At Texas?

It’s been a long time

Login to view embedded media
Cal has announced its 2024-25 nonconference schedule this afternoon. The Bears will have 11 non-ACC matchups between November and December beginning with a home game at Haas Pavilion against Cal State Bakersfield on Nov. 4. That will mark the first of seven nonconference home games for the Bears this season including the three-game Cal Classic slated to take place in Berkeley between Nov. 21-27. Cal will face Air Force, Sacramento State and Mercyhurst in that multi-team event.

Also coming to Haas this fall will be Cal Poly (Nov. 7), Cornell (Dec. 10) and Northwestern State (Dec. 14). The Bears will have their first-ever meeting with two of those teams — Mercyhurst and Northwestern State.

Cal will also face Vanderbilt for the first time in program history. In the start of a home-and-home series, the Bears will travel to Nashville to square off with the Commodores on Nov. 13.

That matchup will be followed by game that will open another home-and-home series for the Bears, but this one will come against an opponent the program knows well. Cal has played 270 games against USC but the pair will no longer be part of the same conference for the foreseeable future.

The road contest against the Trojans is set to take place at Galen Center on Nov. 17. The Bears split their games with USC last season with each team winning at home.

Prior to its first foray into the ACC, the Bears will take part in the SEC/ACC Challenge by hitting the road to face off with Missouri on Dec. 3.

The nonconference slate will wrap up with a neural site contest against San Diego State at the SAP Center as part of the San Jose Tip-Off event. Cal lost last year's meeting with the Aztecs, 76-67, in overtime at part of the SoCal Showcase in Orange County last November.

5-4 last week for 14-8 for the year. 1-0 for my lock of the week for 3-0 for the year: https://cal.forums.rivals.com/threads/lets-pick-the-acc-week-2-games.32928/

Home team in Italics

NC State by 21.4 over Louisiana Tech - Tech?

Florida State by 6.5 over Memphis - Things seem to be going terrible for florida state. So Florida State covers.

Miami by 36.5 over Ball State - Ball State?

West Virginia by 2.5 over Pitt - I like Pitt.

Duke by 16.5 over UConn - No idea. Uconn? I'm just assuming that the acc is garbage.

Virginia Tech by 13.5 over Old Dominion - Suspiciously low line. Old Dominion.

Ole Miss by 23.5 over Wake Forest - Interesting game. Ole Miss?

Maryland by 2.5 over Virginia - Maryland covers.

Cal by 17.5 over SDSU - SDSU's offense is baaddd. 310 yards passing between 2 games. I honestly think we shut them out and cover. I expect a letdown, but as long as Mando is a full go, I think we win with a similar score as Oregon State. Probably close early and then Cal pulls away.



Non conference lock of the week: Colorado by 7.5 over Colorado State - I like Colorado State to cover and Deion's team to implode.

very respectable all things considered. obviously very early to read a ton into an of these

other notables:

2. cam ward miami
20. Kyle Mccord syracuse
49. Gevani Mccoy Oregon State
68. Hand Bachmeier wake forest
74. Eli Holstein Pitt
75. DJ U FSU
124. Danny O'Neil SDSU

Baring a massive improvement by SDSU's offense in the next week, i can't see them scoring much at all against us.

Login to view embedded media
Cal picked up two ACC Player of the Week nods just a few minutes ago. Bears inside linebacker Teddye Buchanan and cornerback Nohl Williams earned the awards at their respective positions (linebacker and defensive back) in this week's voting. Full disclosure, I'm a voter but as a representative from Cal's media group I am not allowed to vote for Cal players per the ACC rules. So, it's a big deal for the Bears to be recognized from media outside the Cal contingent.

Buchanan was stellar in the 21-14 win over Auburn with a team-high 11 tackles to go along with three tackles for loss, two sacks and a forced fumble. He currently leads the team with 20 tackles, 3.5 tackles for loss and two sacks.

"Teddye's a talented guy," Cal head coach Justin Wilcox said after Saturday's game. "Physical but it's his approach that's as impressive as anything. When you're around the building with him, the way he approaches meetings and walkthroughs and practice, he's just a total professional. There's not much that he's not prepared for. And doesn't mean he's going to be perfect, but he's he's going to be in the right places, and he's going to play really hard, and if somebody gets a play on him, they're going to have to earn it."

