The Tampa Bay Times is reporting that South Florida head coach Amir Abdur-Rahimm has died at the age of 43 as the result of an "undisclosed illness" just weeks ahead of the college basketball season. The former Kennesaw State head coach and younger brother of Cal star Shareef Abdur-Rahim had been a candidate for the open Bears' head coaching last year before Mark Madsen was hired.

He guided the Bulls to 25 wins last season.

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The word is that his visit to Oregon this weekend is definitely big but not a guarantee that he flips to the Ducks. The four-star Hawaiian QB is very big on Cal giving him that first big shot and that loyalty is playing a big factor in his recruitment.

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Teddye Buchanan is one of the most productive linebackers in the country this season, and his stats and play this year have landed him on the Rivals Midseason All-America team put together by national analyst Adam Friedman.

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Cal will be going with its all-blue look for the first time this season as it hosts Oregon State on Bay Area Appreciation Day.


Wk. 1 (UC Davis): 🔵🔵🟡
Wk. 2 (Auburn): 🟡⚪️🟡
Wk. 3 (SDSU): 🟡🔵🟡
Wk. 4 (FSU): 🔵⚪️🔵
Wk. 6 (Miami): 🔵(🐾)🔵🔵
Wk. 7 (Pitt): 🔵(🐾)⚪️🟡
Wk. 8 (NC State): 🟡 (Ⓒ)🔵⚪️
Wk. 9 (Oregon State): 🔵🔵🔵

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Georgia is the latest program to jump with an offer to four-star Cal quarterback commit Jaron Sagapolutele. It could actually be a good thing though. This news comes minutes after 2026 top-15 prospect Jared Curtis named Oregon as his early leader following his decommitment from the Bulldogs just a few days ago. Yes, Oregon is the type of team that can stack talent but it would seem to be a tight fit for Sagapolutele with the Ducks if Curtis does end up committing there.

It doesn't seem all the likely that Sagapolutele ends up at UGA as things stand right now. Oregon has been the program that has been the one to watch with Utah in there as well potentially, though the Utes just had their OC step down.

I'd take this as a net positive for the Bears right now, but it will still need to battle to keep Sagapolutele in the mix in Berkeley.

Free, brand new Cal "Fathead" Wall Decal. You pick up in San Mateo.

I had to take a break from Cal football for a few days to save my sanity. I actually only heard the first half over radio because my son had a soccer game. I figured it was a slower start than expected but the bears would come strong in the 2nd half. Missed the 2nd half but came back later to check the score. Once I saw it and started hearing what happened, I just bothered not to find out the details because it's a script I've been familiar with.

Some time during Sunday when I was smoking some ribs, my mind was wandering about the state of Cal football, Wilcox and the program. For some reason, this has shades of 2010/2011. I can just close my eyes now and remember the posts by DrunkOski about how it was time to fire Tedford.

It was Tedford's 9th season (compared to Wilcox's 8th, currently). I think it was the 2010 season when Tedford said something along the lines of being "6 points away from being 8-4." It was really the beginning of the end.

We would bring in the Greensboro crew: Maynard, a Pitt transfer who had a weak arm; Keenan Allen, his brother who's huge catch radius was necessary for the weak passes, and their cousin Maurice Harris who was a good receiver. We also had Brendan Bigelow who was decent but never quite the RB we hoped for. Michalczik rejoined the program in 2011 so people were excited that it might bring back the glory days of Cal football. It was also the time of Pendergast who started out strong in 2010 and decent in 2011 but things just got worse. By 2012, Tedford's last year, the state of the program was at an all time low and the team gave up on him.

Anyway, it doesn't feel like Wilcox's last year -- obviously there are the contractual issues. But it does really feel like this is the beginning of the end. To lose 4 games back-to-back so closely, is just a massive blow. And despite some real positives on this team (Mendoza, Endries, Nohl Williams, Uluave, Teddye, Nyziah, and so on) the teams has holes elsewhere which just ends up looking like poor coaching. Tedford started resorting to blaming players in the end ("all about players executing") -- I don't think Wilcox will go there. Like Tedford, the assistant coaches kept changing but the trend over time was that things kept getting worse.

I wouldn't be surprised if this was the penultimate year or 2nd to last year for Wilcox.

