California head coach Justin Wilcox celebrates defeating Stanford during the 125th Big Game at Memorial Stadium in Berkeley, Calif., on Saturday, Nov. 19, 2022. Cal defeated Stanford 27-20. (Jose Carlos Fajardo/Bay Area News Group)
BERKELEY — Cal’s three-game win streak has earned the Golden Bears a spot in the Independence Bowl game against Texas Tech of the Big 12 Conference on Dec. 16.
The Bears (6-6) and Texas Tech (6-6) will kick off at 6:15 pm (Pacific) at Shreveport, Louisiana. ESPN will televise the game.
The game will match Cal running back Jaydn Ott (1,260 rushing yards) and Tech star Tahj Brooks (1,443 yards).
Cal will play in a bowl game for the first time since 2019, when it beat Illinois 35-20 in the RedBox Bowl to cap an 8-5 season. The Bears followed that with a 1-3 mark in the COVID-shortened 2020 season, then 5-7 in 2021 and 4-8 a year ago.
After losing four straight games to Top-25 teams and falling to 3-6 this fall, the Bears had no wiggle room the final three weeks. On the heels of a 63-19 loss at Oregon, they beat Washington State 42-39 in Berkeley, won the Big Game 27-15 at Stanford and took apart UCLA 33-7 in Pasadena.
Cal had never needed three straight regular-season victories ending the season to become bowl eligible.
The Bears were believed to be headed to either the Independence Bowl or the LA Bowl at SoFi Stadium in Inglewood. The LA Bowl chose UCLA to face Boise State, sending Cal to Shreveport.
The Bears got it done with an offense that began to flourish with when redshirt freshman Fernando Mendoza became the starter in Week 6 and with an improved offensive line that helped pave the way for Ott.
There still are questions heading into the matchup vs. the Red Raiders:
— Will coach Justin Wilcox name a quarterbacks coach by then? Jake Spavital, the first-year offensive coordinator and QBs coach who helped spark an offensive resurgence, left last week for the same job at Baylor.
Wilcox named offensive line coach Mike Bloesch the new OC but still must find a quarterbacks coach. Bloesch will continue to coach the offensive line.
— Presumably, the five Cal players who already have announced they are entering the transfer portal will not be with the team in Shreveport. Among are leading tackler Kaleb Elarms-Orr, an inside linebacker from Hayward, and backup quarterback Ben Finley. Are others planning a defection before the bowl?
— Who will be the backup to Mendoza at quarterback. Cal’s other scholarship quarterback, Sam Jackson V, started the season opener but hasn’t played, even as a reserve, since Arizona State on Sept. 30 due to injury. It’s unclear whether Jackson will be available in two weeks.
–This is Cal’s 25th all-time bowl invitation, its first to the Independence Bowl. The Bears are 12-11-1 in bowl play.
Texas Tech beat TCU, Kansas and UCF to reach six victories and bowl eligibility before closing out the regular season with s 57-7 loss at Texas.
Cal and Texas Tech have met once before, with the Red Raiders beating Aaron Rodgers, J.J. Arrington and the Bears 45-31 at the 2004 Holiday Bowl in San Diego.
Originally published at Jeff Faraudo