2015 California Golden Bears football team


The 2015 California Golden Bears football team represented the University of California, Berkeley in the 2015 NCAA Division I FBS football season. The Bears were led by third-year head coach Sonny Dykes and played their home games at Memorial Stadium.
At the beginning of the season, Cal jumped out to a 5–0 start, their best since 2007. In Week 3, the Bears traveled to Austin to defeat the Texas Longhorns 45–44, marking the program's first-ever victory over Texas. The following week, Cal beat the Washington Huskies 30–24, Cal's first victory in Seattle since 2005, snapping a six-game losing streak to Washington. Cal then went on to lose five of its next six games, including losses to rivals UCLA, USC, Oregon, and a 13-point loss to arch-rival Stanford. But in a 54–24 win over the last place Oregon State Beavers, Cal gained a school-record of 760 yards, while becoming bowl-eligible for the first time since 2011. With a 48–46 win over Arizona State on Senior Day, Cal finished the regular season with a 7–5 record, clinching their first winning season since 2011. They finished the year 8–5 including a 55–36 victory over Air Force in the Armed Forces Bowl. Nevertheless, at 4–5 Cal finished with a losing Pac-12 the record for the third time in three years. That year was also the last year for quarterback Jared Goff, leaving as a junior he was the starting quarterback for three years, beginning the same year as Dykes' initial season. During those three seasons he set 26 team records. Taken by the Los Angeles Rams Goff was the first overall pick of the 2016 NFL Draft; he went on to lead the Rams to the 2019 Super Bowl. Following that season and due to academic and athletic improvements, Dykes' contract was extended until 2019.

Schedule

Personnel

Coaching staff

Roster

Recruiting

Incoming class 2015

, , as well as the official are the primary sources. The incoming class was ranked #25 by , #36 by , and #53 by .

Commitments for 2016

and are the primary sources. As of 10/9/2015 the 2016 class is ranked #25 by # and #38 by .

Rankings

Game summaries

Grambling State

San Diego State

Overall recordLast meetingResult
3–31996Cal, 42–37

Texas

Overall recordLast meetingResult
0–52011Texas, 21–10

Washington

Overall recordLast meetingResult
38–52–42014Wash, 31–7

Washington State

Overall recordLast meetingResult
45–26–52014Cal, 60–59

Utah

Overall recordLast meetingResult
5–42012Utah, 49–27

UCLA

Overall recordLast meetingResult
32–52–12014UCLA, 36–34

USC

Overall recordLast meetingResult
29–68–52014USC, 38–30

Oregon

Overall recordLast meetingResult
40–35–22014Oregon, 59–41

Oregon State

Overall recordLast meetingResult
35–322014Cal, 45–31

Stanford

Overall recordLast meetingResult
43–55–102014Stan, 38–17

Arizona State

Overall recordLast meetingResult
16–162012Ariz St, 27–17

Air Force

Overall recordLast meetingResult
6–22007Cal, 43–26