Cal Football Announces Return of Joe Roth Uniforms in New Video Ahead of 2026 CFB Season

Cal is honoring a program legend to start off the 2026 college football season.

The Golden Bears announced Wednesday they will wear their Joe Roth uniforms for the season opener against UCLA with a video that said, in part, "some names live in record books. Others live in something bigger."

Roth was Cal's starting quarterback for two seasons in 1975 and 1976. He finished ninth in Heisman Trophy voting in 1976, although he died of melanoma the following year at age 21.

"Joe Roth wasn't remembered because the game is easy," the video said. "He was remembered because he never stopped showing up. Because courage isn't measured when everything goes your way. It's revealed when it doesn't."

In 2017, ESPN explained Cal typically wore the uniforms for each year's home game against either UCLA or USC.

All three programs used to be in the Pac-12, so those games were a common occurrence. However, with UCLA and USC in the Big Ten and Cal now in the ACC, those games have been off the schedule of late.

Yet the Golden Bears face the Bruins to open the 2026 campaign, so it feels fitting they are bringing back the uniforms.