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Here is our media session with Justin Wilcox today, and I will get the others posted shortly with Fernando Mendoza still to go a little later this afternoon. Peter Sirmon, Mike Bloesch, Jack Endries and Craig Woodson all spoke with us already today.

The latest on a ton of big names:

I really don’t understand how anyone can support him at this point. So many people say that we’re only losing by a few points each game and close to turning it around. The reason why is because either Cal gets a lead and plays not to lose (Miami) which blows up in their face more often then not. The other scenario is when the defense holds it down (Auburn).
When does loosing close game consistently go from bad luck to bad coaching.
…..Shit, Pitt had the balls to throw the ball on 3rd down instead of running down the clock. Just pathetic.

Our Week 7 winners are @icbear and @Colonial Bear with a score of 7! Next best were @gocalbears1994, @droski, @tluv123, and @dannyroe with a score of 9.

Here are the updates standings through seven 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.

It happened again. Cal allowed a double-digit lead to evaporate in the fourth quarter as the Bears dropped their fourth consecutive game Saturday against NC State. After the game Justin Wilcox expressed plenty of the same frustrations fans have as his team now hits a crucial part of the season with the Bears feeling like they are in a bit of a tailspin to open the second half of the season.

"It sounds like a broken record, everybody's tired of hearing it. I'm tired of saying it," Wilcox said.

4-4 last week 40-30-1 for the year. 0-1 for my lock of the week for 5-4 for the year. https://cal.forums.rivals.com/threads/lets-pick-the-acc-week-8-games.33094/

Home team in Italics

Pitt by 5.5 over Syracuse - They are who we thought they were and we let them off the hook. Syracuse covers.

Louisville by 6.5 over BC - BC covers.

Virginia Tech by 10.5 over Georgia Tech - Virginia Tech?

Virginia by 4.5 over UNC - UNC has quit. Virginia.

Miami by 21.5 over Florida State - Ridiculous line. Florida State covers.

Wake Forest by 2.5 over the Furd - Furd is terrible. Wake covers.

Cal by 9.5 over Oregon State - Ridiculous line. Oregon State covers.

SMU by 11.5 over Duke - Duke covers.



Non conference lock of the week: Texas by 18.5 over Vanderbilt - Vanderbilt covers.

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Cal added a huge commitment on the women's basketball side Sunday as top-25 point guard Aliyahna "Puff" Morris picked the Bears over offers from USC, Yale, Duke, Harvard, Illinois, St. Mary's, Michigan and Mississippi State among others. The 5-foot-5 prospect from Etiwanda High School down in Southern California is currently rated as the 24-ranked prospect in the 2025 class by ESPN. She is the fifth-ranked point guard in the class and is rated by ESPN as the third-best prospect in the state behind only her teammate Grace Knox and Mater Dei guard Addison Deal.

She scored 32 points and had five steals in a showcase game at the Border League event in Las Vegas where she announced her pledge to the Bears on Sunday.

Morris is the fourth commitment in the class for head coach Charmin Smith and the Bears. Cal also holds commitments from point guard Grace McCallop, guard Isis Johnson and Texas wing Taylor Barnes, who is ranked 70th in the class by ESPN. Barnes and Johnson committed to the Bears earlier this month while McCallop gave Cal her pledge back in July.


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GAME INFO

Who: Cal (3-3, 0-23 ACC) vs. North Carolina State (3-4, 0-3)
When: 12:30 p.m. PT
Where: California Memorial Stadium | Berkeley, California
TV/streaming: ACC Network [Jorge Sedano (play-by-play), Orlando Franklin (analyst), Morgan Uber (sideline)]
Radio: 810 AM | SiriusXM: Ch. 138 or 193
All-time series: First meeting
Odds: Cal (-9.5), O/U (45.5) – via BetMGM

The Bears are back in action today as they get another afternoon game at California Memorial Stadium for the first-ever meeting with North Carolina State. The Wolfpack are losers of their last two and also are searching for their first ACC win. Cal, meanwhile, is hoping to avoid falling below .500 after dropping its last three games.

We'll have plenty of coverage for you from CMS today, so as always join the conversation and follow along for updates from today's game.