Williams has been on a torrid start in his final season leading the Bears with three interceptions through the first two games. Cal's defense is currently No. 1 in takeaways among FBS teams with eight this year, including seven interceptions. Two of Williams interceptions came against Auburn including one in the fourth quarter that helped Cal eventually hold off the Tigers. He should have had another one in the end zone on a play that was ruled a pass interference on Williams (it wasn't).

He also has six tackles and a pair of pass breakups this season to go along with his kickoff returned for a touchdown in Week 1 against UC Davis.

"I think Nohl is playing pretty good defense right now," Wilcox said. "... We also had him back there on the long field goal. You may have seen that right at the end of the half. That's another opportunity for Nohl to get it. Kick return, gets the opportunity there. ... He's doing a really good job, he's playing really well."

This is the first time Williams (and Buchanan) have earned weekly conference honors at Cal.

Auburn in the ER at the hands of the Bears!

Login to view embedded media

Cal earned a big early victory Saturday with a 21-14 win over Auburn on the road at Jordan-Hare Stadium. The defense again came through with multiple turnovers while the defense had a more consistent showing with Fernando Mendoza handling most of the snaps in Saturday's game. PFF continues to think highly of the Bears, and here is this week's breakdown of the grades following Saturday's game.

OFFENSE

Top 5 overall grades

1. QB Fernando Mendoza - 90.2 (67 snaps | 25-36, 233 yards, 2 TD)
2. WR Nyziah Hunter - 79.7 (41 snaps | 4 catches, 44 yards, 2 TD)
3. RB Jaivian Thomas - 79.4 (27 snaps | 8 rushes, 53 yards, 1 TD)
4. WR Mason Starling - 77.1 (13 snaps | 3 catches, 42 yards)
5. WR Jonathan Brady - 74.9 (43 snaps | 4 catches, 63 yards)

Top 5 individual grades

1. QB Fernando Mendoza - 89.6 (passing)
2. RB Jaivian Thomas - 85.3 (rushing)
3. OL Rush Reimer - 80.7 (pass blocking)
4. OL Bastian Swinney - 79.3 (pass blocking)
5. WR Nyziah Hunter - 78.8 (passing)

Snaps played (72 total)

1. LG Rush Reimer - 72 [+5]
2. RT T.J. Session - 72 [+5]
3. C Bastian Swinney - 72 [+5]
4. RG Matthew Wykoff - 72 [+8]
5. QB Fernando Mendoza - 67 [+20]
6. TE Jack Endries - 48 [+10]
7. WR Mavin Anderson - 46 [-]
8. WR Jonathan Brady - 43 [+9]
9. WR Nyziah Hunter - 41 [+13]
10. LT Nick Morrow - 38 [-26]
11. WR Mikey Matthews - 34 [+16]
12. LT Victor Stoffel - 34 [+31]
13. TE Corey Dyches - 33 [+1]
14. WR Trond Grizzell - 28 [-13]
15. RB Jaivian Thomas - 27 [+9]
16. RB Jaydn Ott - 26 [-11]
17. RB Kadarius Calloway - 18 [+17]
18. WR Mason Starling - 13 [-4]
19. QB Chandler Rogers - 5 [-15]
20. TE J.T. Byrne - 2 [-7]
21. RB Byron Cardwell - 1 [-10]

DEFENSE

Top 5 overall grades

1. DB Miles Williams - 74.9 (56 snaps | 3 tackles)
2. DB Ja'ir Smith - 73.8 (25 snaps | 1 tackles, 1 sack, 1 interception)
3. OLB Ryan McCulloch - 71.7 (51 snaps | 1 pass breakup)
4. DB Craig Woodson - 70.9 (62 snaps | 6 tackles, 1 fumble recovery)
5. DL Nate Burrell - 70.4 (32 snaps | 1 tackle, 1 tackle for loss)

Top 5 individual grades

1. ILB Teddye Buchanan - 89.9 (run defense)
2. ILB Teddye Buchanan - 85.6 (tackling)
3. CB Marcus Harris - 81.6 (tackling)
4. DB Miles Williams - 81.0 (tackling)
5. CB Nohl Williams - 78.8 (tackling)

