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Evans Hall: Letters to a Young Head Coach

Thu, 01 Oct 2026 19:02:03 GMT

In the collection of letters to Franz Xaver Kappus, poet Rainer Maria Rilke touches upon the themes of art, self knowing, solitude, physical and emotional intimacy. In his first letter to ~~Kappus~~ HC Lupoi Rilke advises:

The biggest obstacle to that development would be for you to look outwards, to expect outside answers to questions that only your innermost feelings in your quietest moments have any chance of answering. - R. M. Rilke, Letter One, Paris, February 17, 1903

Rainer Marie Rilke going to a Cal Football Game, note the lack of the spark of life in his eyes. Credit: mpete91

I must copy that advice and relay this to Coach Lupoi. Not just because it is and sounds wise (to poet and coach alike) but also regarding the fact that there is no trade deadline for us to take advantage of, there are no free agents, and unlike in EA College Football you can’t just swap out a playbook and hope it executes.

Within the program there are certain core principles HC Lupoi has made for the program, and I believe it is important to go inside them and ask ourselves if we have lived by them.

Relentless Effort

[…] every career is the same: full of demands upon you, full of hostility toward the individual,soak through as it where with the hatred of those who have stubbornly, sullenly found their way into this sober line of work. - R. M. Rilke, Letter Six, Rome, October 29. 1903

In the end there are two positions on the football field that are defined by relentless effort and that can be measured by modern statistics and advanced analytics: Offensive and defensive line.

Using HudlIQ we track every single run carry Cal has had in the 2026 season so far. The dots are where our ball carriers are first tackled and on the left hand side we can see the Cal’s distribution and our means relative to the FBS mean. The results are… sad. We have yet to notch a carry where the player was not touched before the 10+ yard line, the mean carry of a Cal RB is basically hit at the line of scrimmage and when hit we generate less than the national mean in yards after contact.

I do not believe we improved on the offensive line run blocking wise, even with the addition of a great RB in Adam Mohammed. The view is a little more encouraging on the offensive line. Here I will spout a heresy on Cal social media: 2026 Cal pass protection isn’t bad. It is just just around mediocre.

The only true issue is the C gap between the RT and TE which is a tough spot since JKS is a lefty QB who is showing signs of a Sophomore slump. Of course anyone can recall a bad snap (ie. Vatikani getting blow up for a sack in a DT/DE stunt against Clemson) but those aren’t as common as they were in 2025 where this was the chart:

YIKES

Looking on the otherside of the ball the story is roughly as bleak as it can at least in defending the run

We’re slightly below average in all tackling metrics in the run game and there is a lot of issues to be clean up with run busts happening in each game (UCLA, the whole game, Wagner had a huge QB scramble to set up their only TD, Syracuse had the game starting run, and Clemson final TD).

Ball Excellence

Do I have to ~~write~~ coach football? Dig deep into yourself for the answer. And if it is yes, if you can meet this solemn question with a strong and simple “I must”, then build yourself around that necessity. - R. M. Rilke, Letter One, Paris, February 17, 1903

Ball excellence is all about executing the offense at a high level. And on this front we’re struggling mightily. For example below we see every single pass placement JKS has where he is missing his receiver right to his left and high.

This issue can also explain the lack of Ian Strong’s production where a lot of his passes have been vertical misses where I assume JKS is trying to get him the ball in 50/50 contested catch situations and it looks more like 1/10 case with Strong right now.

Taking a look on a more positive side: Kingston Lopa has had a good season… if you ignore the success rate allowed in his play. As much of a ball hawk he can be, there are issues with his coverage abilities where when he allows a catch or a missed run tackle it tends to be disastrous for the team.

Something worth noting is that both Ricky Fletcher and Damien Harris are having really good seasons. However, we do have to note that the best QB we have faced passing the ball is … Nico Iamaeava?

Catch separation being a big measure of how close the guys are when the ball is at the hands of the skill player Ricky and Daniel are there to make it very hard to make the catch.

Power of Unit

Merging, surrendering, entering into a union of any kind is not for them (who must still spend a long, long time gathering and saving up) - no that is the last step, the ultimate thing that even a human life may be barely big enough to contain. - R. M. Rilke, Letter Seven, Rome, May 14, 1904

Looking more big picture on both sides of the ball, Cal offense is… offensive? Outside of the sack percentage there isn’t anywhere else the offense has showered itself in glory in any aspect of the game.

