Four major preseason college football magzines came out earlier this month, and their predictions about the ACC tell us what we already know: It's nearly impossible to predict how Cal will fare in the conference in 2026.Cal has a head coach (Tosh Lupoi) who has never been head coach at any level, but has recruits and alumi excited. The Bears have a young offensive coordinator (Jordan Somerville) and a young defensive coordinator (Michael Hutchings) who have never been coordinators before. The Bears brought in a lot of transfers with high ratings, but it's unclear how they will fit the new Cal system. And Cal has a quarterback (Jaron-Keawe Sagapolutele) who had an outstanding freshman season, but now must duplicate of surpass that effort in as a sophomore when the pressure is on him to lead the team to great things.It's recipe for unpredictability.The four preseason college football magazines cited are The Sporting News, Athlon, Lindy's and Phil Steele. And their predictions for Cal in the 17-team ACC vary from an eighth-place finish to a 14th-place finish. That's a variation of six spots, and no other ACC team has that much of gap between its highest and lowest prediction. The only one that's close is Pitt, which is as high as fifth and as low as 10th, a gap of five places. All the other teams have predictions within two or three spots.The Sporting News and Lindy's both predict Cal will finish eighth, Lindy's pegs Cal for a 10th-place finish, and Phil Steele projects the Golden Bears to end up in 14th place, ahead of only Syracuse, Stanford and Boston College. That's an average predicted finish of 10th, which is lower than Cal fans expect and lower than where the Bears will finish if Lupoi and the two coordinators have better-than-expected success in their first years at their respective positions and if Sagapolutele has the kind of Heisman-caliber season that optimists are hoping for.What is also important is how Cal's 2026 conference opponents are picked to finish. All four magazines pick Miami to win the ACC, and Cal does not face the Hurricanes this season. Two of the magazines -- The Sporting News and Lindy's -- pick Louisville to finish second, and the Bears don't face the Cardinals either. It suggests Cal's schedule is made for Golden Bear success. But the Bears don't face two teams picked to finish near the bottom -- Boston College and North Carolina. Here's how Cal's nine 2026 ACC opponents are predicted to finish:Cal at Syracuse, September 12 Predicted finish for the Orange:The Sporting News: 14thAthlon: 15thLindy's: 15thPhil Steele: 15thAverage: 14.75Clemson at Cal, September 25Precited finish for the Tigers:The Sporting News: 5thAthlon: 4thLindy's: 4thPhil Steele: 3rdAverage: 4thVirginia Tech at Cal, October 10Predicted finish for the Hokies:The Sporting News;: 4thAthlon: 5thLindy's: 5thPhil Steele: 7thAverage: 5.25Wake Forest at Cal, October 17Predicted finish for the Demon Deacons:The Sporting News: 12thAthlon: 12thLindy's: 12thPhil Steele: 13thAverage: 12.25Cal at SMU, October 24Predicted finish for the Mustangs:The Sporting News: 3rdAthlon: 2ndPhil Steele: 2ndAverage: 2.5Cal at North Carolina State, October 31Predicted finish for the Wolfpack:The Sporting News: 9thAthlon: 9thLindy's: 10thPhil Steele: 8thAverage: 9thCal at Virginia, November 14Predicted finish for the Cavaliers:The Sporting News: 6thAthlon: 6thLindy's: 9thPhil Steele: 6thAverage: 6.75Stanford at Cal, November 21Predicted finish for the Cardinal:The Sporting News: 16thAthlon: 17thLindy's: 17thPhil Steele: 16thAverage: 16.5Pitt at Cal, November 28Predictions for Panthers' finish:The Sporting News:10thAthlon: 7thLindy's: 7thPhil Steele: 5thAverage:7.25Cal's average finish of 10th would theoretically make it a favorite against three of its nine ACC opponents and an underdog against the other six. A 3-6 conference record is certainly not what Lupoi and general manager Ron Rivera have in mind for 2026. However, this elementary calculation does not figure in home-field advantage or how one team matches up against another in terms of personnel and strengths and weaknesses. It also does not calculate how much a team will improve over the course of a season. And, of course, injuries will play an important role.What it does tell us is that we have a hard time predicting how Cal will fare in 2026.Add us as a preferred source on GoogleFollow