Snaps played (62 total)

1. ILB Teddye Buchanan - 62 [-12 from UC Davis]
2. ILB Cade Uluave - 62 [-12]
3. CB Nohl Williams - 62 [-8]
4. DB Craig Woodson - 62 [+25]
5. DB Miles Williams - 56 [+8]
6. CB Marcus Harris - 53 [-16]
7. OLB Ryan McCulloch - 51 [+7]
8. OLB Xavier Carlton - 47 [-3]
9. CB Lu-Magia Hearns - 34 [+3]
10. DL Nate Burrell - 32 [-4]
11. DL Aidan Keanaaina - 32 [-1]
12. DL T.J. Bollers - 28 [-1]
13. DB Ja'ir Smith - 25 [+20]
14. OLB Cheikh Fall - 15 [-9]
15. DL Stanley Saole-McKenzie - 13 [+5]
16. OLB Myles Williams - 12 [-9]
17. OLB Serigne Tounkara - 10 [+2]
18. ILB Hunter Barth - 7 [+5]
19. DB Isaiah Crosby - 6 [-20]
20. DB Ryan Yaites - 4 [-16]
21. DL Ricky Correia - 3 [-22]
22. OLB David Reese - 3 [-6]
23. DL Derek Wilkins - 3 [-7]

NOTES

• I'll start with the overview through two weeks now for the Bears, and they remain among the top 25 teams in PFF's overall rankings/grades with an 89.9 overall. It's not a surprise, but the defense is leading the way right now with an overall grade of 90.2, which is good enough for 10th among all FBS teams through the first two weeks. The run defense grade (86.6) is good enough for 25th, but the coverage grade is where the Bears have received high marks from the PFF staff. Cal currently has the No. 2 coverage grade among all FBS teams through the first two weeks with a 91.0.
• Offensively, Cal is at No. 63 through two games with a 71.3 grade. The passing game does check in at No. 21, however, with an 83.3 grade. The pass blocking grade (58.5 | No. 110) and run blocking grade (60.1 | No. 86) are bringing down the overall offensive grade right now. The rushing grade is respectable at 70.3 but ranks 84th among FBS teams in the PFF grades.
• After a suspect game against UC Davis, the Bears graded out much better in the tackling category as a defense in the Auburn game. Only six of the 23 players that played defensive snaps on Saturday scored lower than a 70.0 in that category.
• The Bears were credited with 16 total pressures once again this week with 12 hurries.
• On offense, there weren't a ton of standout grades but tight ends Corey Dyches (72.9) and Jack Endries (71.3) received two of the highest grades in the pass blocking category. Endries in particular has continued to work heavily on that part of his game and Dyches is coming around in that regard, so it's a positive thing to see both players among the top group.
• No surprise here, but no offensive player received a grade higher than 61.8 in the run blocking category.
• Offensive line wise, the Bears allowed 12 pressures overall with seven of those coming from the right side.

Cal scored a huge nonconference road win Saturday as the Bears went into SEC country and defeated Auburn to avenge last year's one-score loss to the Tigers at CMS. The Bears have made a habit of coming on the wrong end of several one-score games under Justin Wilcox, but they would not be denied Saturday at Jordan-Hare Stadium.

Here's a full recap of the 21-14 victory for Cal which now has a different tone to its season moving ahead.

Game info

Who: Cal (1-0) at Auburn (1-0)
When: 12:30 p.m.
Where: Jordan-Hare Stadium | Auburn, Alabama
TV and/or streaming: ESPN2 (Dave Flemming (play-by-play), Brock Osweiler (analyst), Stormy Buonantony (sideline))
Radio: 810 AM | SiriusXM: 132 or 201
All-time series: Auburn leads 1-0
Odds: Auburn (-12), O/U (52.5)

Cal is back in action this afternoon as the Bears play the return game in their first-ever series with Auburn. The Tigers defeated Alabama A&M, 73-3, last week in their opener while the Bears dispatched UC Davis, 31-13, in a sometimes shaky performance in Week 1. Justin Wilcox's team is working through several injuries across the board but none bigger than Jaydn Ott's ankle injury that put him on the sideline in the third quarter last week after he scored two rushing touchdowns.

