We're expecting a 2026 commit coming soon. Stay tuned!

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ESPN's Pete Thamel is reporting that Fernando Mendoza will miss today's game vs. No. 9 SMU with an illness. Will obviously mark the first start at Cal for Chandler Rogers, and we'll see what it means for the offense. Rogers and Mendoza are more similar than people think, so there shouldn't be a ton that Mike Bloesch can't call but it does make the running game a little bit different for the Bears today.

Not an ideal situation for Cal but Rogers has experience and has good command of the offense.

GAME INFO

Who: Cal (3-1; last game: 71-66 win over USC) vs. Air Force (1-3; last game: 79-71 loss to Belmont)
When: 7:00 p.m. PT
Where: Haas Pavilion | Berkeley, California
TV/streaming: ACC Network Extra | Roxy Bernstein (PxP) & Ben Braun (Analyst)
Radio: 810 AM | Justin Allegri (PxP)
All-time series: Cal leads 4-3
Odds: Cal (-15.5), O/U (135.5) – via BetMGM

Cal goes back to work tonight and it'll do so shorthanded. The Bears will be without three players who have started games this season including point guard Jovan Blacksher Jr. DJ Campbell and BJ Omot have also been ruled out for tonight's game. In their place in the starting lineup will be Christian Tucker, Rytis Petraitis and Joshua Ola-Joseph, who is making his third start for the Bears.

I'll have updates throughout the night and feel free to join the conversation throughout the game.

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Cal comes through a big win over No. 19 Alabama!

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I still have fond memories.

One of the cool things about this season (despite the overall heart ache) are the characters outside of the team for Cal football. Calgorithm, Daniel the kicker, and now this guy.

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I think this is not going to go well at all (doubt he will put up with college kids these days) but going to be interesting to watch. He’s bringing in former NFL GM Michael Lombardi as his program GM too. Cal needs a serious football GM or the incompetence that is the Knowlton-Wilcox football era will continue unchecked.

Sidenote - whenever we fire Wilcox, let’s at least interview the guy Saban strongly backed…

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Teddye Buchanan, Will McDonald and Nohl Williams were the player representatives today and all were obviously in a tough spot with the LA Bowl being further back on the minds of us in the media. They each spoke about the upcoming bowl game plus some about the portal and how the team is getting ready to face UNLV.

McDonald said he had a conversation with Fernando last night so knew what would be coming today, and he says he wishes him the best.

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Four-star 2026 tight end Caleb Tafua visited Cal for the Miami game and the Bears continue to be a factor in his recruitment. Today, he released his top four and announced a Dec. 21 commitment date. Washington, USC and Texas A&M are the other programs in the running. Right now it feels like a UW pick, but there is still some time for the other schools to make their late move. Obviously, this is an early commitment so who knows if it will stick for a year, but it would be a significant early pickup for the Bears.

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The conference awards (excluding coach of the year, Thurs.) will be announced tomorrow.

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Jayden Crowder won the DB MVP award at the Rivals Camp in LA back in the spring and it put him on the radar for many programs around the country. Tennessee, Penn State, Washington, SMU, Miami, Duke and Syracuse were just some of the teams that became involved in the process with offers. He's emerged as one of the top defensive backs in the state and now he'll play at Cal.

Crowder spoke with me about his decision and why the win over Stanford (highlighted by the player/coach reaction following the visit) helped pushed Cal ahead of those other schools.

"My past visits were incredible, and they truly made my family and I feel like part of the program," Crowder said. "The staff went above and beyond to ensure we felt comfortable and welcome. This week only reinforced my positive impression, especially seeing the team’s strong win over Stanford and witnessing the close bond between the players and coaches."

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Our Week 11 winners are @rathokan, @TomBalk, and @MC415 with a score of 4! Next best was @tluv123 with a score of 5.

Our Week 12 winner is @tluv123 with a score of 10! Next best was @lonestarbear with a score of 11.

Here are the updates standings through the season. 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.

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Maria joined me for another podcast episode as we tried our best to summarize all that has gone on this week. We recorded before the Famika Anae news, but we packed everything else into the show this week, and there was a lot to cover!

So was just doing some research on Cal in one-possession games (8 points or less) and the Bears are 5-15 from 2021-2024 in such instances, and the average margin in those games has been 5 points. Six ranked opponents in that bunch and a pair of overtime games. Just brutal for the Bears. Overall, Cal is 15-25 in one-possession games under Justin Wilcox.

Here's a little rundown of what to look for heading into the early signing period later this morning plus a couple predictions for possible Cal additions by the time Justin Wilcox speaks with reporters at 10 a.m.