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Kevin Carmichael with a goal in the 81st minute gave the Bears a win over Stanford on Friday night in the Big Clasico across the Bay.

nice to be on the other side of a Wilcoxesque collapse. One of the craziest things I've seen.

Very likable team and a real grind to the finish line.

Heartbreaking 3-2 loss for No. 14 Stanford WSOC against Cal. The Cardinal came back from 0-2 down to tie it up, the Bears scored on a penalty kick with 10 seconds left to win. NCAA tourney next for Stanford and now possibly Cal.

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Cal quarterback Fernando Mendoza has been named the Manning Award QB of the Week as voted on by fans after his Week 9 performance that led the Bears to their first win since Week 3 of the season. The redshirt sophomore from Miami passed for a career-high 364 yards to go along with a pair of touchdowns in the dominant win for the Bears over Oregon State on Saturday.

Mendoza now has over 2,000 yards on the season thanks to his performance and is one of just four quarterbacks in the ACC to have reached that number this year. That showing against the Beavers also earned him the ACC Quarterback of the Week award earlier this week.

The fan voting in favor of Mendoza helped him beat out several other candidates for the award. That list included: Joey Aguilar (App State), Max Brosmer (Minnesota), Taylen Green (Arkansas), Josh Hoover (TCU), Colton Joseph (Old Dominion), Cooper Legas (Tulsa), and Shedeur Sanders (Colorado).

Mendoza has continued to make progress this season and his last three performances have been efficient with a completion percentage of at least 70% in each of the last three games for the Bears. He's reached that number four times this season. The Miami native now sits with 11 total touchdowns this year (10 passing, 1 rushing) against just 3 interceptions.

The Cal starting quarterback was not named to the preseason or mid-season watch lists for the Manning Award, which is decided by a panel that includes Peyton and Eli Manning, but the list can go through changes with a finalist group expected to be announced in December.

The Bears have a bye this week but return to action next Friday against Wake Forest. Cal is still seeking out its first ACC victory but snapped a four-game losing streak with the win over OSU on Saturday.

More returns coming in from over the weekend:

Just wrapped up a Post-Practice Presser with Head Coach Mark Madsen as well as new additions Joshua Ola-Joseph, Jovan Blacksher Jr., and DJ Campbell and I wanted to give you all my initial thoughts and impressions as the team prepares for opening night.

My first impression: all three new transfers are bought into the Madsen program. Each one of them emphasized grit and toughness when previewing the upcoming. "You’re gonna see a lot of energy, a lot of physicality. We’re a hungry team, new and put together and ready to play basketball," Blacksher Jr. said when asked what we should expect of the team this season. Ola-Joseph emphasized how the team feels like a family and is very "family-oriented" regarding the team's culture which is a good sign heading into Year 2 of Mark Madsen. It will be a work in progress due to the nature of fielding a team mostly made up of transfers but it bodes well for this season to hear all of these new players already buying into Madsen's culture setting.

In terms of game planning and X's and O's for this season, it's looking like a win-by-committee kind of team as opposed to the heliocentric Jaylon Tyson-led Bears from last season. Madsen talked about the sheer number of threats the team will have on offense this season. "If you have one or two main guys, the defense can key in on those guys. They won't be able to key in on any one guy because we have so many different threats. There's going to be better floor spacing, there's going to be guys coming off the bench and have strong bursts on the defensive and offensive side." Something to monitor this season is Madsen's rotation. How many guys will Madsen play and when will he start to cut it down to the guys he trusts in crunch time? I'd expect to see a 12-man rotation widdled down as the team gets its feel for who fits in the best.

My last impression is that Madsen is fired up for this season. He's very confident that the new additions are buying into the program and is definitely looking to build off of last season's revival of Cal Men's Basketball. He was really excited about this team's versatility and optionality, on both the offensive side and defensive side of the game. Madsen also gave a heartwarming story on the loss of USF Head Coach Amir Abdur-Rahim, one of his contemporaries and friends. Madsen shared how he met Abdur-Rahim at a head coaching seminar in Atlanta and what he learned from him spending time together at that seminar.

But yeah, those were my overall thoughts on the presser today. You can find clips of the presser on my twitter @kenzofuku and stay tuned for more Cal Men's Basketball coverage!

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Kenzo will have some more to add to this in a bit, but here are the videos from this afternoon's media session with Mark Madsen, Joshua Ola-Joseph, Jovan Blacksher Jr. and DJ Campbell after practice today.

Went from only 19% to leading with 44%! Keep voting! Login to view embedded media