There will be plenty to keep an eye on today in a key early-season game for the Bears, and I'll have coverage for you throughout this afternoon's game.

Pregame notes

- Ott's injury is one of the key pregame topics for the Bears, and all indications right now are that the star running back will try and give it a go against the Tigers. How much he will be used remains a question, but the Bears absolutely need him out there even if it is just as a decoy at times. Wilcox called him probable early in the week and even though he is not at 100%, there is some confidence that he will be able to at least have some kind of role today.

Login to view embedded media
- The Bears are going with a gold, white, gold look with their uniforms today with the Cal script on the gold helmet being debuted.

Login to view embedded media
- Fernando Mendoza, Jack Endries, Xavier Carlton and Nohl Williams are serving as the captains today at Auburn giving some good insight into Mendoza being the expected starter again today. There has been no clear indication on how much or if Chandler Rogers will indeed play today, but Mendoza should have the reins for most of the game barring a surprise.

Login to view embedded media
As always, I invite you to join the conversation as things play out throughout the contest.

For those without ESPN because of the Directv dispute with Disney, here are some other ways to watch today's game. It's not ideal but would be an alternative for you.

Login to view embedded media

Cal received votes in both major polls today and are inching closer to reaching the top 25. The Bears' first ranked opponent, as it stands right now, will be No. 10 Miami in Berkeley on Oct. 5.

SDSU got shut out last week at home against Oregon State (and this is not last year’s Oregon State). Hope we can put this one away early and let some of our key guys get healthy for a huge trip to Tallahassee the following week.

Can’t ask for a better setup between these two huge early season road games. I will be flying in for the game next Saturday and hope to see a rocking night game crowd under the Memorial Stadium lights. Go Bears!

Will be a tough game and environment to pull out a win, especially given our injuries right now. Were we going somewhat vanilla last week, no idea. Auburn went the complete opposite route and let it rip. That said, the opponent was terrible and I’m not sure how much they learned about their team.

At the Cal official tailgate:
Cal sold out it's ticket allotment...Cal crowd expected to be between 6k and 7k ..
People are pumped!! Weather good!

Login to view embedded media
Login to view embedded media
Presented without comment.

I didn't reference them when asking Fernando Mendoza about Sam today, but he was a little more diplomatic.

Login to view embedded media

Login to view embedded media
Gold, white, gold for the Bears tomorrow.

We’ll have standings from Week 1 up by tomorrow.

Get your picks in for Week 2!

BYU so far absolutely dominating SMU’s oline

The Bears enter a pivotal early-season matchup against Auburn this week, and Ryan and I are back with another podcast episode looking back at the Week 1 win over UC Davis and looking forward to Saturday's contest in SEC Country.

Brian Stultz from the the Auburn Rivals affiliate, AuburnSports, was kind enough to exchange some questions this week to help us all get a better idea of what to expect from the Tigers this Saturday. Here's the full writeup of my Q&A with Brian.

Merriweather? Grayes? Reese? Vatikani? Endries (haven’t heard about his status - is he going to play at Auburn?)? Or someone else?

Lot of talent we are missing…

Login to view embedded media
The "updated" depth chart for Cal has been released. It is identical to last week's list with a couple minor exceptions. @Maria Kholodova caught that there is an extra "or" with the safety group led by Miles Williams. Isaiah Crosby played quite a bit Saturday and is now listed as an "or" under Williams. There is also an extra "or" with the nickel group between starter Matthew Littlejohn and Jasiah Wagoner. The latter of that duo did not suit up Saturday, so potentially a good sign about his return to the field.

Justin Wilcox was noncommittal about naming a starter in speaking with reporters today and just said the staff will see how the week goes but he likes both Chandler Rogers and Fernando Mendoza. Mike Bloesch seemingly erased any doubt about playing one guy the whole game and got about as close to saying both quarterbacks will play against Auburn without saying it. Now, it could be a fib to keep the Tigers' staff on its toes, but he seemed pretty confident in his answer that both will see the field this week.

