Cal could retain their Pac-12 bowl tie-ins through 2025...except the Rose Bowl

Unless Cal makes the 12-team playoff, it's unclear exactly what bowl game they could end up in.

Credit: Cal Football

The dissolution of the Pac-12 as we know it has some ramifications when it comes to bowl games.

Brett McMurphy reports that for now, Pac-12 teams would likely remain allotted to their old bowl schedule until the bowl contracts expire

That means the following bowls would potentially be available to Cal: Alamo, Holiday, Las Vegas, Sun, Los Angeles, and Independence Bowl.

The one game that is lost from the Pac-12 tie-ins is the Rose Bowl, which is now a permanent fixture in the College Football playoff. It’ll be a quarterfinal in 2024 and 2025 that will be played on January 1st.

There is still a path to a Rose Bowl, but it is highly improbable and depends entirely on playoff seeding, likely running the table in the ACC, and overall matchups.

For those not up to speed, here is the 12-team playoff schedule:

• First round: December 20-21, home sites for 5, 6, 7, 8 seeds vs 9, 10, 11, 12

• Quarterfinals: December 31 (Fiesta) and January 1 (Peach, Rose, Sugar Bowl)

• Semifinals: January 9 (Orange Bowl) and January 10 (Cotton Bowl)

• National Championship: January 20 (Atlanta)

There are a lot more changes in flight.

You can already see some of the problems with the retained Pac-12 tie-ins.

The other opponent in the Holiday and the Sun Bowls is an ACC opponent. It’s unlikely either would want to select Cal or Stanford for an additional conference game.

Cal already played in the Independence Bowl in 2024. It’s unlikely we’d be asked to repeat an appearance.

That leaves the Alamo, Las Vegas, and Los Angeles Bowls. All of these games hold various appeal (remember our LA over LA 2023 Bowl campaigning?), but given the ten teams that could be jostling for position (and six teams are projected to finish with winning seasons), it’d be hard for Cal to beat out the TV eyeballs of USC, or the robust travelling fanbases in Oregon, Utah and Washington for some of these other slots.

So if Cal has a winning season this year, it’s unclear where we end up if it’s a non-playoff bowl. If there is space in the ACC bowl slots, here would be our alternative options (matchups at least from the 2023 season).

• Pinstripe Bowl (Yankee Stadium, NYC) vs Big Ten

• Pop Tart Bowl (Camping World Stadium, Orlando) vs Big 12

• Duke’s Mayo Bowl (Bank of America Stadium, Charlotte) vs Big Ten

• Fenway Bowl (Fenway Park, Boston) vs American Athletic

• Military Bowl (Navy Memorial Stadium, Annapolis) vs American Athletic

• ReliaQuest Bowl (Raymond James Stadium, Tampa) vs SEC (or Big Ten)

• Gator Bowl (Everbank Stadium, Jacksonville) vs SEC

• Gasparilla Bowl (Raymond James Stadium, Tampa) vs AAC or SEC

• TicketSmarter Birmingham Bowl (Protective Stadium, Birmingham) vs SEC or AAC

• SERVPRO First Responder Bowl (Gerald J Ford Stadium, Dallas) vs SEC or AAC