Cal Football 2011 First Looks: Early Projections

What record would you be satisfied by in 2011?

Avinash: 6-6 and a bowl would be great. I personally feel if everything gels we could win 8 games, but due to the youth of this team I'm going to lean on the pessimistic side and say we'll win 5 to 7 games. Anything below that and Cal fans are going to be very edgy returning to Memorial in 2012.

Kodiak: I will be satisfied with nothing less than a 10 win season.  If we fall short of that, we should bulldoze Memorial and build a parking lot...

Seriously, we know 2011 will be a rebuilding year.  You simply cannot challenge for the Pac-10 title without having one of the best QB's.  Sorry to say, that just won't be us next year.  Going beyond wins/losses, I'd be happy if we were competitive, gave a consistent effort, and appeared well-coached/well-prepared all year.  Without looking too far ahead, 6-6 or 7-5 would be okay.  Anything better than that would be fairly amazing.

Berkelium97: Rose Bowl or bust.

Actually, a bowl game would be nice.  It's unfortunate that last season went awry, because this looked like it would be a down year.  By the time we return to Memorial and a completed SAHPC, Tedford could be feeling the heat (which is a shame, because he is the reason we can enjoy those upgrades).

atomsareenough: I'd like to see 6-6 and a bowl game. We should've gone bowling this year, and we can do it next year. I'm not expecting 8 wins, and I could easily imagine 5 wins again, or 4 if things go poorly, but I'd be relatively satisfied with 6 and a bowl game.

norcalnick: That will very much depend on the manner in which victories and losses occur.  If Cal finishes 6-6 against a tough schedule and they compete in every game and show all kinds of promise for next year it would be better than 8-4 with a bunch of narrow victories over bad teams and four blow out losses to Stanford, Oregon, and USC I'd be pretty upset.

My sense is that, like any normal, irrational, emotional fan who nevertheless tries to retain realistic expectations . . . it'll all come down to the 'furd.  Beat Stanford and make a bowl and the season will be a success.

Ohio Bear: 7-5 and a bowl game. We really should go at least 2-1 in nonconference, meaning we'll need 5 conference wins to get to that. At the end of last season, I didn't think that would be possible in 2011. But as I step back and think about it, despite the QB issues, I think we have a good shot to get back to a winning year. The defense has the talent to be good, we have a very good recruiting class that should help us, and bringing the band back together (Kiesau, Coach M, Tedford more hands-on with the offense) will pay dividends.