Some thoughts as the season hits the final stretch:

The Corona (Calif.) Centennial offensive linemen remain committed to Iowa State but after a Cal offer, a visit to Berkeley is now expected:

Login to view embedded media
Login to view embedded media
Cal's lone previous 2024 commit has signed with the program today on the first day of the early signing period for basketball. Jeremiah Wilkinson committed to the Bears in August over offers several other programs including Florida, Mississippi State, Butler, Ole Miss and St. Louis.

"We're very excited to have Jeremiah join the Cal family next year," Bears head coach Mark Madsen said in a statement provided by the program. "He's an explosive and dynamic scoring guard with great vision who will make an impact for us as we transition to the ACC next season. It was evident early in the recruiting process that Jeremiah is aligned with our program's core values. Jeremiah is going to be an outstanding player here at Cal, and we can't wait to have him wearing the Blue and Gold!"

4-2 last week for 28-32-2 for the year. 1-0 for my lock of the week for 7-3 for the year: https://cal.forums.rivals.com/threads/lets-pick-the-pac-12-games-week-10.32347/

Home teams in italics
Arizona by 10 over Colorado - No idea. Colorado?

UW by 9.5 over Utah - I'll take Utah and the points.

Cal vs WSU Pickem - I know WSU has struggled, but I'm going by the theory we just aren't a good football team. Our defense will make WSU's offense look competent and WSU has a much better defense than we do. I get the strength of schedule argument, but we just aren't good and I expect us to lose out. WSU wins.

Oregon State by 21 over Furd - The Furd is non terrible. Furd covers.

UCLA by 17.5 over ASU - I don't think fUCLA has the offense to cover this spread. ASU covers.

Oregon by 15 over USC - I think the rails are going to come off USC this Sat. Oregon covers.



Non conference lock of the week: Iowa State by 7 over BYU - BYU covers.

I just got back from today's practice in Gold's Gym. Due to my desire to keep a lot of what I saw to myself, I will share a few observations. Grant is 100% and showed zero signs of the cramping issues that he experienced during Monday night's game. Keonte is doing a lot of wind sprints and shooting with his uninjured right hand. Jaylon Tyson can sky and is simply the best player I have seen in a Cal jersey since Cuonzo assembled his squad. Coach Madsen acts as a player to show our bigs how to get free in the paint, even throwing a few elbows for emphasis. My buddy, Devon, told me that last Monday was the first game in which he won a game in a Cal jersey. When I said "Devin you must be joking with me", he responded by saying "seriously". I found the team chemistry last season to be very good, especially after the adversity that the players suffered (Sam Aligiki, Kuany Kunay, Lars Thiemann were all good guys and good teammates). But, the chemistry between last year's coaches and the team (and even between the coaches themselves) was lacking IMO. The BIG difference this year is that there is fantastic chemistry between not only the players, but also between the players and the coaches, as well as amongst the coaches. The practices are as intense as the Mad Dog with conditioning obviously being emphasized as well as explosiveness and constant motion on both pick-oriented offense and switching D.

A donor just posted on its Rivals board that Stanford's athletics endowment is now over a $1 Billion. If there's so much money available and there is no need for media rights revenue, why not buy into the Big Ten or go Independent? Why choose to give up money for the ACC? Makes not a lot of sense to me.

Anyway, the post made me wonder how big of an athletics endowment Cal has. Anyone here know? I'm aware of football scholarships being endowed, and maybe for some other sports and coaches, but anything that serves as a fund for the whole athletic department to tap into annually?

@Ryan Young and @Matt Moreno we haven’t heard a peep about current recruits and how they are performing. Can you guys post an update on those players with highlights? Additionally, how about a post with targets and potential class size and positional breakdown?

Cal head coach Justin Wilcox, defensive coordinator Peter Sirmon and offensive coordinator Jake Spavital met with reporters for their weekly media session earlier today looking ahead to Saturday's home finale against Washington State. Wilcox updated the status of Jaivian Thomas and others plus discussed where things stand for the Bears entering this final stretch of the regular season.

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

Game Details

Cal (0-0) vs. St. Thomas (0-0)
Time: 6 p.m. PT
Location: Berkeley, California | Haas Pavilion

Watch: Pac-12 Network Bay Area | Kevin Danna (PxP) & Ben Braun (Analyst)

Listen: 810 AM & The Varsity App | Justin Allegri (PxP) & Theo Robertson (Analyst)

The new era begins tonight! Mark Madsen makes his debut as Cal’s new head coach Monday night as the Bears open the season at Haas Pavilion against the University of St. Thomas (St. Paul, Minnesota).

Join the conversation and follow along for updates as the Bears get going in the 2023-24 season.

In my eye, Wilcox is a poor coach with good leadership skills. His inability to recruit at the necessary level, make in-game adjustments, come out with strong game plans, elevate the skills of his players (lack of NFL draftees) and manage the clock (we are the worst last 4 minutes of the half team I’ve ever seen) are evidence to me of a bad coach.

On the other hand, he seems like a good leader…consistent, like-able, relatable, his players typically play hard, communicates with the donors well.

But the power of leadership skills eventually erodes when you consistently lose. His words, his personality for example no longer resonate with the majority of the fan base. The energy is gone, his strength neutered.

Login to view embedded media

Here is Maria's latest article as she breaks down the top five takeaways from today's press conferences with Justin Wilcox, Peter Sirmon and Jake Spavital.

Login to view embedded media
Santa Maria-St. Joseph forward Tounde Yessoufou has continued to climb up the rankings for the 2025 class, and he's now a top-10 prospect. The versatile 6-foot-5 prospect can play big and around the basket or step out in the perimeter giving his future coaches some flexibility. I've been watching him pretty steadily since last year, and he continues to make improvements every time I get a chance to see him in action.

Rivals national analyst Rob Cassidy recently caught up with the five-star recruit to discuss where things stand overall, break down some of the contenders and get a feel for his visit plans this season. Cal is one of the schools pushing hardest to get him out on a visit this winter, and the Bears will be a program to watch with him.

Arizona has had the early buzz with Yessoufou but he appears to be open at this stage. There has also been some behind-the-scenes talk about a potential reclassification to 2024, so that will be something to watch as well.

He's No. 24 in these clips:

Login to view embedded media

Saturday, Cal got blown out 63-19 by Oregon. This was, perhaps, not unexpected. But after games like this, stretches like this, seasons like this, fans learn not to expect the unexpected. Why should they?

The Bears haven’t had a winning season since 2019, when Justin Wilcox went 8-5 in his third year as Cal’s head coach, and haven’t once had a winning conference season under Wilcox. Since the pandemic, Cal has also lost 14 one-score games. So close — but years of close games start to get harder and harder to justify as each week passes by and mediocrity becomes the norm.

Read my column on Cal football's continuous struggles and what various options might look like going forward:

Game Details

Who: Cal (3-5, 1-4 Pac-12) at No. 6 Oregon (7-1, 4-1 Pac-12) | All-time series: Oregon leads 42-41-2

When: 2:40 p.m. PT

Where: Autzen Stadium | Eugene, Oregon

TV: Pac-12 Network | Ted Robinson (play-by-play), Yogi Roth (analyst)

RADIO: 810 AMJustin Allegri (play-by-play), Mike Pawlawski (analyst), Kevin Danna (sideline reporter); SiriusXM Ch. 121 or 198 SXM App 960, The Varsity App

It is once again game day for the Bears! Cal is in Eugene today taking on the sixth-ranked Ducks looking for an upset and looking to avoid a four-game losing streak. Oregon has not won at Autzen Stadium since 2007. Join the conversation and follow along for updates as the Bears hit the field Saturday in Eugene.

Login to view embedded media
Positive update for Cal freshman RB Jaivian Thomas

even if it’s just symbolic. At this point, keeping him is unacceptable

Our Week 9 winner was a tie between @Eugene Choo and @icbear with a score of 12. Next best were @drfunk4316 and with a score of 16 and @kotaconduct with a score of 19. Here are the updates standings through nine weeks.

Remember, we drop each person’s two worst scores from the average (or drop one score if a week has been missed). The bold scores are the scores that have been dropped.

Here is Maria's latest article looking ahead to tomorrow's game as the Bears head up to Oregon for a meeting with the sixth-ranked Ducks.

I am pleased to announce that the California Legends Collective has again created a series of playing cards featuring the players of the 2023 Cal football team. Every player who has registered with us will be featured and all will receive 100% of the profits generated from these sales.

Every pack will contain cards from 14 players, randomly selected. Every 10th pack will also contain a special metallic card signed by one of our star players. Buyers won't know which player has a card in which pack, or which pack has a special collector's edition metallic card, until after they open the pack.

In addition, this year random packs will also contain special redemption cards for Beastmode/Cal prizes. Lucky fans will receive a redemption card featuring Jaydn Ott and Marshawn Lynch that they can exchange for a limited edition t-shirt, hoodie or (drum roll please) autographed cleats signed by Marshawn Lynch and Jaydn Ott. Get pumped!!! As always, we would like to thank Marshawn and the entire BeastMode team for their amazing support and partnership. They are so important for everything we do.

We will have the cards available for sale starting at the Auburn game on September 9 at a table located toward the north side of Goldman Plaza. Look for the big California Legends banner. We probably won't have them in the kiosk being run by Follett with the tent so don't look for them there. Onit (the guys who produced the cards) will also be selling the cards for us online and shipping them starting September 15. Here's a link where you can pre-order them now.

https://onitathlete.com/products/preorder-california-golden-bears®-nil-football-2023-whole-team-trading-card-series

Price will be $15.00 per pack (including taxes). Buy multiple packs! Collect them all!

Below is an image of the card packs and the special redemption cards. Let me preempt the feedback I am about to receive by noting the following. Yes, that is Jaydn's number from last year not this year. It was the image we had to work with. I think we are fixing this for the online order cards, but for the original packs for sale now will show the number six. Second, yes it would be nice if the words "California Legends" appeared on the pack, but whatever. I am trying to not micro manage everything personally and that comes with some consequences.

edit: or not. I apparently don't know how to add images here. They are on TOS. If anyone wants to lift and put them here (and knows how) that would be great.



Go Bears!

The Cal offense has been struggling to find an identity this season. Despite scoring more points compared to this stage in the season last year — 258 compared to 206 points through eight games — the Bears have been unable to create rhythm and gel as a unit on the offensive side of the ball.

That is, until Fernando Mendoza came about.

For those who have been following along with the Bears’ quarterback carousel, consistency at the quarterback position was very much the exception to the rule, not the rule itself. Now, even if the numbers may not necessarily reflect these changes, things look like they've started clicking into place.

Read about Cal's newfound offensive rhythm:

We got a lot of time with Mark Madsen, Fardaws Aimaq and Devin Askew.

Madsen was asked a lot of questions about Jaylon Tyson’s eligibility waiver and emphasized he’s very optimistic it will be reconsidered and granted. He underscored what a bad precedent it would be for the NCAA otherwise.

Player interviews were great — you can tell this team has really meshed together. Several players talked about how they routinely stay in the locker room for five or six hours just hanging out after practice, talking about everything from basketball to world issues. There was a lot more depth to these comments than the usual comments about team chemistry.

Video interviews are uploading and I’ll have a story tonight on the Tyson matter.

I also got Jalen Cone one-on-one for 10 mins that I’ll post later for a longer story on him.

Just reads really depressing.