UCLA Football: Ranking Bruins’ 2020 opponents by toughness

If there’s one team that could surprise some people in 2020, it’ll be the Cal Golden Bears. They finished with eight wins in 2019 and that was already shocking, but Justin Wilcox is building something special in Berkeley and has 18 starters returning.

Cal brings back Chase Garbers, Christopher Brown Jr. and Nikko Rmigio who led the team in passing, rushing and receiving last season, respectively. All five offensive linemen also return.

Cal was ranked 65th nationally on defense a season ago and that will only figure to improve with eight starters back.

The Golden Bears ended the season on a three-game winning streak and look to carry that momentum in 2020 and many believe they could contend in the Pac-12 North.

It would be relatively easy to include Utah in the top two in terms of UCLA’s toughest opponents in 2020, but losing Tyler Huntley and Zack Moss give this offense a massive hit.

Jake Bentley did transfer in from South Carolina and Brant Kuithe is back as the team’s leading receiver as well as five returning starters along the offensive line. The defense ranked second in the nation last season and lost a number of top players to the NFL but it should still be solid under the direction of Kyle Whittingham and Morgan Scalley.

Utah made it to the Pac-12 title game last year but might take a slight step back. That doesn’t mean this is an easy win for the Bruins — far from it.