Defensively we have been able to really put a stamp on the opposing offenses by really stifling the passing game. Though we are not doing too hot on the rushing front with the Chunk % and yards per rush being on the high side. We could also do a better job reducing a team’s drive success rate (pct. chance a team converts a down on a given drive).

Focusing back on the offense we can see that the offense is more effective out of 3x2 empty sets and from 12 sets across the board. We have tried some 21 looks but have not gotten any good returns from them. We do run 11 (1 RB, 1 TE)and 12 (1 RB, 2 TE) looks more often than the rest of the field.

There is a efficiency to be had where the team gets positive outcomes from a success rate perspective out of Empty 3 x 2 looks with 1 RB and 2 TEs. This allows for the best pass catchers to be on the field, and for JKS to be able to pick and stick with his throwing.

Final Thoughts

Trust yourself and your own feelings, every time, over any of these explications, discussions, or introductions. If it turns out you’re wrong, the natural growth of your inner life will eventually lead you to new heights. - R. M. Rilke, Letter Three, Viareggio near Pisa, Italy, April 23, 1903

There is a lot, a lot, left to be desired from this coaching st

UNLV Defensive Preview: Is This The Week Cal’s Offense Breaks Out?

Thu, 01 Oct 2026 18:04:50 GMT

With his initial stake of chips dwindling after losing multiple starting hands, Tosh Lupoi and his team will have to go all-in this week in Sin City to ensure that hopes of a season revival are more realistic than a desert mirage.

Standing in their way are the UNLV Rebels, once perennial G6 contenders who have fallen down a peg during Head Coach Dan Mullen’s second campaign. However, they stand to be a formidable road foe for a reeling Cal team. The man in charge of ensuring that the Bears trip to Las Vegas makes a convincing case for a future script of The Hangover Part IV is Paul Guenther. The former NFL coach ran the Raiders defense during their inaugural seasons in Vegas. Though his professional pedigree is impressive, he had no previous FBS coaching experience (words which have caused the streets of Berkeley to shudder in recent weeks). On staff with him is former UNLV DC Mike Scherer, who returns to help jolt a Rebel defense that he coached to a degree of success with back-to-back 10-win seasons. All of which is to say: Cal’s fresh-faced coordinators will be facing off against a well-seasoned coaching staff.

UNLV has the 83rd-ranked defense entering the week. They give up about 150 rushing yards per game and are rated a pedestrian 41.3% Success Rate Allowed. Of particular note are the 44 points that the Rebels gave up to a depleted North Texas team several weeks ago. Though they don’t rank highly on any significant defensive metrics, Cal’s offense has of late made many defenses look far better than they do on paper. Most importantly, Dan Mullen’s squad sports the highest-graded transfer portal class of any G6 program, meaning that the DNA for a stifling defense is there.

Schematically, UNLV runs a multiple 3-3-5 defense, meaning 3 down linemen, 3 linebackers, and 5 defensive backs. This is a style that disguises coverages well and often uses simulated pressure. If Cal is looking to change up the offensive play calling, outside runs, which have been scantly attempted due to poor blocking, might be a nice alteration to make against this look.

The fulcrum of talent is clearly its secondary. Experienced DB play made it extremely difficult for Cal’s passing attack last week, and similar trouble could be awaiting them at Allegiant Stadium. Tre Fulton, Mumu Bin-Wahad, and Jake Pope are returners who headline this group. Tre Fulton in particular has been a standout, with 3 sacks, an interception, a Forced Fumble, and 3 Passes defended. Along the trenches, California native and top 15 EDGE recruit in the state Kal-El Togafau is a redshirt freshman standout who has already notched 2 sacks. Another threat in the box will be Cam Santee, UNLV’s Senior LB and Mountain West Defensive Player of the Week, who has tallied 27 tackles and an INT. Preseason All-Conference DL Lucas Conti has the size to be a force along the interior, and despite not yet lighting up the stat sheet, Kamuela Ka'aihue at LB is a player that fans should look out for.

A glaring vulnerability is that UNLV struggles mightily with missed tackles, racking up 29 of them against North Texas alone. They may get a brief respite from the glaring nature of this issue if Cal RB Adam Mohammed isn’t ready to go, but it could prove to be an unsolved issue which a tune-up game against Akron didn't fix. Additionally, the Rebels’ pass rush is likely to look rather bland compared to UCLA and Clemson, as they don’t have marquee pass rush talent on the level of those programs.

