GAME INFO

Who: Cal (5-4, 1-4 ACC) vs. Syracuse (6-3, 3-3 ACC)
When: Noon PST
Where: California Memorial Stadium | Berkeley, California
TV/streaming: The CW | Thom Brennaman (play-by-play), Max Browne (analyst), Treavor Scales (sideline)
Radio: 810 AM | SiriusXM: Ch. 389
All-time series: Tied 1-1
Odds: Cal (-10), O/U (57.5) – via BetMGM

The Bears are back on the field today, and we'll have you covered as Cal looks to build on its two-game winning streak today when Syracuse makes its first trek to Berkeley in decades.

As always, we welcome you to join the conversation and follow along for updates from CMS.

5-5 is VERY misleading and hides what an awful hc wilcox is. This is holmoe level bad.

At this point I think wilcox knows he's in over his head, which is why everything about him exudes fear of mistakes, but he has golden handcuffs. I think we'd be doing him a favor to fire him and he might even be willing to take a reduced buyout. If you know you suck at your job, nothing is better than getting out. Come on Cal, go negotiate something.

No idea what to think about this game. High scoring?

I just don’t get it. It is getting beyond stupidity. We have one of the best players in the nation who even hurt is still one of the best players on the field and we insist on running him up the gut 90% of the time even though we clearly cannot block it and we average less then 2 ypc. Even Walter Payton would be stymied doing this. And yet two times last night we run him outside and lo and behold he is dangerous again. I do not know why we don’t do more of this or show even a shred of ingenuity in our running game but it’s getting to the point where we are being stubborn and trying to show people we were right all along. Well, it’s over. You were wrong. When even the terrible announcers last night mock you for it, you should know all hope is lost. Please stop it. For the love of all that is good in the world!

Make it stop.

Our seat neighbor had a decibel reading of 105. The piped in music and announcer are way to loud.

He looks to be a potential replacement if Jaron Sagapolutele flips to Oregon:

Decided to come up next weekend for Big Game. Need 2 tix. Is anyone selling a pair?

There are only a couple more opportunities for Cal to host recruits on game day visits this season, and that is especially important when it comes to members of the 2025 class. The Bears are still trying to put some finishing touches on the class and the focus remains mostly on the offensive and defensive fronts. The Bears have been offering and pursuing several offensive linemen in the class plus trying to continue to upgrade the defensive front as well.

That is certainly evident in the latest group of visitors the Bears are expected to have one campus tomorrow when they host Syracuse. Playoff time across high school football is making visits a little bit tricky around the country, but the Bears will still have a strong group represented this weekend including several prospects who have already made multiple trips to Berkeley this season.

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Maybe I'm getting old but starting with the Miami game I've been struggling with a seemingly incessant sonic wave of hype music during the games. It's loud, constant and drowns out organic football noise from the crowd and the band. Plus the stadium speakers don't seem to be working correctly (crackling and distorted). It seemed to subside for NC State but then was back full force for the Oregon State game. It got so bad that I left early in the 4th quarter. I've been going to games since I was 9 (I'm now 56) and there is nothing I look forward to as much as home games on Saturdays. However I'm really apprehensive about what tomorrow will bring. I love a loud stadium but not this kind of loud. I've told the people I go with that if it continues I'm leaving at half time and will watch the rest of the season at Raleigh's.

Is it just me?

I am off to Nashville momentarily to join our MBB team for the game against Vandy. As time permits, I will share my observations. I intend to attend the scout and film sessions, as well as the practices, in order to allow me to get a much better feeling as to how our team trains and prepares for a competitive away game.

This was a tough game to watch today.

* The refs allowed Vanderbilt to play on the ball defense with a lot of physicality that Cal did not match. Cal should have matched the physicality by getting in the ball handler’s body too, playing with hands in passing lanes.
* Vanderbilt’s defense could have easily been beat if Cal implemented a more structured offense by running variations of a flex offense by having backdoor cuts, guards coming down the lane setting screens while wings cutting across the baseline as screens are set opening layups. Too much dribbling on offense and playing one on one. Sometimes it’s okay but not ever play down.
* The turnovers were a killer, but the lack of hustle as they transitioned back on defense was even worse. Cal could not stop the ball handler causing easy buckets.
* Perimeter defense was terrible as Vanderbilt had too many open looks. The score in defeat could have been 25-30 points if they were a good shooting team.
* Campbell played tough and was able to get in the lane and made a few shots.
* Dort changes a few shots and rebounded well.
* Cal will go as Blacksheer’s Goes. He has to be a better facilitator. He missed a few open players. He will get better.
* Cal will have a lot of film on areas they need to clean up.
* Omet played well and so did Stojakavic.
* Cal will get better as the season goes. * They need more structure and set plays on the offense moving forward.

Just announced

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Here's my recap from tonight's game with some postgame comments from Adam Mazarei via his radio interview with Justin Allegri.

The Bears nearly allowed Vanderbilt to tie a program record in steals as they come up just two short with 18 on the night.

Game info

Who: Cal (2-0; last game: 91-73 win over Cal Poly) at Vanderbilt (2-0; last game: 85-76 win over Southeast Missouri)
When: 5:00 p.m. PT
Where: Memorial Gymnasium | Nashville, Tennessee
TV/streaming: SEC Network+ | Andrew Allegretta (PxP) & Shan Foster (Analyst)
Radio: 810 AM | Justin Allegri (PxP)
All-time series: First meeting
Odds: Vandy (-7.5), O/U (157.5) – via BetMGM

Cal is back in action Wednesday night as the Bears play their first game away from Haas Pavilion this season. Mark Madsen's team will take on Vanderbilt for the first time in program history, and it will do it without its head coach. As mentioned in the other thread, Madsen stayed back in the Bay Area this week after the birth of his fifth child leaving associated head coach Adam Mazarei in charge as the interim head coach against his former program.

Maz served as Vanderbilt's associate head coach two seasons ago prior to his arrival with the Bears, so there will be a fun little connection there heading into tonight's matchup.

I'll be updating things here throughout the game, and feel free to join the conversation as the Bears take on the Commodores in a little SEC/ACC clash.

Tried to get this week's episode done before tonight's basketball game, so here's our early look at the Syracuse game plus some hoops talk as the Bears prepare to face Vandy tonight.

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Today is the first day of the fall signing period for men's and women's basketball, and so far the women announced their four-player class highlighted by Puff Morris while the men's team has announced the signing of Jovani Ruff so far.

The early signing period lasts a week, and at this point the Bears are likely to sign just their two commits early while working to put together the rest of the group for the spring.

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Baby Madsen No. 5 has arrived! Cal's head coach Mark Madsen and his wife welcomed their fifth child this week, so he will not be coaching the team tonight against Vanderbilt. Associate head coach Adam Mazarei will step in as the interim head coach against his former school with Maz previously serving as associate head coach at Vandy under Jerry Stackhouse before arriving with the Bears.

Any news on how the visit went? Would love to see more MBB news here...

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Admittedly a somewhat random topic, but I thought it worth noting that so many of the former Pac-12 teams are now struggling (at this Week 11 in the season).

Teams without winning records:

• UW 5-5 (have lost 3 of the last 4 games)
• USC 4-5 (have lost 4 of the last 5 games)
• UCLA 4-5 (had a 5 game losing streak, but have won last 3 games)
• Utah 4-5 (on a 5 game losing streak)
• Arizona 3-6 (on a 5 game losing streak)
• Stanford 2-7 (on a 6 game losing streak)

Note: Obviously Oregon, Colorado, ASU are having really positive seasons.

Obviously, Cal has had a disappointing season so far with the four game losing streak (all heartbreaking 1 score losses)....but at least Cal has the best record at 5-4 of all CA schools in the Power 4. FYI G5 school San Jose State is at 6-3 and thus the best record for any CA school.

It also will hopefully mean that Cal (assuming they get at least six wins and qualify) should get a decent bowl game slot for Pac-12 affiliated teams.

Not sure why this has played out like it has so far. Maybe part of a bigger trend and/or each school has some unique circumstances (QB problems, new HC's, etc).

Would be curious if others have thoughts on this...

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Here are today's press conference videos, so far, with a particularly entertaining time with Xavier Carlton today. Justin Wilcox and both coordinators also took time to speak and address this week's matchup with Syracuse.

Mikey Matthews and Fernando Mendoza will speak with us in just a few minutes and I'll add those videos here later this afternoon.

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Justin Wilcox says inside linebacker Cade Uluave is day to day after re-injuring his previous injury in the game against Wake Forest.

He is improving nicely, give him time in the pocket and he is very efficient. I figure he may get approached by other programs and pressured to enter the portal this off season. Wouldn’t be surprised given the familiar connections if Cristobal tries to make a run. He doesn’t have a great track record developing QBs and Miami will most likely be in market for a portal QB.

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Cal has earned three weekly awards this morning as Fernando Mendoza (Quarterback), Xavier Carlton (Defensive Lineman) and Ryan Coe (Specialist) have earned ACC Player of the Week honors at their respective positions. Mendoza set a new career high with 385 yards passing and totaled 436 total yards plus three total touchdowns in Friday's win over Wake Forest.

Mendoza, who also is again nominated for the Manning Award Star of the Week, currently ranks 12th nationally in completion percentage after passing for more than 70% in his fourth consecutive game. However, if you just take players who have attempted more than 300 passes this year, he goes up to No. 4, nationally. The players ahead of him on that list are Dillon Gabriel (Oregon), Shedeur Sanders (Colorado) and Mikey Keene (Fresno State).

Carlton has put together a strong season and had two sacks in Friday's game to go along with five tackles and a pair of quarterback hurries. He now has nine sacks on the year for the Bears, which puts him atop the leaderboard for Cal but also has him ranked seventh nationally in sacks per game and third among his ACC counterparts.

The biggest story is Coe, who was called into action to make two long 54-yard field goals in Friday's game and he nailed both after being replaced as Cal's full-time placekicker earlier in the season.

The Bears have earned seven weekly ACC awards this season including Mendoza now being a multi-time winner after earning the quarterback award just a couple weeks ago for his performance against Oregon State.

Nohl Williams, Teddye Buchanan, and Derek Morris are the other winners for Cal this year.