Game info

Who: Cal (3-1) vs. Miami (5-0)
When: 7:30 p.m. PT
Where: California Memorial Stadium | Tallahassee, Florida
TV/streaming: ESPN [Rece Davis (play-by-play), Brock Osweiler (analyst), Sherree Burruss (sideline)]
Radio: 810 AM | SiriusXM: 371 or 973
All-time series: 2-2
Odds: Miami (-10), O/U (53.5)

The big night has arrived! Cal is hosting its first ever ACC game tonight, and the Bears welcome No. 8 Miami to CMS after an exciting day with ESPN College Gameday in town.

As always, we invite you to join in the conversation and follow along for updates throughout the game.

Pregame notes

- Right guard Sioape Vatikani did not go through warmups with the rest of the team, and appears to be out for tonight's game after his scary injury a couple weeks ago at Florida State.

- Jaydn Ott is a full go and went through warmups without any issue.

3-5 last week for 32-24-1 for the year. 1-0 for my lock of the week for 5-2 for the year picking Vandy over Bama. https://cal.forums.rivals.com/threads/lets-pick-the-acc-week-6-games.33033/

Home team in Italics

Georgia Tech by 5.5 over North Carolina - Done picking North Carolina. Georgia Tech.

Clemson by 20.5 over Wake Forest - Wake Forest covers.

Louisville by 7.5 over Virginia - Two bad teams. I'll take Virginia.

ND by 23.5 over the Furd - Didn't see the virginia tech game, but maybe the Furd is just a road team?

Pitt by 3.5 over Cal - I don't agree with Rox that a blowout is coming. The line looks right. I expect another wilcox special. Cal covers.

Syracuse by 4.5 over NC State - NC State is garbage. Syracuse covers.



Non conference lock of the week: Tenn by 14.5 over Florida - Tenn rolls.

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Cal’s Week 8 game and return to California Memorial Stadium will come with an afternoon kickoff as the Bears will host NC State at 12:30 p.m. PT on Oct. 19.

It will be the second daytime kickoff at home for the Bears this season after they hosted UC Davis in the sunshine back in Week 1.

The game, which will be televised by ACC Network, will mark the first ever meeting between the Bears and Wolfpack.

Cal heads to Pittsburgh this week for a matchup against the 22nd-ranked and undefeated Panthers. That matchup is also set to kick off at 12:30 p.m. PT and will be televised by ESPN.

Yes it sucks.It sucks major.No way to sugar coat it as we should be 5-0 right now.I do believe there are positives to take away from yesterday.We showed up and showed out for ESPN College Gameday.As selfish as it was for SC to destroy the Pac-12 as we knew it,the exposure that we got from Gameday and for taking it to Miami for most of the night cannot be understated.As a cal alum,I have been dreaming for matchups like the one we had last night for most of my life and I'm glad we now have the opportunity to be apart of college football in a way that most of the anti-football Cal community has feared.Is Wilcox the guy to lead this program to new heights? Definitely not as we have seen enough of his passive/non-killer attitude.But what gives me hope for the future is that no matter who comes or goes,we will always be Cal Bears and nothing will change the love and passion we have for our community.We will continue to be one of the top universities in the world in most things and that is something that 99.99 percent of the other universities on this planet cannot say. Let's respond to this in the right way and give it to Pitt next week.Love all you guys.Roll On You Bears!!!!!!!!!!!

before I go to bed, I must say.

**** JUSTIN WILCOXLESS

good night, enjoy your sundays

The upcoming home game against Miami is one of the biggest Cal football games in a very long time (given the ESPN gameday).

Here are a few factors that might play in Cal’s favor (hopefully contributing to a Cal win this Saturday).

• Kickoff at 7:30pm PT. That means the game will run from roughly 10:30pm ET to 1:30am ET
• Travel. Miami has to fly a long way to Berkeley, which they’re not used to making long trips
• Healthy. Cal will hopefully be as healthy as they’ve been all year long, including Jaydn Ott and the OL (especially if McDonald and hopefully Vatikani plays)
• Home crowd. Will we see one of the best attended home games so far this year (given the ESPN gameday)???
• Bye week. Cal has had 14 days to prepare for this game, while Miami will have had only 8 days. Yes, I know Cal is not great off bye weeks, but hopefully this time it is better
• Cal knows from Pac 12 days QB Cam Ward and RB Damian Martinez, plus HC Mario Cristobal
• Last time Cam Ward came to Berkeley (Nov 2023), Cal beat Wazzu 42-39 despite Ward throwing for 350+ yards.
• A big part of the 2023 Cal win was getting turnovers (3 fumbles and 1 INT off Ward). In 2022, although Cal lost that road game at Wazzu, Cal did intercept Ward twice in that game too. Getting a Cal win in 2024 will definitely require winning the turnover battle

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ESPN is checking another school off the list! Cal will host ESPN College Gameday next Saturday ahead of the Bears' matchup with No. 7 Miami. Cal is one of the few remaining Power 4 programs that has yet to host the national show with Illinois, Maryland, Rutgers, Syracuse and Virginia being the others. It'll be a big day for the Bears and Berkeley that will begin at 6 a.m. PT on Saturday. Kickoff is set for 7:30 p.m.