Throwing the ball over the middle, play action, and pre-snap motion need to be further incorporated into the Bears’ pass attack in order to disrupt this defense. Faced with a strong secondary against which Cal receivers may struggle to create by themselves, Jordan Somerville has to force UNLV Linebackers into tough coverage matchups.

For California this weekend, the chips are all in on a desperate hand to save the season. Gone is the safety of preseason plans and calm confidence; it is time to roll the dice, put it all on red, make a wish, and pull the slot lever.

May this be the only time where the house loses in Vegas.

DBD 2026-10-01: Villian

Thu, 01 Oct 2026 10:58:57 GMT

Welcome to the DBD, a Write for California community board where one can talk about anything – Cal-related or off-topic. Comment threads are sorted by topic. Anything is fine, so long as you're generally civil

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Bear Insider Ultimate Insider Podcast E138: Cal Safety Kingston Lopa

Bear Insider — Thu, 01 Oct 2026 10:36:14 GMT

The Rodcast: Cal Guard Jordan Ross

Bear Insider — Wed, 30 Sep 2026 23:43:17 GMT

Around the Conference Table: ACC College Football 2026 - Week 4

Wed, 30 Sep 2026 19:02:18 GMT

Welcome back to Season 3 of Cal in the ACC. Let’s take a look at what our neighbors on the East Coast are doing.

Central Michigan - 6 Miami ( Miami wins 52-3)

Christopher Helling - You know, I actually saw this exact CMU game once before: it was when I watched CMU versus Wagner (2025), when CMU completely out-talented a clearly overmatched Wagner squad. These were two teams on two clearly different levels. CMU hung on for about a quarter, but once the game broken open, it was over. Also, what a ridiculous touchdown by WR Malachi Toney that was reversed on a nonexistent PI. That still goes into the highlight clips.

Wake Forest - 16 Louisville (Wake Forest wins 30-27)

Ben (Who Did Not Watch A Single Game on Saturday For Self Care Reasons and Had A Lovely Weekend With Visiting Family) - A number of situations can arise throughout a lifetime that may cause a person to feel that their life sucks. This may include a football teams identity completely disappearing, zero offensive touchdowns, a 75-yard touchdown run on a 3rd and 8, the student section being given projectiles, etc. In all of these situations it is normal to feel low. Yet it is also important to realize that it is possible to rebound from these situations in time through positive thinking, that is by thinking about problems in a more optimistic and productive way. In addition, there are a number of strategies you can consider to help return to happiness and to regain a positive view of life.

Nick Kranz - The difference in this game was basically field goal kicking, but that’s the impressive part for Wake and the concerning part for Louisville - Wake went on the road and played the Cardinals dead even for four quarters and won because they made their kicks and Louisville didn’t.

Christopher Helling - Tons of unnecessary penalties in this one on both teams, keeping drives alive for both teams, but probably more costly penalties by Louisville. Louisville gave up multiple busted coverages for huge WF TDs by WR Carlos Hernandez, who racked up 194 receiving yards. Louisville has a good pass rusher in DE Clev Lubin, but their defense overall is very suspect. QB Lincoln Kienholz had some nice throws and does a good job spreading the field out with his throws for nice drives (and had a nice rush TD), but Louisville made too many mistakes when playing from behind WF, missing a FG and having another blocked at the end of the game when down by 3. WF is performing well, better than the sum of their parts.

Missouri State - 22 SMU (SMU wins 34-24)

Ben (Who Did Not Watch A Single Game on Saturday For Self Care Reasons and Had A Lovely Weekend With Visiting Family) - What to Do When Life Sucks: How to Stay Positive: Try these expert-backed tips to improve your life and be happier. Keep a journal. One way to figure out a possible cause for your feelings is to identify when you feel them. Keeping a journal will also allow you to identify what elements of your situation you have control over, which will help you stay positive. In general, you should remember that you cannot control anything other than your own actions and responses.

Nick Kranz - SMU is really fond of self-immolation. Two turnovers, one missed 4th down, 12 penalties, and two missed field goals that turned a blowout into an oddly tight game. You can get away with this kind of crap against Missouri State and Florida State, but it’s going to cost the Mustangs against somebody later this year.

