Dec. 10, 2014
San Jose, Calif.----- San Jose State University and the University of California reached an agreement for a two-game, home-and-home football series beginning in the 2019 season. Gene Bleymaier, the Spartans' director of athletics, made the announcement.
The two teams will meet for the first time since a 1996 contest in San Jose. Cal will host San Jose State in a September 14, 2019 game at Memorial Stadium in Berkeley. The return contest is set for September 16, 2023 in Spartan Stadium. The home game for San José State would be the second time in the series history that the Spartans would be the home team.
"We are delighted to play Cal again, especially on a home-and-home basis," says Bleymaier about the series that dates back to 1899. "These games are good for our program and good for fans of Bay Area college football."
The Golden Bears, who lead the series, 29-6, won the 1996 game, 45-25. The Spartans' last win in the series was a 27-25 victory in 1987. Four of San Jose State's wins in the series occurred in the decade of 1980's.
"The renewal of the SJSU-Cal football series is exciting. Family members of our student-athletes along with Spartan fans and boosters can conveniently travel and support us in this regional rivalry," says San Jose State football head coach Ron Caragher.
The home-and-home series with Cal is the fourth for San Jose State with Pacific-12 Conference member schools. The Spartans have home-and-home series in place with Pac-12 members Oregon State (2015 - away; 2020 - home), Utah (2016 - home; 2017; away) and Colorado (2017 - home; 2018 - away).
"Our football scheduling philosophy is to secure home-and-home series with Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) opponents," adds the Spartans director of athletics.
San Jose State also has home-and-home series with BYU, Iowa State, Tulsa and Army in place through the 2021 season. The Army series will be a four-year, home-and-home series starting in 2018.