Put the FBS on notice because the Golden Bears are earning some national recognition!

California earned one whole vote in the preseason Coaches Poll—good for a four-way tie at 56th in the nation. We were last ranked in the Coaches Poll on Nov. 1, 2020, which was right before the Pac-12 was set to begin play and right before our cancelled game against Washington.

Here’s the full breakdown of our ranked 2021 opponents and fellow conference-mates. (Well, conference-mates before we form a super-conference with the Big Ten and half of the Big XII, of course.)

12. Oregon (842 points)

14. USC (655 points)

21. Washington (404 points)

26. Utah, whom we aren’t playing (145 points)

28. Herm Edwards and the endlessly scandalous Arizona State, whom we aren’t playing (90 points)

32. TCU (48 points)

42. UCLA (7 points)

53. Nevada (2 points)

56. Stanfurd (1 point)

(Bonus teams of interest include Demetris Robertson & Auburn at 29th, Melquise Stovall & Pitt at 43rd, and Sonny Dykes & SMU at 48th)

So, add it all up and seven of our twelve scheduled opponents are earning preseason recognition with six of them ranked higher than us. There’s some reason to have hope that we can topple some of those teams and climb our way up this ladder—from one point to number one in the country?