Christopher Helling - I've never seen a team so good at beating themselves and yet manage to win anyway. I can recall multiple SMU wins where they overcame a 5 turnover deficit, and this one felt similarly lopsided despite the score (at any point of the game). SMU outgained Missouri State 378 yards to 112 yards at halftime, but managed only a 14-10 lead (largely due to two costly turnovers). Missouri State kept finding success with high difficulty plays (e.g. an endzone fade into tight coverage), and was only down 21-18 late in the 4th quarter. I kind of feel like SMU may have been running a vanilla playbook, expecting to blowout Missouri St as 34.5-point favorites and have backups in during the 4th quarter, but when they found themselves in a dogfight, they had to crack it open a bit. SMU finally got home with pressure late in the game (and an injured QB after a sack pretty much doomed Missouri St), leading to a 4th down INT, short field, and immediate 23-yard TD the next play to make the score a little more respectable. Worth mentioning is that Missouri State coach Casey Woods was SMU coach Rhett Lashlee’s offensive coordinator from 2022-25 and they are long-time friends (and many SMU assistants are at Missouri St now), so this may also be a case of someone knowing your weaknesses a little too well.

Bucknell - Pittsburgh (Pitt wins 59-0)

Ben (Who Did Not Watch A Single Game on Saturday For Self Care Reasons and Had A Lovely Weekend With Visiting Family) - What to Do When Life Sucks: How to Stay Positive: Try these expert-backed tips to improve your life and be happier. Recognize when you are thinking negatively. It is important to realize your negative thinking so that you can begin to change negativity into positivity. Negative thinkers tend to always anticipate the worst in a situation. In addition, they are quick to blame themselves for anything bad that has happened. Moreover, negative thinkers tend to magnify the negative aspects of any given situation. They also tend to polarize a situation, only seeing things as good or bad.

Christopher Helling - Narrow wins over UCF and Syracuse, but blowouts over Miami-Ohio and now Bucknell. We'll see if they are for real next Friday against a good Virginia Tech team.

Virginia Tech - Boston College (Virginia Tech wins 21-14)

Ben (Who Did Not Watch A Single Game on Saturday For Self Care Reasons and Had A Lovely Weekend With Visiting Family) - What to Do When Life Sucks: How to Stay Positive: Try these expert-backed tips to improve your life and be happier. Recognize when you are thinking negatively. It is important to realize your negative thinking so that you can begin to change negativity into positivity. Negative thinkers tend to always anticipate the worst in a situation. In addition, they are quick to blame themselves for anything bad that has happened. Moreover, negative thinkers tend to magnify the negative aspects of any given situation. They also tend to polarize a situation, only seeing things as good or bad.

Nick Kranz - The final score was a little deceptive thanks to 4th down failures from Virginia Tech, but this still might be a warning sign that Tech is still a year away from full-blown ACC contender status.

Christopher Helling - The Nor'easter weather conditions (heavy rain, high wind) made it very difficult to throw the ball, which probably helped BC and their dual-threat QB out a lot more than VT. I started to think that BC might pull the upset in this one, but a 76-yard rushing TD by VT broke the game open at 21-14 VT in the 4th quarter, and then they just needed to play keep-away at that point. BC really need to find a better offense game plan than QB power run, because I don't think McKenzie will stay healthy all season if they don't.

Central Arkansas - Florida State (Florida State wins 34-7)

Ben (Who Did Not Watch A Single Game on Saturday For Self Care Reasons and Had A Lovely Weekend With Visiting Family) - Change negative thinking into positive thinking. Try to check in on your thoughts regularly during the day. Identify what you normally think about in a negative way and put a positive spin on your thoughts. It also helps to surround yourself with positive people, as negative people can increase stress and increase your own negativity.

Christopher Helling - Only caught this one waiting for other games, but FSU Could make you forget that Central Arkansas is an FCS squad. FSU really needs a serious QB if they want to start competing in the ACC again. I don't know how QB Ashton Daniels can neglect WR Duce Robinson at receiver as much as he does. Although shout-out to the broadcast team for the picture of Central Arkansas WR Mike Norvell with cornrows.

WIlliam & Mary - Duke (Duke wins 42-3)

Ben (Who Did Not Watch A Single Game on Saturday For Self Care Reasons and Had A Lovely Weekend With Visiting Family) - Try not to define yourself by your football team. It can feel like where you are in the top 25 (or on any of the dreaded Monday graphs) in life defines who you are. If you're in an environment that sucks, it can be hard to remain positive. Focus on your innate qualities, rather than the situation around you. Remember: the situation is always temporary.

