This stream will be dedicated to all the offseason news concerning Cal football and Jeff Tedford, including scheduling updates, recruiting news, potential prospects, and glimpses ahead to next year's team.

Cal currently has a scheduling slot to fill, but for the most part they've taken care of their business with the recruiting class, filling needs at running back and corner back all while stocking up perhaps the best defensive line class in the Pac-10. The Bears also have made several coaching changes.

• Offensive line coach Steve Marshall left for the Colorado Buffaloes this offseason, and ended up being replaced by the man who he originally replaced at Cal in Jim Michalczik.  Coach Michalczik will also be the offensive coordinator and will try and rework his magic at Cal.
• Kevin Daft has been replaced as wide receivers coach by Eric Kiesau at Colorado, who was on Jeff Tedford's original staff when he arrived at Cal in 2002. Kiesau will also be the passing game coordinator.
• Ron Gould gets an added position bonus as he will now be the running game coordinator. This is an addition to his current responsibilities as running back coach.
• Cal defensive backs coach Al Simmons departed, to be replaced by Colorado secondary coach Ashley Ambrose.
  
• Tedford is expected to resume a heavier role in quarterback development after delegating much of those duties to quarterback coach/offensive coordinator Andy Ludwig. Ludwig has departed for San Diego State, and Marcus Arroyo has come onto the position.

For more coverage of Cal sports, head over to the California Golden Blogs.