General

The day and environs were absolutely beautiful. Memorial Stadium is one of the best settings to watch a game in the country IMO. The stadium itself looked great. I sat in the University Club for the first time (near Coach Madsen, who when asked if we are going to win it all, smiled sheepishly and said “Well, that’s the plan.”), and it was very plush with outstanding views and amenities. Pretty ridiculous the amount of food they provide, almost a bit of overkill, and watching the game from there is a bit sterile, but it is a pretty amazing perk for the well-heeled. Crowd was pretty flat the whole game – not much of a homefield advantage.

Offense

What can I say? The offense was not good. The gameplan was blah, execution was blah, and playmaking was blah. Not a great way to start the season. Our third down efficiency was particularly awful with bad play calling and even worse execution.

The OL was terrible, especially on run blocking (pass blocking was mediocre). There is no way to sugar coat it. When you have the running back talent we have, and are playing an FCS team, to have a 2.7-yard rushing average is simply abysmal. OL play will be the biggest factor in holding us back this year IMO. Getting some of those injured back might help, but I’m not sure it will help that much. More than anything I just didn’t see any fire there, with no one wanting to just pound someone into the ground. It was pretty sad, frankly.

Mendoza was OK and had a couple of good throws, but he tends to lock onto his first option and tries to force things on occasion IMO. He also is not great on third downs as he does not complete the easy throws, ones required to extend drives, with near enough efficiency or accuracy. And when things break down, well he’s not going to remind anyone of Patrick Mahomes, which is a problem because our OL stinks. I think he will be average, pretty much what I expected. Rogers OTOH just looked bad. Left the pocket to run way too early and often including idiotically on a 4th down when he had little chance of getting a first down, most throws were off target, and he just looked super jittery the whole time. He will not be the starter going forward unless Mendoza lays a big egg.

Our RBs had a bad day. A big part of it was the OL play as mentioned, but we have the least creative, vanilla running system in history. It is mind boggling to me that we just hand the ball off up the middle time and time again. No misdirection, no pitches, no outside runs, no ingenuity, nothing. Ott had a pretty pedestrian game before he got hurt, with the one TD run being his best carry, and he did not look as elusive as I had remembered. That said, he is still our most important player, and it ran a chill down my spine to see him limp badly off the field. It was interesting watching him on the sideline, as he kept to himself a lot and I was surprised the staff did not take him into the locker room for better treatment. It looked like a sprained ankle, but he did not elevate it or get it wrapped. If I had to guess, I would think he will not play against Auburn, but hopefully I am wrong. As for the others, well, Calloway certainly had an inauspicious start to his Cal career with the fumble scoop and score – probably will be in the Wilcox doghouse forever now. Thomas and Cardwell looked pretty mediocre and for the latter, a bit more plodding than I remembered. I sure hope this unit plays better than this game showed going forward, since as a group that was supposed to be our best, they did not look great.

As for the TEs, I do not think Endries played, and Dyches did flash on one pass, but otherwise I didn’t notice them, as they were not a focus of the offense (but then again, the whole offense was fuzzy).

WRs showed some talent, and there may be some playmakers there. Mavin Anderson started off the game with 4 catches and looked great, and then they completely forgot about him. Hunter definitely has some talent and had one nice 20+-yard catch. Grizzell did little, Matthews looked fine, and Grayes and Brady had a couple of drops, but not a lot of opportunities either. It was kind of hard to assess them when there was little consistency in usage, no discernible gameplan of note, and no apparent overarching goals. And forget about deep balls being a big part of our offense – they tried a couple, but they weren’t close (sum up a poor OL, not a super accurate QB, and non-super star talent at WR, and you do not get a good long-ball team IMO). Lastly, as has consistently been the case throughout Wilcox’s reign, the WR blocking was absolutely awful. Every screen was blown up and I think one reason they do not run outside is because our WRs can’t block or we don’t know how to teach blocking or we don’t emphasize it, or a combo of all three. It is sad because if you watch a team like the Niners, you see how important WR blocking is. Wilcox apparently does not appreciate this.

Defense

Defense looked asleep in the first half, including one play where they forgot to match up with the outside WR, who was left all alone, resulting in an easy 30-yard play. Their WRs had huge separation as we played a lot of zones, and there were zero blitzes. Typical bend-but-don’t-break BS we’ve decried for years and was supposed to be replaced with a more aggressive approach this year by Sirmon, but here it was again. They did stiffen when they needed to, but generally did not look dangerous. The second half was completely different. While they still weren’t attacking much, with only a handful of blitzes, they played tighter coverage and brought their backers up closer to the line to take away the run. Good adjustments and the will to play better.