Christopher Helling - Nate Sheppard's 116 rushing yards (on 9 carries) was actually a season-low for him.

Delaware - Virginia (Virginia wins 42-3)

Ben (Who Did Not Watch A Single Game on Saturday For Self Care Reasons and Had A Lovely Weekend With Visiting Family) - Get out and be social again. Oftentimes people who feel that their life sucks will remove themselves from social contact. Ironically, this can be a further cause of depression. Take small steps to get yourself back into social circles again.

Christopher Helling - Delaware gave Vanderbilt a tough time so I was expecting more from Delaware here, but they lost their starting QB to injury early on in this one, and Delaware was simply out-talented after that. Virginia is just the textbook example of how fundamental a good offensive and defensive line are for a team's success, and how you don't necessarily need future NFL stars on the roster to find success. I was also impressed with WR Kam Courtney though, he wasn't on my radar before this, but he showed up here.

App State - NC State (NC State wins 41-31)

Ben (Who Did Not Watch A Single Game on Saturday For Self Care Reasons and Had A Lovely Weekend With Visiting Family) - Exercise regularly and eat a healthy diet. Exercising three times a week has been shown to relieve mild to moderate depression. It will help you feel better about yourself, help you sleep better and can even improve mood. Eating a healthy diet is another way to help with depression. Limit your alcohol intake to one drink per day and eat a wide variety of healthy foods. You should also avoid drugs, smoking, and other habits that are detrimental to your health.

Christopher Helling - NC State is bipolar. One week they're beating an SEC team (just kidding), the next week they're threatening a loss to the Sun Belt. NC State was dominating this one early (28-7 in the first half), only to fall apart in the second half as App State found their rhythm to tie this one up 31-31 in the 4th quarter. I'm still relatively unimpressed with QB CJ Bailey, but it seems RB Jayden (Duke) Scott was integral to their success, as they tried to give him a rest in the 3rd quarter and their offense stalled without him. NCSU brought Scott back for another scoring drive, and narrowly avoided another embarrassing face plant.

Nick Kranz - I guess when you're coming off of the worst kind of loss, the manner and style of your next W is entirely immaterial. Congrats on surviving, Wolfpack.

Georgia Tech - Stanford (Stanford wins 34-27)

Ben (Who Did Not Watch A Single Game on Saturday For Self Care Reasons and Had A Lovely Weekend With Visiting Family) - Try meditation and repeat a meaningful mantra. Repetitive messages, whether positive or negative, can have a big effect on the psyche. Replace all the noise with positivity by filling your mind with meaningful thoughts. Pick a mantra that helps you get through the day. Repeat it when you feel overwhelmed, and each time you do, think about what it really means.

Nick Kranz - Davis Warren would be a fun and inspiring story if he was doing this for literally any other university.

Christopher Helling - GT is so Cal-coded. GT has (I think) 3 starters on the offensive line out due to injury, and their offensive line could not hold up against pressure, forcing QB Alberto Mendoza to try and do too much himself (which culminated in Mendoza going 32 yards the wrong way on a 3rd down in the redzone on their potential game-tying drive to set up an impossible 4th and 45 with the game on the line, not to mention the QB/WR miscommunication the previous drive that resulted in an INT). GT had success when they leaned on their run game, but they had to start passing it more when they fell behind and their offense couldn't find that same success. Conversely, GT did a good job of stopping Stanford's run game, but I was (unfortunately) really impressed with Stanford's offensive gameplan to scheme receivers open, because QB Davis Warren needs receivers wide open if he's going to have any success through the air.

Any other thoughts on the teams?

Ben (Who Did Not Watch A Single Game on Saturday For Self Care Reasons and Had A Lovely Weekend With Visiting Family) - Figure out what life means to you. People who feel that life has a purpose tend to be happier than those who think it's meaningless. Have you ever taken time to think about the meaning of life? No one can truly know the answer to this universal question. However, you can decide what life means to you. Finding the meaning in your life will help you keep getting out of bed every day, even when things are at their worst.

Nick Kranz - Thank goodness we’re mostly done with non-conference play, which was largely full of deeply uninteresting competition.

