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Athlon Sports has compiled the rankings of each recruiting class over the past five years and the win-loss records over that time span for all Pac-12 school to validate their belief that recruiting rankings is a key factor in predicting on-field success. The past five years have been so successful for Cal, so let's see what they found!
Team | '14 | '13 | '12 | '11 | '10 | Avg. | W/L | Conf. | |
1 | USC | 11 | 12 | 9 | 3 | 3 | 7.6 | 35–17 | 23–13 |
2 | Oregon | 21 | 19 | 13 | 12 | 13 | 15.6 | 47–6 | 32–4 |
3 | UCLA | 19 | 7 | 19 | 45 | 10 | 20.0 | 29–24 | 19–17 |
4 | Stanfurd | 13 | 51 | 7 | 22 | 22 | 23.0 | 46–8 | 31–5 |
5 | Washington | 37 | 18 | 23 | 24 | 14 | 23.2 | 30–22 | 20–16 |
6 | Cal | 48 | 39 | 34 | 15 | 19 | 31.0 | 16–33 | 9–27 |
7 | Arizona State | 23 | 40 | 35 | 65 | 31 | 38.8 | 30–22 | 21–15 |
8 | Arizona | 31 | 44 | 31 | 48 | 47 | 42.2 | 27–24 | 14–22 |
9 | Utah | 63 | 47 | 37 | 40 | 42 | 45.8 | 28–22 | 16–19 |
10 | Oregon State | 61 | 45 | 44 | 43 | 46 | 47.8 | 24–26 | 17–19 |
11 | Washington State | 65 | 54 | 58 | 67 | 60 | 60.8 | 15–34 | 8–28 |
12 | Colorado | 76 | 68 | 39 | 64 | 65 | 62.4 | 13–36 | 6–29 |
With this data, they drew a number of conclusions about coaching changes/success and which program rules the conference. What did they learn about Cal?
Cal has always had a strong recruiting presence on the West Coast. However, the Bears' recruiting trend might be concerning as the national recruiting ranking for Cal has dropped four years in row from 15th in 2011 to 48th in '14. Despite all of that talent, nine total wins in the league from 2010-12 is why Sonny Dykes is now in charge in Berkeley. This is still the sixth-best roster in the league, however, and it means that Dykes shouldn't have to work miracles to get his Bears back on the winning track. But if Cal wants to compete with the likes of Oregon and Stanford, he will have to start by rebuilding his program's image on the recruiting trail as well as on the field.
Cal Family
- Scott Fujita wrote about the impact of Jason Collins and Michael Sam, with some great insight as a former pro athlete
- Our own Vincent Sheu was once again on ESPN, this time featured by Bill Walton for his mad Rubik's cube skills and sweet Cal Badminton jacket. If you can get me a Cal Badminton jacket , you will be my best friend for at least one week.
Women's Golf
Women's Water Polo
Volleyball
Women's Basketball
- Incoming Bears Gabby Green and Mikayla Cowling are WBCA All-Americans
- Looking at the transformation and maturation of Brittany Boyd
Men's Basketball
- How Jabari Bird got his groove back (written before the Arizona game)
- Cal (18–10, 9–6 Pac-12) was destroyed by no. 3 Arizona
- With his Nets coming to play in the Bay Area, Jason Kidd talks about his time at Cal
Women's Swimming and Diving
- Missy Franklin has been nominated for the Laureus World Sportswoman of the Year award, up against heavy-hitters like Serena Williams
- Rachel Bootsma will have a homecoming at the NCAA Swimming and Diving Championships, where she will swim as the returning 100-yard backstroke champion
Football
- ESPN takes a look at how the RB position will play out for the Bear Raid with Khalfani Muhammad
- Probable Heisman candidates from the recruiting class of 2014 include Furd QB Keller Chryst and almost-Bear RB Joe Mixon; QB Luke Rubenzer is an honorable mention
- Bleacher Report thinks the scariest thing about Cal in 2014 will be the Bear Raid taking off
- With UCLA's seven-game losing streak at Memorial, their game against us has all the makings of a trap game
- The Pac-12 Blog is summarizing the going-ons for each Pac-12 North team
- Uncle Ted thinks we're totally set at wide receiver
- Geoff McArthur is honorable mention for Pacific Takes's list of the best WRs of the BCS era
- Athlon Sports is ranking the best OL of the BCS era, including Ryan O'Callahgan and no. 2, Alex Mack
- FS Thomas DeCoud will likely be released by the Atlanta Falcons, cutting them from two Cal players last season to none (video autoplays)