"We are thrilled that ESPN’s College GameDay will be coming to the Berkeley campus this week," chancellor Rich Lyons said in a statement. "A college football Saturday brings together our community, and we welcome the wonderful opportunity ESPN’s College GameDay provides to show what Berkeley is all about."

The broadcast will take place at Memorial Glade and will be open to fans.

"We couldn't be more excited to welcome ESPN’s College GameDay to Cal," Cal athletic director Jim Knowlton said. "It's a great reward for everyone associated with our football program, and I know our Cal Family will savor this incredible opportunity to have our student-athletes, University and the city of Berkeley showcased on the national stage."

The Bears are 1-2 in previous Gameday contests having lost to No. 1 USC in 2004 and No. 5 Utah in 2015 with Gameday in town for both of those matchups. Cal beat No. 11 Oregon in 2007 when the Ducks hosted the pregame show.

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Game info

Who: Cal (2-0) vs. San Diego State (1-1)
When: 7:30 p.m.
Where: California Memorial Stadium | Berkeley
TV and/or streaming: ESPN (Dave Flemming (play-by-play), Brock Osweiler (analyst), Stormy Buonantony (sideline))
Radio: 810 AM | SiriusXM: 371
All-time series: Tied 4-4
Odds: Auburn (-18.5), O/U (48.5)

Pregame notes

• The most critical injury note for the Bears is that running back Jaydn Ott looks ready to go and went through warmups without issue. We'll see how much he is used tonight, but he appears to be a full go.

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• WR Kyion Grayes is out of his boot but is now on crutches and doesn't look any closer to playing than a couple weeks ago. His foot was wrapped tonight. I'd imagine you will not be seeing him in the first half of the season, at the very least, as I have been saying for a while now.


• Pregame tweets and captains

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• Pretty disappointing crowd tonight with just 10 minutes until kickoff

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Please post your predicted scores here in this thread.

Vegas line currently at Miami -10.5 and O/U of 53.5

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Our latest podcast episode has dropped and Maria is back joining me to discuss the big weekend ahead in Berkeley and talk Cal vs. Miami.

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The Bears will welcome back Marshawn Lynch as the guest picker for ESPN College Gameday. This is how it had been trending this week, and it all comes together for the program.

The ACC Tipoff event, which serves as media day for the conference, is set to take place next week and Cal will be represented by newcomers Mady Sissoko and Andrej Stojakovic along with head coach Mark Madsen. The Bears will have the 8:15 a.m. slot on Oct. 10 (next Thursday) and it will be streamed live on ACCN Extra and televised by ACC Network separately (8 a.m. for Madsen and 9:15 a.m. for the players).

The event is split up over two days with Cal going on the second of those days in Charlotte.

Great read.

Right here:

"Stanfurd Steve" gameday's supposed gambling expert is 14-22 STRAIGHT UP. Not against the spread. How is that even possible?

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dude also invents some thing I've never heard of he claims cal fans do. what a clown

I tapped in with CanesCounty publisher Marcus Benjamin to get his perspective on the Hurricanes and what Cal fans should expect from No. 8 Miami this weekend in Berkeley.

Now that we know Cal has secured Gameday, who ya got?

Here are the videos from today's press conference coming out of the bye week for the Bears. Justin Wilcox, Peter Sirmon and Mike Bloesch all spoke today for the first time in a couple weeks plus linebacker Cade Uluave and defensive back Craig Woodson provided their perspective on this week's game and the excitement for ESPN College Gameday to be in Berkeley this week.

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Right here:

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Cal's latest depth chart is out. Things have mostly stayed the same. Liam Johnson is now in that No. 2 spot behind Cade Uluave at inside linebacker after getting on the field against Florida State (special teams) while Ryan Coe now has an "or" separating him and freshman Derek Morris at the placekicker position.

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Justin Wilcox didn't confirm if Sioape Vatikani is practicing but did sound optimistic that the Cal starting right guard will be on the field Saturday. Starting nickel Matthew Littlejohn is in the same boat and is listed as probable this week. Tobias Merriweather and Kyion Grayes remain week to week according to Wilcox, but he said he'd get more information on their availability later in the week. I don't suspect they will be on the field in this week's game.

Vatikani was injured in the game against Florida State and was taken off the field on a medical cart before being evaluated at a local hospital in Tallahassee. The veteran offensive lineman was making his 2024 debut in that loss to the Seminoles after missing most of training camp with a leg injury that forced him into a boot for nearly all of training camp.

Yards per play 2004 - 5.3 72nd in the country (this despite us only having played 2 power 5 opponents). Yet it's also misleading because of how bad we are in the red zone.

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For anyone so inclined, Calegends has a 1:1 match for any donation made this week in honor of College Gameday coming to Cal. Link below. CC @Sebastabear