Christopher Helling - It took a lot of motivation to watch ACC games all weekend after what Cal did on Friday. If Cal could get a few more back in the win column soon, that would be nice, thanks.

The California Golden Bearcast 2026 Cal Football Season: The Clemson Reality Check

Wed, 30 Sep 2026 17:37:23 GMT

Andy and Rob unpack Cal’s frustrating loss to Clemson, the offense’s struggles, and the pressure surrounding Tosh Lupoi’s first season. They also look ahead to UNLV, where Cal has a chance to respond and show signs of improvement.

The Bear Market claws for answers on offense

Wed, 30 Sep 2026 17:32:53 GMT

Piotr and Nick are back from off-season hibernation with an extra full season preview episode of Write for California’s premium subscription podcast. Give this episode a listen and consider subscribi…

Cal Football 2026: The Clemson Reality Check

The California Golden Bearcast — Wed, 30 Sep 2026 13:00:00 GMT

02:03— Why the Clemson loss stung
07:53— Why Cal hired Tosh Lupoi
18:25— UNLV preview
25:44— Standards, expectations, and fan patience
38:30— The need for offensive adjustments
52:24— Why fans should stay invested

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The Good, the Bad, and the Rockfights: Cal vs. Clemson

Wed, 30 Sep 2026 10:03:52 GMT

Perhaps we should change the name of this series to The Bad, the Worse, and the Dumpster Fires… | Photo by Shannon Kunkle on Unsplash

The Write for California staff has many writers who are interested in statistics and data visualization. We each take different approaches to our analysis, and this variety lends comprehensive insight into the team. Or, it would if there were any depth or nuance to be understood about the data about this Cal offense. It’s bad. It can’t move the ball, it can’t score, and it turns the ball over too much. There are only so many charts and tables we can use to convey what is abundantly clear to everyone with eyes (and even people without). Anyway, with that glowing recommendation for statistical analysis of Cal offense out of the way (hey, the defense and special teams are still interesting!), let’s dive into some ratings from Cal’s performance against Clemson.

BCF Ratings

Our friends at BCF Toys used FEI data to evaluate possession-level measures capturing team performance. These largely capture performance based on how well Cal moved the ball and how well they turned possessions into points, with the reverse capturing how well the defense performed. They even evaluate the impact of special teams on scoring, an impact that was painfully felt on Friday.

Offensive Ratings

We illustrate the ratings with boxplots, which capture the spread of the data. The box represents data between the 25th and 75th percentiles, and the horizonal line represents the median, or midpoint of the data. I have written some variant of those two previous sentence so many times over the years that I would not be surprised if some hooligan inscribes them on my headstone.

Friday’s ratings (gold) compared to all previous ratings. (Categories are Game Rating, Efficiency, Points per Drive, Success Rate, Yards per Play, and Available Yards)

The ratings are bad across the board. The Game Rating and Efficiency rating show that the offense generated very little scoring value with each possession. The Points per Drive rating was the second-lowest we have seen over the past 20 years—only the 2019 shutout loss at Utah was worse. The Scoring Rate is slightly more charitable because it rewards the offense for getting into field goal range (even if the field goal is missed), and Cal twice found their way into field goal range. Overall, those ratings indicate that Cal was utterly unable to turn possessions into points. And the Yards per Play and Available Yards measures indicate that Cal was also woefully inefficient and unproductive at moving the ball. In sum, Cal could not move the ball far or with any degree of consistency and they could not generate points—not ideal.

Defensive Ratings

Friday’s defensive ratings compared to all previous ratings. (Game Rating, Efficiency, Points per Drive, Success Rate, Yards per Play, Available Yards)

This is the typical profile of a moderately successful bend-but-don’t-break defense. Efficiency and Points per Drive were decent, suggesting that Cal was successfully limiting Clemson’s ability to score (although that lower Game Rating grades Efficiency on a curve and tells us that Clemson’s offense is bad, somehow with a lower rating than Cal’s offense according to FEI). The Scoring Rate also took a step back compared to Efficiency and PPD, because Cal consistently let Clemson get in scoring range, but the Tigers struggled to turn those yards into touchdowns. Yards per Play and Available Yards were mediocre, suggesting that Cal was letting Clemson move the ball moderately well. Put all those ratings together and you get a classic bend-but-don’t-break: the opponent has opportunities to move the ball but struggles to turn that yardage into points.

