Like it or not, conference realignment is becoming a traditional part of college football.
Auburn’s next opponent, California, is a part of the trend as one of the three new members of the ACC. Because of this, Cal’s players will arguably spend more time on airplanes than in the classroom as the Bears are set to travel 12,013 miles to five away games as part of their 2024 regular season slate. Their closest road game this season is a 1,726-mile trek to SMU in Dallas, Texas.
Due to the recent travel concerns brought on by their new conference affiliation, could Cal back away from scheduling a home-and-home series with a Power Four nonconference foe? California head coach Justin Wilcox discussed the possibility during his weekly press conference on Tuesday.
Wilcox was asked about the chances of playing an East Coast team in nonconference play, and if the Auburn game would have been scheduled if the Bears joined the ACC sooner.
“That’s a great question, and I think if we had known whenever these games are scheduled, I doubt they would have done that just because of the new travel schedule. But nobody saw any of this change coming when these games were scheduled, and usually that’s six, seven, even 10 years out. I know we’re excited to go to Auburn and play. It’s an unbelievable environment. It’s a great football team, storied tradition. It’s a it’s going to be an awesome deal, but if you could rewind it, I imagine they would just because the the travel is different than it would have been in the in the old Pac-12. So, yeah, we’re just excited.”
When looking ahead to Saturday’s game in Auburn, Wilcox says that he is expecting plenty of changes to the Tigers’ style of play and is keeping an eye on several players.
“Well, I don’t know if it’s nothing to do. Obviously, teams change year to year. They’ve changed. We’ve changed, schematically. Especially defense, you see some differences. Offense. Coach (Hugh) Freeze has always done a great job on offense, but they’re going to do what’s best for them and their players. So there’ll be new wrinkles from year to year, but you mentioned the new players. They got the receiver, the recruit (Cam Coleman). I mean, he’s a phenomenal athlete, number eight. Number five (KeAndre Lambert-Smith), the guy from Penn State’s a very, very productive player. A new tackle (Percy Lewis), the running back (Jarquez Hunter) is a good player. The QB (Payton Thorne) has played a lot. Defensively, the linebacker from Duke (Dorian Mausi), the defensive end (Keldric Faulk), the edge player (Jalen McLeod), is a very, very gifted guy. The corner, who we actually recruited hard, he played nickel for them last year. He’s playing corner for them this year, Keionte Scott is a very good player as well. So they got good players. And Coach (D.J.) Durkin is a really good coach, known him a long time, or competed against him a few times way back when. So he’s a really good coach. They’ll be prepared and have good schemes, and they got really good players.”
Cal’s first trip to the East Coast is set for Saturday at 2:30 p.m. CT as they roll into Jordan-Hare Stadium for a showdown with Auburn. The Golden Bears will look to get revenge on the Tigers after falling at home last September, 14-10.
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