Congratulations to Stephen Anderson and Brian Schwenke for winning Super Bowl LIII!

Super Bowl LIII featured Jared Goff, C.J. Anderson, and the Los Angeles Rams vs. Stephen Anderson, Brian Schwenke, and the New England Patriots.

No matter who won, Cal was guaranteed to have two Super Bowl Champions.

Denny Medley-USA TODAY Sports

Schwenke wore the blue and gold from 2009–12, playing in 48 of 50 possible games. In his final three years, he started 36 of the 37 games; these starts came at all three interior positions of the line (left guard, center, and right guard). For his final season in Berkeley, Schwenke started at guard and was named to various All-Pac-12 first- and second-teams. His own team honored him in that year by selecting him to win the offense’s Brick Mueller Award (recognizing the Most Valuable Lineman) and the Cort Majors Team Captain Award. Professionally, Schwenke was drafted in the fourth round by the Tennessee Titans, 107th overall; with the Titans, Schwenke played in 57 games with 30 starts over five years. In 2018, he became a Patriot, but has been on injured reserve since early November with a foot injury.

Troy Taormina-USA TODAY Sports

Playing as an inside receiver and a tight end as a member of Sonny Dykes’s Bear Raid, Stephen Anderson redshirted in 2011 and played 2012–15. Across 37 games (25 starts), Anderson caught 101 balls for 1260 yards and seven touchdowns. In both of his redshirt-junior and redshirt-senior years, Anderson earned All-Pac-12 honorable mention recognition by the conference’s coaches and was voted to receive the Ken Cotton Award by the team to recognize our Most Courageous Player. Undrafted, Anderson joined the Houston Texans in 2016, where he played for two years (28 games, five starts) with 36 catches for 435 yards and two touchdowns. The Patriots grabbed him for their practice squad in 2018 and elevated him to the active roster in January 2019, but he has yet to play in a game.

Matthew Emmons-USA TODAY Sports

Goff is a Cal legend whose name decorates our record books with 26 records. Playing in Memorial Stadium from 2013–15, Goff won a quarterback competition to become the first Golden Bear to start the season opener as a true freshman. From there, Goff never looked back and started every one of his possible 37 games, passing for 12,220 yards and 96 touchdowns—both of which are Cal records. Goff was a two-time team captain, set Pac-12 records, was named Pac-12 Player of the Week twice, and was Cal’s Most Outstanding Player in the 2015 Armed Forces Bowl. Going pro after the 2015 season, Goff became the second Cal player to be drafted first overall when he was selected by the Los Angeles Rams. Much like his time in our blue and gold, he struggled early on and was labelled as a bust after going winless in seven starts to end the season. He suddenly turned things around in his second year under a new head coach and has been named to two Pro Bowls. He posted career bests in basically every statistic in 2018 and is now the fifth Cal quarterback to start a Super Bowl.

Photo by Harry How/Getty Images

To a certain extent, C.J. Anderson was lost in a crowded backfield during his two years at Cal. As a transfer from Laney College, Anderson played here for 2010 and 2011 in all of 25 possible games with two starts. Anderson accrued 1135 rushing yards on 198 attempts (5.73 yards per rush) and 1505 all-purpose yards with three 100-yard games rushing. On the flip side of his now-teammate Jared Goff’s entry to the league, Anderson joined the Denver Broncos as an undrafted free agent in 2013; in his rookie year, the team went to the Super Bowl—the first of three in Anderson’s career. He followed that up with a Pro Bowl season in 2014, then a Super Bowl victory in 2015 over Ron Rivera and the Carolina Panthers. Anderson spent two more years with the Broncos, culminating in starting all 16 games in 2017 and rushing for over 1000 yards... and then the Broncos cut him. He then spent 2018 with the Carolina Panthers and the Oakland Raiders before exploding back onto the scene as a Ram. Anderson even did a two-part interview with us, so we’re fans of his.

It was a low-scoring affair, but Anderson and Schwenke came out on top. Congrats to these two Golden Bears for the big win!