Special Teams

Special teams ratings: Game Rating, Efficiency, Field Goals, Punting, Kickoffs.

Special teams were bad across the board, with exception to Field Goals. Efficiency (and its related, opponent-adjusted Game Rating) were awful, indicating that special teams was a net negative for Cal (the offside giving Clemson a first down that continued a TD drive and the punt return for a TD stand out). Thanks to the punt return for a TD, Punting earned a terrible rating. Meanwhile kickoffs earned another bad rating because Cal consistently allowed decent returns while failing to generate anything positive on our own kick returns.

BCF Clusters

With an abundance of bad ratings, this one seems destined for our ignominious cluster…

(Click here for a much larger version) Each data point represents a game, and games closer together received more similar ratings. The Clemson game sits among The Bad near the border to Rockfights.

Indeed, this one fell into The Bad. Relatedly, last week’s extremely unusual win in The Bad has since migrated to the Rockfights; the boundaries of these categories remain ever-changing. This game was far from the worst of The Bad (losses on the lower and right sides are particularly painful), and instead sits near the Rockfights. This one certainly had the feel of a Rockfight and may have stayed a Rockfight if not for Clemson’s game-sealing 75-yard TD in the waning minutes. Alas, another Bad. That’s 2 Bads and 1 Bad-turned-Rockfight in Lupoi’s first three FBS games. Not a great start to a new era of Cal football.

Deja Vu

I compared the ratings from this disaster to all previous BCF ratings to determine which game was most similar and the winner is…2008 Oregon State (Cal lost 21-34). Although Cal surrendered 34 points, the defense was only responsible for one TD drive thanks to a kickoff returned for a TD, a punt returned to the Cal 2-yard-line, and a pick six. And like this past game, Cal struggled to find the end zone and relied on a double-pass play (shout out WR Jeremy Ross!) for one of its rare TDs (the other two were courtesy of a 65-yard Jahvid Best run and a 51-yard kick return by Best to set up a short field). Like Friday night’s game, this one featured some awful quarterbacking (neither QB completed more than 50%) and many unsuccessful drives (14 punts, and nearly as many combined punting yards as total yards). What a fun throwback.

UNLV Football Offensive Preview

Wed, 30 Sep 2026 10:03:36 GMT

We last saw UNLV at the 2024 LA Bowl, but it was a hollow shell of a game as Fernando Mendoza came down with a very serious flu that caused him to miss the final game of the season against SMU, and he got so sick that he woke up in a red uniform before the LA Bowl. Devastating illness, really. Wouldn’t wish it on my second-worst enemy.

UNLV is led by head coach Dan Mullen, the former Mississippi State and Florida head coach (and Wagner alum who got his start coaching as Wagner’s WR coach, in case you missed that fact buried in the 9,577 words and 155 video clips I included in my Wagner articles). After 2024’s head coach Barry Odom was poached by Purdue after a 10-2 regular season (just prior to the LA Bowl), Dan Mullen took over in 2025 and kept that momentum going, leading UNLV to another 10-win regular season (although UNLV had losses in the MWC Championship and bowl game to finish 10-4 overall).

UNLV head coach Elvis alongside Dan Mullen.

Kind of similar to Mullen rehabilitating his coaching image after being fired from his last SEC job, UNLV remains an attractive place for talented players looking to bounce back after falling short at previous destinations. In 2025, Mullen brought to Vegas sixteen former 4- or 5-star players, with 33 of them having P4 experience, and have kept that trend going heading into 2026:

UNLV top star recruits. This graphic is missing 4-stars RB Jaylon Glover and LG Colton Thomasson.

UNLV runs a pro spread offense with a dual threat quarterback. When an opponent drops defenders into coverage, this gives UNLV a lighter box to run the ball. UNLV will try to spread the defense out in the passing game, both horizontally and vertically (and UNLV will run 4-verts quite a bit), to make it easier to run the ball. When defenses commit defenders into stopping the run (especially because you also have to account for the QB), this gives the quarterback receivers to attack in one-on-one man coverage. UNLV can then run zone-read or RPO plays and attack the run or pass depending on what the defense is giving them.

LB Kamuela Ka’aihue. Is this the look of a sane man?

UNLV fan. Is this the look of a sane man?

