Here are today's press conference videos as Cal head coach Justin Wilcox, defensive coordinator Peter Sirmon, offensive coordinator Jake Spavital and left tackle Barrett Miller all spoke with reporters looking back at the win over ASU and looking ahead to this week's game against No. 15 Oregon State. There's the weekly obligatory quarterback competition update (Ben Finley practiced yesterday and today) plus more thoughts from the coaches and Miller on what they are expecting this weekend against the Beavers.

Maria will have a full recap a little later on.

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

The Chancellor's Search Committee will be hosting a listening session next Thursday October 12th from 4:30 to 5:30 via Zoom. They will be receiving input from Cal alums in regard to what they would like to see from the next Cal Chancellor. If you receive the email invite and have time to join then I encourage you all to do as our future leader is going to be the driving force for what the Cal community views as priorities and I hope all of us take the time to speak up and speak out in regard to what we would like to see from from the next Chancellor.

Following a close 24-21 win over Arizona State last Saturday, Cal (3-2, 1-1 Pac-12) is now gearing up to host Oregon State this weekend for its homecoming game. With a drastically different team — one that beat a ranked Utah squad and jumped up in the rankings to No. 15 — on the horizon, Cal’s coaching staff talked in Tuesday’s media availability about its takeaways from last week and what the coaches are seeing ahead of this matchup.

Head coach Justin Wilcox, OC Jake Spavital and DC Peter Sirmon — as well as left tackle Barrett Miller — discussed some now-familiar themes, including the Bears’ quarterback situation as well as Cal’s play in the secondary on the defensive side of the ball. Here are five takeaways from Tuesday's media availability:

Anyone get more info on the Late Night at Haas event? In the email, it said more info in the coming weeks yet its less than 3 weeks away!

1) Wonder why not Midnight Madness?
2) Interesting Women's Gymnastics being included. Their team should be ranked Top 5 with a good shot at the Pac 12 and maybe even National Title. Last year they had crowds larger than both basketball teams. Still an interesting choice.

https://clk.calbears.com/e/es?s=718...0954474fa0a3200cec5dd68922&elqaid=895&elqat=1

Login to view embedded media
Cal earned its second conference weekly award Monday as punter Lachlan Wilson has been named the Pac-12 Special Teams Player of the Week after averaging 49.7 yards per punt against the Sun Devils. He had a career-long punt of 59 yards plus he booted two kicks inside the 10-yard line against ASU.

Brian Driscoll is the other Bears player to earn a weekly conference honor this season when he was named offensive lineman of the week after the game against North Texas.

Here are all the postgame press conference videos from today's game featuring Justin Wilcox, Jaydn Ott, Sam Jackson V, Jackson Sirmon, Jeremiah Hunter, Matthew Littlejohn, Mateen Bhaghani and Lachlan Wilson.

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

Game Details

Who: Cal (2-2, 0-1 Pac-12) vs. Arizona State (1-3, 0-1 Pac-12) | All-time series: Bears lead 18-17

When: Noon

Where: California Memorial Stadium | Berkeley, California

TV: Pac-12 Network | J.B. Long (play-by-play), Shane Vereen (analyst)

RADIO: 810 AMJustin Allegri (play-by-play), Mike Pawlawski (analyst), Kevin Danna (sideline reporter); SiriusXM Ch. 104 or 197 SXM App 959, The Varsity App

Cal is back in action today as the Bears host a day game against Arizona State with both teams looking for their first win of the Pac-12 season. We'll have full coverage from Saturday's game, so make sure to join in on the conversation and follow along for updates from CMS.

Here is Maria's recap from today's game as the Bears made it more difficult than it had to be but still managed to escape with a win over visiting ASU on Saturday.

Postgame videos will be coming up in a bit.

Here is the visitor list for Cal's game with Arizona State this weekend. I have to create some profiles for a handful of the guys, so I will update them soon but there's a wide range of prospects on campus including some who are beginning to make noise and jump on recruiting radars with their play this season.

Here's the list of top expected visitors this weekend:

2024

Login to view embedded media Login to view embedded media Login to view embedded media
Others: QB Dom Ingrassia (San Marin HS); DE Rotimi Olayinka (Katy (Texas) Tomkins)

2025
Login to view embedded media Login to view embedded media
Others: QB Jonathan Craft (Union City-James Logan); DE Gavin Garretson (Chico-Pleasant Valley); Dezjour Malone (Fresno-Edison)

Our Week 4 winner was @CaliDrank with a score of 19 on his guess of Cal 28 - Washington 44. Next best were @icbear with a score of 28 and @Eugene Choo, @droski, @Ptown Mac11, and @drfunk4316 with a score of 29.

Here are the updates standings through four weeks. Remember, after Week 4 we drop each person’s two worst scores from the average provided they have participated all four weeks (or drop one score if a week has been missed). The bold scores are the scores that have been dropped.

Visited on 9/23. Previously visited USC and LSU. Played club ball with Rodney Brown and Devin Curtis. Has quite a few offers but no reason Cal can’t get him.
Plenty of PT available + a nice NIL package available (hopefully). With Askew, Tyson, and possibly a freshman there should be funds available.

Login to view embedded media
m

Login to view embedded media
Login to view embedded media
Cal adds its third 2025 commitment tonight as Texas cornerback Kaden Cook (Round Rock - Stony Point) has announced his pledge to the Bears. He took multiple visits to Berkeley throughout the process including being on campus for the Auburn game. That is shaping up to be a productive weekend for Justin Wilcox's program as he is not going to be the last visitor from that day to make the call for the Bears.

Arizona State and Texas State are his other early offers. He visited ASU, Houston and Baylor before coming to his decision as well. Cal offered him in January and had him on campus in the spring. Tre Watson and Terrence Brown have led his recruitment for the Bears.


Login to view embedded media

After last week's loss against Washington, Cal's quarterback frenzy has been at the forefront of discussion.

While Cal was obviously going to face a tough challenge going up against one of the most prolific offenses in the country, it’s truly impossible to ignore Cal’s play at quarterback. The coaching staff picked NC State transfer Ben Finley to start over TCU transfer Sam Jackson V — and oh, how that backfired.

In a column, I write how Cal's indecision regarding its starting quarterback is hurting the Bears — and a decision needs to be made sooner rather than later.

Lol… Trojans just made my card this weekend

Login to view embedded media

3-3 last week for 14-16-1 for the year, 1-0 for my lock of the week for 3-1 for the year: https://cal.forums.rivals.com/threads/lets-pick-the-pac-12-games-week-4.32250/

Home teams in italics
Oregon State by 3 over Utah - Utah is better.

USC by 22 over Colorado - SC's D is a bad. Colorado covers.

Cal by 12 over ASU - Never bet on a wilcox team with big spreads against shitty teams. ASU covers.

Oregon by 27 over Furd - Who knows? Furd covers.

UW by 17.5 over Arizona - UW rolls.



Non conference lock of the week: Michigan by 17.5 over Nebraska - Michigan covers.

Cal opening at -12 favorite

The Niners signed Tonges to their practice squad today.

Here are today's videos from the Wednesday Cal player media session with QBs Sam Jackson V and Ben Finley plus new starting kicker Mateen Bhaghani. Jackson and Finley provide their thoughts on the continuing quarterback uncertainty for the Bears while Bhaghani discusses his thoughts on replacing Michael Luckhurst on field goals and PATs.

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

Ducks are skinning some Buffalo's right now..... maybe the shine is off Deion...

On today's new depth chart, Mateen Bhaghani has been moved to the top placekicker position ahead of Michael Luckhurst for the first time. Justin Wilcox says the freshman "deserved" that opportunity. He will handle PATs and field goals while Luckhurst will still be the kickoff man for the Bears.

- Ben Finley did not practice today but Wilcox says the expectation is that he is back at practice tomorrow. Fernando Mendoza took over Finley's reps at practice today. Sam Jackson V remains at the top of the depth chart this week with an "or" separating the two.

- All other top injured players are expected to play Saturday, according to Wilcox. That includes Xavier Carlton, Trond Grizzell and Taj Davis.

- Tennessee transfer RB Justin Williams-Thomas is practicing for the first time with the Bears this week. Wilcox is unsure when he will get his chance to get on the field because he has not yet practiced before this. Still, he is in pads and working with the team this week.

After a tough loss to Washington last Saturday, Cal is looking to bounce back against Arizona State in its Pac-12 home opener. At Tuesday’s media availability, Cal’s coaching staff gave updates regarding the situations at kicker and quarterback, two positions that Cal has been struggling with for the first four weeks.

Heading into Week 5 of the season, head coach Justin Wilcox, OC Jake Spavital and DC Peter Sirmon talked about what the Bears need to adjust heading into the ASU matchup and gave the media some crucial updates including injuries on the team and the state of the running back room, as well as, of course, the dilemma Cal finds itself in at quarterback.

Read about my five takeaways from Tuesday's media availability:

Posting this from Sebastabear's post on TOS:

Cal athletics has survived. More than survived, we have, despite our own missteps over lo these past decades, gotten ourselves into a conference with new and interesting schools in fun places and with excellent academics. I can't wait to visit all of them.

I have thoughts on why this unfolded as it did and what I wish we'd done differently. I also have thoughts on what we need to change. I'm skipping all of that because I know it will just degenerate into "XYZ person is an idiot, hates our revenue sports and his/her/their mother dresses them funny." We can talk about all that later. We need a three-day moratorium on complaining. What we need to do instead is make a loud and emphatic statement to the world that CAL IS HERE TO PLAY!!!

How can we do that? Well we can use the only currency that means anything. Which is actual currency. I want to raise as much money as possible in the next 72 hours for the California Legends Collective (CAlegends.com). As part of that effort, Cal legends Stephanie and Ron Rivera, my wife and I, and Lance Cooper who is our most generous supporter and has been the absolute bedrock of our efforts for multiple Cal sports, have agreed to pool our funds and match up to $500k in whatever additional donations we receive in that time frame. So if you put in $10 or $100,000 the three of us will collectively match it dollar for dollar up to $500,000.

I want the story out there to be talking about how Cal fans raised $1 million in three days (honestly I'm really hoping for more) and how it demonstrates that the ACC didn't make a mistake. That yes, the Cal fanbase is every bit as capable and engaged as we keep saying. That a new day has dawned for Cal athletics and this is just the beginning of our efforts to not only try to be competitive but to actually win championships. Orange Bowl here we come!!!

Stanford, SMU and us moving to the ACC will be national news for 72 hours, but not much more than that. I want every story that gets written starting tomorrow to talk about how much money we raised for NIL immediately after the move was made. It's the best way we fans have to start shifting this narrative, because one thing we've learned through this is that the world believes we have criminally neglected our revenue sports. We need to change that perspective. We can talk about the Certificate program Cal created, and the Caliber Fund to massively bolster our football spending, and the nutrition center, and the academic support, and the recruiting resources, etc., etc. until we're blue in the face but it's an echo chamber in here. No one outside Cal knows about these investments and we have suffered because of that.

Cal fans don't care about sports? They just added $1m to their NIL.

Cal will never be competitive? They just added $1m to their NIL.

Cal fans don't care about being in the ACC? They just added $1m to their NIL.

So this is finally our chance to show the trolls and the media pundits they were wrong in a way that brooks no discussion. We don't need to tell them they were wrong. We need to show them. We fans need to do our part to FINALLY pour some of the needed resources into our major sports to make sure when the realignment carousel comes around again in three years we won't be a "bubble team." Because mark my words, we have gotten a new lease on life but it's temporary. And realignment is absolutely happening again within this decade. If we don't make the necessary changes, no one is picking us up next time. All our glorious history and all our athletes competing against the top competition in one of the most beautiful venues in college sports will be gone. We're not getting another shot at this

If you have ever considered giving to NIL but haven't yet gotten around to it, now is the time. If you've given already (thank you!) but didn't give everything you could, now is the time. If you've never wanted to give to NIL and didn't believe in it philosophically, I hope we've done enough at California Legends to change your mind. To show that we can both do things the right way AND succeed in the transfer portal game (please note our top 20 nationally ranked football portal class and our top 10 nationally ranked men's basketball portal class). But most importantly, if you've become complacent about the state of Cal sports, if you've come to believe nothing will ever change and if you don't see a way to personally impact the outcome, NOW IS YOUR MOMENT! Be part of the solution. Starting now.

https://calegends.com/calegendsdonate/https://calegends.com/calegendsdonate/

This about sums it up.