The University of California Golden Bears have a modest college football history. There have been some good teams and a few very good teams. There have been many not so good teams. There have been some terrible teams. From 1920-24, Cal was much, much better than very good. They were the first great football team on the west coast. Under head coach Andy Smith, Cal's "Wonder Teams" went undefeated, running up a record of 44 wins, 0 losses, and 4 ties. The 1920-22 teams were retroactively recognized as National Champions by all of the organizations that did such things. In 1960, the Helms Athletic Foundation chose the 1920 California Golden Bears as the greatest college football team in history.
1920 California Wonder Team
Schedule
Olympic A.C. W 21-0
Mare Island Marines W 88-0
St. Mary's W 127-0
Nevada W 79-7
Utah W 63-0
Oregon Agricultural W 17-7
Washington State W 49-0
Stanford W 38-0
Rose Bowl:
Ohio State W 28-0
Record: 9-0
Points Scored: 510
Points Against: 14
After three shutouts to start the season, Andy Smith was so upset with his defense for allowing a touchdown to Nevada, in a 79-7 win, that he doubled up on defensive drills in practice. The Bears responded by taking apart Utah 63-0.
Andy Smith and the Wonder Teams built Memorial Stadium. The beautiful stadium opened with Cal's 9-0 win over Stanford in the 1923 Big Game. The win was the fifth straight against Stanford and secured Cal's fourth straight undefeated season. Go Bears!
Starters on Cal's 1920 Wonder Team:
Brick Muller
Bob Berkey
Duke Morrison
Charlie Erb
Pesky Sprott
Crip Toomey
Dan McMillan
Stan Barnes
Lee Cramer
Fat Latham
Cort Majors
Brick, Pesky, Crip, and Fat. You don't see names like that these days.
The 2019 version of the California Golden Bears host the Fightin' Aggies of UC Davis on Saturday.
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