SANTA CLARA - The California football team will look to claim their eighth win of the season as they will head to the Redbox Bowl to take on Illinois. The game will kickoff on Monday, December 30 at 1 p.m. from Levi's Stadium in Santa Clara. 

CAL COMPLETES BEST TWO-YEAR STRETCH IN A DECADE
- Cal won at UCLA for the first time since 2009.
- The Bears reclaimed The Axe by defeating Stanford for the first time since 2009, as they won, 24-20, at Stanford Stadium.  
- Cal tied for second place in the Pac-12 North, the Bears highest finish in the division since the conference created divisions in 2011. 
- Cal won back-to-back road games in Los Angeles for the first time since 1970-71. The Bears also won in 1999-2000, but the 1999 win was later forfeited due to the use of ineligible players. 
- 2018-19 is the first time that Cal has won on the road at all three of their California rivals (Stanford, UCLA, USC) over a two-year span since 1949-50. 
- The Bears have given up 25+ points only four times in the past 25 games in 2018-19. The NCAA Average for points per game over the past two years is 28.0. 
- Cal is headed to its third bowl appearance in last five years and the first back-to-back bowl appearances since the team went to seven straight bowl games between 2003-09.
- This will be the first time since 2008-09 that Cal has secured both back-to-back winning seasons and bowl game appearances. 
- Cal has been to 23 bowls in school history, but the team has only been to multiple bowl games in a row on four occasions (1921-22, 1949-51, 1992-93, 2003-09). 
- The Bears have had back-to-back seasons of .500 or better records on the road for first time since 2004 (5-1) and 2005 (3-2) as they went 4-2 in 2019 after going 3-2 in 2018. 

CAL TAKES ON ILLINOIS FOR 11th TIME
- Cal is 3-7 vs. Illinois all-time. 
- The Bears and Fighting Illini will play each other in a bowl game for the first time at the Redbox Bowl. 
- Cal's Chinedu Udeogu is Cal's only player from Illinois, hailing from Inverness, Illinois. 
- Luc Bequette lived in Champaign, Illinois from 2007-2013. 
- Illinois Defensive Line coach Austin Clark spent six years (2009-14) as a defensive tackle at California. As sixth-year senior in 2014, he started 11 games, had 22 tackles and was named All-Pac-12 honorable mention.
- Cal is 20-38 all-time vs. current members of the Big 10 conference.
- Cal has played Illinois more than any other Big 10 team as the teams square off for the 11th time in the Redbox Bowl. Cal has taken on Michigan and Ohio State, eight times each. 
- Cal's last game vs. a Big 10 team came in 2014, when Cal defeated Northwestern, 31-24, on the road.
- Cal is 4-9 all-time vs. teams from Illinois, having only played Illinois and Northwestern. 
- Hardy Nickerson Jr. played for both Cal and Illinois, spending three years at Cal before attending Illinois for graduate school. He totaled 246 tackles in his Cal career. 
- Hardy Nickerson Sr. held the Cal record for single season tackles at 167, until Evan Weaver broke the record this year. He totaled 501 career tackles for the Bears. He also served as the defensive coordinator at Illinois from 2016-18. 
- Kekoa Crawford is the lone Bear to play against Illinois, Crawford played the Illini in 2016 as a true freshman at Michigan, he did not record any stats in the game. 
- Trey Turner III is the only player on Cal's roster to play in the 2015 Armed Forces Bowl. There are 30 players on Cal's roster that played in the Cheez-It Bowl last year. 

LEAVE IT TO WEAVER
- National Defensive Player of the Year and consensus All-American ILB Evan Weaver leads the nation in total tackles (173), solo tackles (95), total tackles per game (14.4) and solo tackles per game (7.9).
- Has forced three fumbles in 2019, tied for 20th in the NCAA and tied for second in the Pac-12 
- With 21 tackles in Cal's bowl game, Weaver would set the NCAA record for total tackles in a season (193, Lawrence Flugence, Texas Tech, 2002). 
- The only FBS player with three 20+ tackle games in a season since 2000.
- The only Pac-12 player since 2000 with multiple games of 20+ tackles, not just in one season but in a career.
- The third FBS player since 2000 to have three career games of 20+ tackles and he has recorded them all this year.   
- Has 26 more tackles than anyone else in FBS. 
- Set the school record for tackles at 173, has two of the top four total tackle seasons in school history with 159 last year as a junior. 
- Recorded double-digit tackles for 12 straight games, a streak that ended at Oregon. Has 10+ tackles in 17 of past 19 games. 
- Has five 15+ tackle games, most in the country (18 at Washington, 22 at Ole Miss, 15 vs. ASU, 21 vs. Oregon State, 22 vs. Utah). No one else has more than three. 
- Has 10.0 tackles for loss and 2.5 sacks. 
- Recorded three of the top six tackle games in the FBS this year. 
- The only FBS player with four games with 18+ tackles. There have been 21 times when a player has recorded 18+ tackles this year and Weaver has four of them, no one else has more than one. 
- Had 22 tackles both at Ole Miss and Utah, tying with Jordan Kunaszyk (vs. UCLA, 10/13/2018) for the most total tackles in recorded school history.

DEFENSIVE LOCK DOWN
- Cal held 14 straight opponents under 25 points prior to the game vs. Utah. That tied for the ninth-longest streak in the Pac-12 since 1980. 
- It was the longest streak by a Cal defense since 1950.
- The Bears have been stingy inside the red zone, holding teams to only 25 touchdowns in 46 red zone appearances, good for a 54.3% rate of touchdowns allowed.
- Cal has allowed only 15 passing touchdowns in 12 games this season, which is third in the Pac-12 and tied for 27th in the FBS. 
- Cal has held 11 of 12 opponents below their season average in games against other teams. 
- The Cal defense has stopped opponents from generating explosive plays, holding teams to three or fewer 20+ yard plays in seven of 12 games this season: UC Davis (2), Washington (2), North Texas (3), Arizona State (3), Oregon State (3), Washington State (3) and Stanford (3).
- Cal held Washington State to only 16 yards rushing in the Bears' win. 

DEFENSIVE BACKFIELD SHOWCASES EXPERIENCE
- Cal's experienced defensive backfield has taken on the nickname of the "Takers" after the 2010 movie with the same name. A group of seven players - senior NB/CB Traveon Beck, redshirt junior CB Camryn Bynum, redshirt senior S Ashtyn Davis, senior CB/NB Josh Drayden, junior CB Elijah Hicks, senior S Jaylinn Hawkins, redshirt senior S Trey Turner - have started 152 games and played in 297.
- Cal's defensive backfield has combined for 31 career interceptions (Hawkins 9, Davis 7, Bynum 5, Beck 4, Drayden 2, Trey Turner III 2, Hicks 1, Scott 1).
- The 31 interceptions is third-most interceptions by a defensive back group. The Bears trail Louisiana Tech (38) and Syracuse (32) on the defensive back interception leaderboard. 
- Davis has forced and recovered two fumbles each, he is tied for 19th in the FBS and fourth in the Pac-12 in fumble recoveries.  He ranks third in fumble recoveries in the conference. 
- Hawkins is tied for seventh in the NCAA amongst all active players with nine career interceptions. 
- Bynum has five interceptions and 25 PBU's in his career. The 30 passes defended is tied for 31st amongst all active players.
- Bynum's 25 PBU's are t-6th in Cal history. 
- Bynum and Davis were both named Second Team All-Pac-12 while Hawkins earned honorable mention honors by the league's coaches

DENG IMPACTS GAME FROM LINEBACKER SPOT 
- Kuony Deng is 24th in the country and is fourth in the Pac-12 in total tackles per game (9.3). He has also tallied 3.0 sacks, 7.5 TFLs and four pass breakups. 
- Deng has four games with 11+ tackles. He has recorded at least 1.0 TFL in six games. 
- Deng and Weaver are the top ranked tackling duo in the country with 23.7 tackles per game, more than any other duo by 1.0 tackles per game. The next best duo is Akron's John Lako and Bubba Arslanian who average 22.7 tackles per game. 
- The duo has combined for 284 tackles and is on pace (307.7) to break the school record for combined tackles in a 13-game season, set in 2018 by Weaver and Jordan Kunaszyk at 307.
- That mark also ranks first amongst all Pac-12 duos since 2000. 
- Cameron Goode is third in the Pac-12 in tackles for loss (13.0) and sacks (8.5). He totaled 2.0 sacks vs. both Stanford and UCLA.

OFFENSE TAKING CARE OF THE BALL, CONVERTING IN RED ZONE
- The Bears have turned the ball over 13 times in 2019, currently the least amount of turnovers Cal has had in a season. The 2016 team set the record with 15 turnovers. 
- The Bears have 0 or 1 turnovers in nine of 12 games in 2019, they did that only four times in 2018.
- Cal did not turn the ball over vs. Washington or North Texas to mark the first time the Bears recorded back-to-back zero turnover games since the final two games of the 2016 season. 
- Cal is 25-of-30 in converting in the red zone, scoring 20 touchdowns and hitting five field goals, including the game-winning 17-yard field goal by Greg Thomas to defeat Washington. 

GARBERS MOVES TO 6-0 IN GAMES HE HAS COMPLETED THIS YEAR
- Chase Garbers has led the Bears to a 12-6 record as the starting quarterback, but the Bears are 12-2 in games where Garbers has played more than half the game, including 6-0 this year. 
- Garbers had career-highs in passing yards (357), touchdowns (4) and completions (23) vs. Ole Miss. 
- Garbers had 285 yards passing, 72 yards rushing and two total touchdowns vs. Stanford. He has led the team to game-winning scores on their final drive at both Washington and Stanford.   
- Garbers has also tallied 242 rushing yards and two rushing touchdowns this year. 

BROWN LEADS RUNNING BACK CORPS
- Christopher Brown Jr.  has 11 touchdowns in 12 games and scored in five straight prior to Cal's game vs. Utah. He is sixth in the Pac-12 in total touchdowns
- Brown Jr. had 36 carries for 197 yards and a touchdown in his first career start vs. UC Davis, the 20th-best rushing performance in school history. The 36 carries are a Pac-12 high this year, while the 197 yards rank third and are also the most by a Cal player in their first start in school history. Jahvid Best (111) was the last to top 100 yards in his first start (Michigan State, 8/30/08).
- Brown's 36 carries were the most by a Cal RB since Shane Vereen had 42 in 2009 win at Stanford.
- Deshawn Collins had a career game vs. USC with 15 carries for 103 yards and two touchdowns. 
- Marcel Dancy emerged against Washington, rushing seven times for 72 yards and two touchdowns as he provided an excellent change-of-pace to Brown's bruising style.
- Five different players have rushed for 70+ yards in a game: Brown Jr. (4x), Dancy (Washington), Collins (USC), Garbers (North Texas, Stanford) and Modster (OSU).
- Brown and Dancy have combined to record 38 catches for 299 yards and three touchdowns. Brown has caught touchdown passes vs. Ole Miss, Oregon and Washington State. 

RECEIVING CORPS SHOWING BALANCE
- Nikko Remigio had nine catches for 157 yards vs. Stanford, he is the first person to have 150+ yards receiving in a game since 2017. It's the most in the Big Game since 2003. (Geoff McArthur, 245 yards). 
- Michigan transfer Kekoa Crawford debuted with a notable performace against UC Davis, cathcing three passes for 84 yards and two touchdowns. He added a team-best 48 yards receiving including a crucial 27-yard reception to set up the game-winning FG at Washington, but has missed seven games this year.  
- Cal threw four touchdown passes to four different receivers in the win over Ole Miss.
- Eight different Bears have caught touchdown passes this year.
- The Bears have had nine different players lead the team in receptions and six different pace the squad in receiving yards.

DISCIPLINED EFFORT 
- Cal is one of the least penalized teams in the country and the Bears lead the Pac-12 in all four categories that measure penalties. 
- The Bears had 19 fewer penalties and 102 fewer penalty yards than anyone else in the conference. 
- Cal has 433 penalty yards (8th NCAA, 1st Pac-12), 39.4 penalty yards per game (8th, 1st), 53 penalties (13th, 1st) and 4.82 penalties per game (13th, 1st).