Pregame notes

• As first reported by ESPN, Cal will be without starters Jaydn Ott and Ryan McCulloch as they both miss their second week in a row with injuries. It sounds like both are at least closer to returning but just couldn't make it back in time for today's game. Tight end Corey Dyches will miss his second consecutive game as well. We'll keep an eye out for Sioape Vatikani during warmups to see if there's any status update there.

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What are our thoughts on today? You got the Bears winning this one?

Last year I predicted 10 out of 12 games correctly. Prior season have been spot on as well. So let's go!

UC Davis - Win - Could be close for a half.
Auburn - Loss - Lots of buzz out that they have a stud frosh WR and the QB is way improved. Generally they have boys up front we can't handle too.
SDSU - Win - We beat SDSU at home traditionally and this isn't a great SDSU team.
Florida State - Loss - Line mismatch
Miami - Loss - Not huge on Miami per se. I could see a victory, but again I think on the lines they are just too superior.
Pitt - Loss - Pitt is good at home and should be improved this year. Coin flip. Wilcox's annual road turd.
North Carolina State - Loss - NC State always has big boys up front.
Oregon State - Win - OSU just has lost too much.
Wake Forest - Win - Like Pitt also concerned about this game, but Wake was terrible last year.
Syracuse - Win - Not a ton of talent at Syracuse.
Stanford - Win - I think the furd will be improved, but not improved enough to win.
Smu - Win - I know they got a lot of NIL, but i will believe a non power 5 team coming in and being good immediately when I see it. Also not an intimidating place to play.

7-5

6 or 7 wins seams like the most likely. Our defense will be improved over last year, but will the offense? I'm not so sure.

It’s clear he’s not having fun. We’re not having fun. How about a mutual parting of ways and he can go fly fishing in the Idaho mountains with all the money he’s made from us already!

Justin Wilcox, Fernando Mendoza and Teddye Buchanan spoke with reporters after Saturday's loss.

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All video from AJ Alany

@Sebastabear , love the work that you and Cal Legends are doing out there. I know you all are as disgusted with the results as the rest of us are. Is there anyway we can leverage NIL pressure to move on from Wilcox ASAP?

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This was reported earlier today by ESPN, but Cal running back Jaydn Ott is in fact out for today's game for the Bears. They will also be without Ryan McCulloch and Corey Dyches again today. At this point, you have to wonder if Cal just holds out Ott until after the bye week giving him extra time to get healthy.

Put your official score predictions here. Currently Cal -10 with an O/U of 46.5.

Sounds like it might be the end of the road for Tyrone Wallace. He’s left BC Zalgiris for personal reasons and is contemplating retirement. Sounds like he’s been dealing with an injury.

Read more about that here.

Cal is back at home this week, and that means another opportunity to host recruits for the Bears.

It was one of the biggest in-season visit weekends the last time Cal hosted a game with Miami in town. It will be a bit more subdued this week, but there are still two important prospects who will be in the stands Saturday when the Bears square off with NC State.

The group is highlighted by one of the top prospects in the 2026 class.

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Columbus (Ga.) Carver junior edge rusher Tristian Givens will be making his way to Cal for the weekend to take in the game and experience the campus environment. The 6-foot-4 prospect is currently rated as a four-star recruit and No. 85 overall in the Rivals100 for 2026. Georgia has not been an area the Bears have dipped into all that often as of late, but it is a talent-rich part of the country.

As you would expect for a top-100 recruit, Givens has a massive offer list with some of the top schools in the country already involved. Recruiting staffer Marcus Griffin has built a connection with the elite edge rusher, and that has helped bring Cal into the picture. Washington and USC are some of the West Coast programs that have offered Givens while he also holds offers from the likes of LSU, Miami, Auburn, Tennessee, Florida, Louisville, Florida State and Texas A&M among others.

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In the 2025 class, College of San Mateo outside linebacker Odera Okaka will also be one of the top recruits visiting the Bears this weekend as he returns to CMS to see Cal in action once again. The 6-foot-4 prospect from Antioch has continued to gain attention from programs around the country since Cal entered with an offer back in August. Penn State, Mississippi State, West Virginia and Boise State are schools on his offer list.

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Here are a few others expected to be in attendance on Saturday

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