Late last year, Cal added a future series against a team from the SEC. Four months later, the Pac-12 school has doubled up on its Southern engagements.
In a press release, Cal announced that it has reached an agreement on a future home-and-home series with Ole Miss. The Rebels will travel to California Memorial Stadium on Sept. 16, 2017, with the Golden Bears returning the favor to Oxford on Sept. 21, 2019.
“Today’s announcement of a home-and-home series with Ole Miss continues our philosophy of adding games that will be attractive to our fans and showcase Kabam Field at California Memorial Stadium, our campus and the entire Bay Area,” Cal athletic director Mike Williams said in a statement. “It also gives our fans the opportunity to experience some of the best college football traditions from around the country. We are seeing a trend of more schools scheduling similar high-profile games and, under head coach Sonny Dykes, we are building a football program that will be successful at the highest level of college football.”
As will be the case with Auburn, the first game between Cal and Ole Miss will be the first-ever meetings between the two football programs.
Ironically, this Cal-Ole Miss series will impact the Cal-Auburn series that was announced last October. The first game of the latter series was originally scheduled for 2019; now, the entire Cal-AU series has been pushed back, with the Bears and Tigers first meeting in Auburn on Sept. 19, 2020, and in Berkeley on Sept. 18, 2021.