UNLV was founded in 1957, as you may have learned from Ben’s Wurster Hall this week (as I did). They spun off as an extension of the University of Nevada, Reno (i.e. the Nevada Wolfpack), which makes them the UCLA of Nevada schools in my eyes. They named themselves the Rebels, which I had assumed was some sort of Civil War reference, but realized that doesn’t make sense given their relatively recent founding. To quote the UNLV website:

UNLV’s nickname dates to the university’s origin in the mid-1950s, a time when a nation founded by rebels once again became obsessed with the idea of the iconic nonconformist. The decade of the 1950s was epitomized by young people rebelling against their parents’ middle-class American values. From popular motion pictures such as 1953’s The Wild One starring Marlon Brando and 1955’s Rebel Without a Cause starring James Dean, to “rebellious” musicians, such as Elvis Presley and the beginnings of rock and roll as it emerged from American blues music, the spirit of the times was rebellion.

So I’m supposed to believe the Running Reb is basically George Washington, mad at his parents? “1950s middle-class American values” is certainly vague, and while I’m sure it includes things like the nuclear “traditional” family, suburbanization, and whatever else boomers were up to, I can’t help feel like this rebellious spirit is missing one crucial aspect of 1950s American values deserving rebellion.

On the other hand, the “Hey Reb!” mascot originally wore a Confederate uniform, so maybe the Rebel was exactly who I thought he was.

I think you’re missing a very important rivalry trophy here.

UNLV is 2-2 so far this season, suffering a close loss to a good Memphis team and a blowout loss to North Texas (44-6). In defense of that North Texas result, I have never seen such effective home field advantage: the game kicked off at 2:45pm local time in 100+ degree weather, and exactly half of the stadium is shaded with the other side cooking in the sun. UNLV went on to have 3 fumbles, missed tackles all day on defense, and stalled out on offense multiple times in the redzone. They’ve also handled business against a bad Hawaii team (who also lost to Stanford) and a very bad Akron team. That means that Cal will be an effective measuring stick game for them: are they winning because they’re playing well, or because they’ve had a favorable schedule so far?

Quarterback

UNLV is led at quarterback by former class of 2023 5-star quarterback, Jackson Arnold. I mentioned this in the Syracuse article, but after Arnold, Cal will have faced all of the 5-star quarterbacks from the class of 2023 except for #1 Arch Manning. (I count Malachi Nelson in this one, because he saw Cal from the sidelines at both USC and Syracuse). So I definitely see a future showdown between Cal and #1 Texas (likely in the CFP) just so Cal can tick off that box. (Kidding, obviously).

Arnold started his career behind Dillon Gabriel at Oklahoma, before taking over in 2024 and leading Oklahoma to a 6-7 record. He transferred to Auburn in 2025, where he was ultimately benched for former Stanford (now FSU) QB Ashton Daniels (yikes). Arnold has struggled with his consistency, and he now looks to put up some solid numbers in his senior season at UNLV and establish himself as a legitimate NFL prospect.

As you would expect from a former 5-star QB, Arnold has the tools, he has just struggled to translate them into his game. He has a strong arm, quick release, and can throw with some velocity, and he has the athleticism to create his own yards on the ground running the ball. However, he’s also struggled with his accuracy at times, as well as his placement on deep throws.

Here Arnold shows some nice touch and placement on this throw:

QB Jackson Arnold drops it in to WR Tavian McNair as he beats his corner on the hitch and go for the 38 yard TD

Arnold is tough, and one of his knocks against him at his previous stops of Oklahoma and Auburn was his tendency to hold onto the ball too long and eat sacks. And while that may be true, it’s also because he’s not afraid to stand in the pocket and deliver:

QB Jackson Arnold hit as he throws but still completes the pass to WR Vincent Carner for 16 yards

Arnold has a tendency to roll out and throw on the run, often using all arm strength or inconsistent mechanics with his off-platform throws (hence the occasional misfires). When he can set his feet, he can stand and deliver nice throws:

QB Jackson Arnold sets his feet and makes a nice throw under pressure to WR DeAngelo Irvin Jr for 14 yards

Arnold is very escapable in the pocket, and he will often look to extend plays with his feet (although watch his lower half as he throws this one):

QB Jackson Arnold buys time in the pocket and keeps his eyes downfield for the 59 yard TD to WR Taz Reddicks

However, sometimes his throwing mechanics break down, and it seems like his lower body is not in sync with his upper body. