BERKELEY – With the momentum of consecutive wins at Stanford and UCLA to close out the regular season, Cal (7-5, 4-5 Pac-12) has accepted a bid to play in the Redbox Bowl and will face Illinois (6-6, 4-5 Big Ten) at Levi's® Stadium in Santa Clara on Monday, Dec. 30. The game will kick off at 1 p.m. PT and be televised by FOX.

Golden Bear fans can purchase tickets starting at 10 a.m. Monday by visiting the bowl ticket page on CalBears.com. Fans with questions should call (800) GO BEARS (462-3277) and press option 3.

"We are excited to be playing in a local Bay Area bowl game that will give so many of our fans the opportunity to attend and see our 2019 team play together one final time," head coach Justin Wilcox said. "One of our goals every year is to win a bowl game and this special group has been working hard since the end of last season for this opportunity. It will be an honor to represent Cal and the Pac-12 at the Redbox Bowl. We look forward to a tremendous experience for both our team and our fans. It's a great reward for our performance in the regular season."

The Golden Bears will be playing in a local bowl for the second time with the other contest coming in 2008 when Cal defeated Miami (Fla.) in the Emerald Bowl (later to become Redbox Bowl) in front of a bowl-record 42,268 fans at AT&T Park in San Francisco.

Cal has compiled a considerable list of accomplishments and signature victories during Wilcox's first three seasons at the helm, including back-to-back winning campaigns and bowl appearances for the first time since 2008 and 2009. The Bears have also defeated a top-15 team all three years – Washington State in 2017 and Washington in both 2018 and 2019. In addition, Cal is 9-0 in regular-season non-conference games during the Wilcox era, a run that features four wins against Power 5 schools.

The 2019 Cal team began the season with four straight wins to move up to No. 15 in the AP Top 25 and No. 16 in the Coaches Poll. The victories included road wins at then No. 14/12 Washington and Ole Miss with the latter the first road triumph by a Pac-12 school at an SEC foe since 2010. The two signature wins helped the Bears to a 4-2 mark in road games this year to give Cal back-to-back winning seasons on the road for the first time since 2004 and 2005.

The keys to success in 2019 have been a strong defense led by the nation's leading tackler Evan Weaver, a national finalist for the Butkus Award and Lott IMPACT Trophy, as well as an offense that has taken care of the football, produced explosive plays and had a penchant for game-winning drives.

Cal has won its last two meetings with Illinois, most recently in 2005 when the Bears were a 35-20 winner at California Memorial Stadium following a 31-24 victory two years earlier in Champaign. The Illini have won seven of the 10 all-time meetings between the schools in a series that began with a 20-13 Illinois victory in Berkeley on Sept. 24, 1955. Illinois captured the first five games in the series before Cal's victory over a No. 14 Illinois squad in Champaign in 1974. All 10 meetings have been in the regular season. Cal has a 2-4 record against Big Ten teams in bowl games, with the first five of those coming in the Rose Bowl and most recently in 1990 with a 37-3 victory Iowa at the Alamo Bowl.

This year, Illinois owns a victory over then-No. 6 and Big Ten runner-up Wisconsin in mid-October that started a four-game win streak which also included Big Ten victories at Purdue, vs. Rutgers and at Michigan State.

Cal has an all-time bowl record of 11-11-1 dating back to its first bowl game, a 28-0 victory over Ohio State in the Rose Bowl on Jan. 1, 1921. The Bears dropped a 10-7 overtime decision to TCU in their most recent bowl game at the 2018 Cheez-It Bowl and were last a bowl winner in 2015 with a 55-36 victory over Air Force at the Armed Forces Bowl.

Cal Bowl History (11-11-1)

Date – Bowl – Result
Jan. 1, 1921 – Rose Bowl – Cal 28, Ohio State 0
Jan. 1, 1922 – Rose Bowl – Cal 0, Washington & Jefferson 0
Jan. 1, 1929 – Rose Bowl – Georgia Tech 8, Cal 7
Jan. 1, 1938 – Rose Bowl – Cal 13, Alabama 0
Jan. 1, 1949 – Rose Bowl – Northwestern 20, Cal 14
Jan. 2, 1950 – Rose Bowl – Ohio State 17, Cal 14
Jan. 1, 1951 – Rose Bowl – Michigan 14, Cal 6
Jan. 1, 1959 – Rose Bowl – Iowa 38, Cal 12
Dec. 15, 1979 – Garden State Bowl – Temple 28, Cal 17
Dec. 31, 1990 – Copper Bowl – Cal 17, Wyoming 15
Jan. 1, 1992 – Citrus Bowl – Cal 37, Clemson 13
Dec. 31, 1993 – Alamo Bowl – Cal 37, Iowa 3
Dec. 25, 1996 – Aloha Bowl – Navy 42, Cal 38
Dec. 26, 2003 – Insight Bowl – Cal 52, Virginia Tech 49
Dec. 30, 2004 – Holiday Bowl – Texas Tech 45, Cal 31
Dec. 22, 2005 – Las Vegas Bowl – Cal 35, BYU 28
Dec. 28, 2006 – Holiday Bowl – Cal 45, Texas A&M 10
Dec. 31, 2007 – Armed Forces Bowl – Cal 42, Air Force 36
Dec. 27, 2008 – Emerald Bowl – Cal 24, Miami (Fla.) 17
Dec. 23, 2009 – Poinsettia Bowl – Utah 37, Cal 27
Dec. 28, 2011 – Holiday Bowl – Texas 21, Cal 10
Dec. 29, 2015 – Armed Forces Bowl – Cal 55, Air Force 36
Dec. 26, 2018 – Cheez-It Bowl – TCU 10, Cal 7 (OT)

Cal-Illinois Series History (Illinois Leads, 7-3)

Date – Site – Result
Sept. 24, 1955 – Berkeley, CA – Illinois 20, at Cal 13
Sept. 29, 1956 – Champaign, IL – at Illinois 32, Cal 20
Sept. 28, 1963 – Champaign, IL – at Illinois 10, Cal 0
Sept. 26, 1964 – Berkeley, CA – Illinois 20, at Cal 14
Sept. 22, 1973 – Berkeley, CA – Illinois 27, at Cal 7
Oct. 5, 1974 – Champaign, IL – Cal 31, at Illinois 14
Sept. 16, 2000 – Champaign, IL – at Illinois 17, Cal 15
Sept. 1, 2001 – Berkeley, CA – Illinois 44, at Cal 17
Sept. 20, 2003 – Champaign, IL – Cal 31, at Illinois 24
Sept. 17, 2005 – Berkeley, CA – at Cal 35, Illinois 20