Coaches Poll 2015: Cal to face five top 25 opponents this season in final six weeks

No surprise: The California Golden Bears will have a relatively tough schedule in 2015. Let's take a look at the teams that made the top 25 of the preseason coaches poll (and no, Cal did not receive any votes).

at No. 14 UCLA Bruins, Thursday, October 22nd: Cal has won once in the Rose Bowl since the start of the Tedford era.

No. 10 USC Trojans, October 31st: Cal has not beaten USC since 2003.

at No. 5 Oregon Ducks, November 7th: Cal has not beaten Oregon since 2008.

at No. 21 Stanford Cardinal, November 21st: Cal has not won the Big Game since 2009.

No. 16 Arizona St. Sun Devils, November 28th: Cal has not won their Senior Day game in Memorial since 2009.

Cal will also have three teams at the start of the year that received votes in the Texas Longhorns (8 votes, September 19th in Austin), the Washington Huskies (1 vote, September 26th in Seattle), and the Utah Utes (40 votes, October 10th in Salt Lake City). What a minefield of a road schedule--every opponent is a threat to crack the top 25 by the end of the year.

You can see why starting the year strong is so critical for the Golden Bears. This is where the wins are.  You can also see why Cal must come close to sweeping its home schedule--there aren't many chances to win road games after we leave September.

Here's the full Coaches Poll data.