Our line is not good at pash rushing – other than batting down a few balls, they had zero pressure but are above average at run coverage. Not sure what else to say as they were very blah today, and no one really stood out to me. I’m thinking they will be serviceable but not exceptional this year.

I like Buchanan a lot. He was all over the place and made a lot of plays, reminding me a bit of Mike Mohamed. He’s a gamer. Uluave is a star and is going to have a big year and his INT was a thing of beauty. We are very strong up the middle with these two, although they are a bit undersized. As for the outside LBs, they didn’t do much to stand out and Reese did not play. Carlton had zero pressures pass rushing, which was a bit disappointing.

Nohl Williams looks like a dominant athlete. His kick return might have saved us, and his INT was exceptional. He has speed and instincts and likes to hit. He’s a player. Harris got beat several times and does not appear to be much of a tackler, but he did have a nice pick and several defended balls. Safeties did nothing exceptional in my mind other than not allowing any big plays over the top, but then, that is their job.

Special Teams

Coe looked as advertised, with a big, accurate leg. He is a weapon for us. Lachlan Wilson was simply the best player on the field. His punts were exceptional, with the one caveat that on rugby kicks, he needs to more consistently get the kicks to bounce forward instead of back. But that is a minor quibble. Wilson showed he’s likely to play at the next level IMO. Coverage teams looked good. We are exceedingly dangerous on kick returns with Ott back there leading them to pooch kick all day, which helped with Williams’ TD runback. Punt returns were mediocre, but at least we actually had returns – I don’t remember one fair catch, a first for Wilcox.

Coaching

The offensive play calling was just offensive and not in a good way. When you have whole series where you don’t get the ball to your best player, that is just dumb. There was no real apparent plan – nothing was established of merit, and it was kind of all over the place. As mentioned, the run game has zero creativity and must be a dream for opposing coordinators to plan for. We also did not look crisp, well coached, or well prepared. And if we continue to be 2-13 on third downs, we might not win any more games. Yes, we had injuries. But this offense looks mediocre at best, and bottom of the ACC and easy to gameplan for at worst. That simply cannot happen when you have a talent like Ott. Bloesch better up his game, but then, it could only go up after dropping a 281-yard, 24-point effort against an FCS team. As for the defense, it’s hard to be negative about a game where we only allowed 300 yards (less than 100 rushing) and 7 points and had three turnovers, but the lack of aggressive play calling by Sirmon was still evident as was the lack of a pass rush. These latter things need to be improved upon if we are going to be a top-level defense. We are good, but we could be great on this side. As for Wilcox, well, he did a good job wearing the headset.

Overall

We did not look like an 8-win team. I think 6 wins is the ceiling, frankly. Maybe we will get better when (if?) we heal up, but we are a flawed team, with the same flaws that every Wilcox team has had – mediocre QB play, lack of explosiveness, poor OL play, and next-to-zero pass rush. At this point, as these have been consistent issues throughout his term, they have to be laid at his feet and can only be made better by getting a new head coach that recruits and coaches them away. But that isn’t happening this year.

We have some good players who will make some good plays, and I have little doubt that we will have a game where we put it all together like we did against UCLA last year, but I fear this is going to be another volume in the Wilcox set of an inconsistent, mediocre team that frustrates us all. I hope to be wrong – I really, really do – but I fear I’m not. I think the Auburn game will tell us a lot. If we play well and win, I’ll eat my hat. But if we don’t, it will likely be another long year.

Login to view embedded media
An interesting choice of player for the Week 2 graphic. Gamesmanship by the staff, simply a choice or is Ott gonna be good to go? Would say a lot about the junior RB if he is able to give it a go.

We will get Fernando Mendoza here shortly, but here are the rest of the interviews from today's weekly media session for the Bears as they look back at Saturday's win and ahead to this week's matchup against Auburn.

Login to view embedded media
Login to view embedded media
Login to view embedded media
Login to view embedded media
Login to view embedded media
Login to view embedded media
Login to view embedded media