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Kenzo joins Maria and I to make his podcast debut as we assess where things stand with the Bears on the football side with a month to go during the season plus provide our thoughts on Cal basketball ahead of the start of the season Monday night.

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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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I watched the highlights of yesterday's Wake Forest win at Furd. Very close game, won by Wake Forest with a field goal with just ~2 minutes left in the game (and Furd throwing an INT that cancelled their chance to kick a long field goal that could have tied the game).

Their QB Hank Bachmeier we probably all remember from recruiting days. He was okay yesterday, with 3 TDs but an INT and a strip sack that he gave up and Furd returned for a TD (scoop and score). The real player to watch is their RB Demond Claiborne, who had 127 yards rushing and 62 yards receiving yesterday (so Claiborne's ~200 yards was about half of all Wake Forest yards vs Furd). Shifty, elusive and with some good moves.

When looking at Wake Forest, they seem a decent team but I'm guessing Cal will be favored to win by maybe a TD or so (given it is another long road game for Cal). Will likely depend on whether we get key players back from injury, especially on our OL and whether Ott is truly 100%.

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Cal football posted its latest Bear Breakdown segment with Fernando Mendoza and Jaivian Thomas breaking down their lateral play that led to the first touchdown of the game Saturday. It's a fun watch!

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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.

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!

More returns coming in from over the weekend:

We are 28th in the country in yards per attempt: https://www.teamrankings.com/college-football/stat/yards-per-pass-attempt

13th in completion percentage and 10th in interceptions per game.

This is despite us being 101st in Rush yards per attempt and 120th in team sack percentage and everyone loading up against the pass every play.https://www.teamrankings.com/college-football/stat/qb-sacked-pct

We are 20th in the country in opponents yards per play.

Too bad we have a shitty coach who turtles in close games and no offensive line.

This is why we have to fire wilcox this year. We cannot waste mendoza's junior year against the easiest schedule in cal history by keeping wilcox.

I'd like to welcome Kenzo Fukuda to the Cal Rivals/Golden Bear Report team! Kenzo will be taking over as our basketball beat writer this season, and he will begin Tuesday with the first media session with Mark Madsen and players ahead of the opener next week. Kenzo comes to us from the Daily Californian where he covered football and women's basketball as a student reporter.

Ryan and I wanted to have someone dedicated to covering the team this year who is able to be on the ground for games and press conferences. I have been able to manage coming up for football games this season but it was not going to be feasible to make that trip for basketball season with as many games as there are on the schedule. So, we are THRILLED to have Kenzo in that role and believe you will see the benefits of having someone capable of being more hands on during basketball season.

Kenzo will introduce himself here soon, but he is a big Golden State Warriors fan and someone who is well versed in Cal Athletics during his time at the school covering the sports on campus for the Daily Cal.

Ryan and I will continue to help supplement basketball coverage here, but Kenzo will be your go-to reporter for this season. His focus will be the men's team, but I know he is eager and hopeful to also get an opportunity to bring coverage of the women's team at Cal as well. So, be on the lookout for that as well.

Maria set the bar high as our last reporter to make the jump from the Daily Cal to Golden Bear Report, and Kenzo comes highly recommended from Maria. So I know basketball coverage will be in great hands.

We're just super excited to have Kenzo aboard here, and hope you all get to know him some more as the season moves along.

You can follow Kenzo on X here!

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

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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.

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Cal cornerback Nohl Williams was announced as one of 15 semifinalists for the Jim Thorpe Award today. The award goes to the top defensive back in college football each season. Williams, who leads the nation with 6 interceptions, is the only player from the ACC still in the running with a month left in the regular season. This list, which could change by the end of the regular season, will be narrowed down to three players that will be announced Nov. 26.

Daymeion Hughes is the only other Cal player to ever reach the semifinalist level for the Thorpe Award back in 1999 when he was a consensus All-American and Pac-10 Defensive Player of the Year for the Bears after collecting 8 interceptions. Deltha O'Neal holds the single-season program record for interceptions with nine, which he accomplished in 1999.

Williams is currently tied with Jaylinn Hawkins for sixth in program history with his 6 INTs this year.

Earlier this season, Williams has named ACC Defensive Back of the Week following a stellar performance against Auburn.

Here's the rest of the semifinalists:

Jahdae Barron, Texas, Sr.
Jalen Catalon, UNLV, Sr.
Tacario Davis, Arizona, Jr.
Caleb Downs, Ohio State, So.
Nick Emmanwori, South Carolina, Jr.
Travis Hunter, Colorado, Jr.
Will Johnson, Michigan, Jr.
Rayuan Lane III, Navy, Sr.
Jermod McCoy, Tennessee, So.
Jabbar Muhammad, Oregon, Sr.
Xavier Scott, Illinois, Jr.
Terrence Spence, James Madison, Sr.
Malaki Starks, Georgia, Jr.
Xavier Watts, Notre Dame, Gr. Sr.

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Cal quarterback Fernando Mendoza and kicker Derek Morris earned ACC Player of the Week honors at their respective positions Monday. Mendoza, who is now second in the ACC in completion percentage this season, turned in a career day against Oregon State with a new personal record of 364 yards passing. He has now had a completion percentage above 70% for three consecutive games. He now also has 2,095 yards passing on the season and is one of just four ACC quarterbacks to break 2,000 yards so far this year entering Week 10.

Morris is now 8 for 9 on field goal tries and tied a school record with five makes on Saturday including his season long of 46 yards.

This is the second time Cal has earned two honors in a week this season after Teddye Buchanan (linebacker) and Nohl Williams (defensive back) earned the awards following the Bears' Week 2 win over Auburn.

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5-3 last week for 45-33-1 for the year. 1-0 for my lock of the week for 6-4 for the year. https://cal.forums.rivals.com/threads/lets-pick-the-acc-week-9-games.33108/

Home team in Italics

SMU by 7.5 over Pitt - What's with this line? Pitt covers.

Virginia Tech by 3.5 over Syracuse - Two teams going in different directions. Virginia Tech covers.

North Carolina by 2.5 over FSU - Two bad teams. North Carolina covers.

Miami by 20.5 over Duke - Stupid line. Duke covers.

NC State by 10.5 over the Furd - Two terrible teams. NC State?

Clemson by 10.5 over Louisville - Clemson covers.



Non conference lock of the week: Baylor by 3.5 over TCU - Baylor covers.

Nohl was featured by Sports Illustrated as a first team, mid-season All American DB in its article published today; that's fantastic and kudos to Nohl for being so honored

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Cal has lost a commitment this evening as longtime inside linebacker pledge Carter Jones has announced his plan to back away from that commitment to the Bears. The three-star recruit from Orange County gave his commitment to Peter Sirmon and Cal back in December and had been one of the members of the class trying to build the group for quite some time. Arizona has been one school well in the mix with Jones, and the expectation is that it will not be long before he announces his next choice.

Cal now has 14 commitments in the 2025 class but still holds a pledge from highly productive inside linebacker Beckham Barney.

GAME INFO

Who: Cal (3-4) vs. North Carolina State (4-3)
When: 1:00 p.m. PT
Where: California Memorial Stadium | Berkeley, California
TV/streaming: ESPN2 [Mike Monaco (play-by-play), Kirk Morrison (analyst), Dawn Davenport (sideline)]
Radio: 810 AM | SiriusXM: Ch. 138 or 194
All-time series: Cal leads 39-37
Odds: Cal (-12.5), O/U (30.5) – via BetMGM

Cal is back in action today as the Bears look to head into their bye week with a victory after dropping four straight contests. As always, I invite you to join the conversation and follow along for updates from California Memorial Stadium.

Pregame notes

- There are plenty of injury updates today. The most notable are that the Bears will be without starting middle linebacker Cade Uluave today. He was injured in the game against NC State and is a scratch. Hunter Barth is expected to start in his place against Oregon State. Running back Jaydn Ott is ready to go and will play it would seem after going through warmups.

OLB Ryan McCulloch is dressed but we'll see if he plays today. WR Tobias Merriweather is not going to play today and did not go through warmups.

You should see Sioape Vatikani in some fashion today but he will not get the start as of now. Fred Williams is slated to start at right tackle in place of T.J. Session.

Also, nickel Matthew Littlejohn is back for the Bears today after missing every game after the opener.

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Put your official score guesses in this thread. Currently at Cal -10.5 with an O/U 49.5

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2025s
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2026s
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Adam Gorney spotlights the recruiting battle for 2026 Rivals100 QB Luke Fahey with Cal and Ole Miss the top contenders.