California and UNLV are set to square off in a battle between the ACC and Mountain West in the Art of Sport LA Bowl Hosted by Gronk (whew, that’s a mouthful) on Dec. 18 at SoFi Stadium.
This year’s game pits a 6-6 California team led by Justin Wilcox that barely reached bowl eligibility in its first season since leaving the Pac-12 despite the fact that four of the Golden Bears’ six losses came by just nine total points.
UNLV is 10-3 and just narrowly missed out on a College Football Playoff berth with a loss to Boise State in the Mountain West championship rematch. This will be its first game under interim coach and former receivers coach Del Alexander after Barry Odom left for the Purdue job.
UNLV is playing in bowl games in back-to-back seasons for the first time in program history, and it’s searching for its first bowl win since 2000. This is already the winningest team in UNLV history and would be the first to reach 11 wins with a victory.
Cal hasn’t won a bowl game since 2019, Wilcox’s third season, and a victory would put the team on the right side of .500 at the end of the year for the first time since that 2019 campaign.
COLLEGE FOOTBALL TURNOVER:
It will be the fourth iteration of the LA Bowl, which was previously known as the Jimmy Kimmel LA Bowl. This will be the second year that the game has been hosted by former star NFL tight end Rob Gronkowski.
Cal enters as the favorite despite losing quarterback Fernando Mendoza to the transfer portal, but its defense will have to contend with quarterback Hajj-Malik Williams and UNLV’s thrilling “go-go” offense.
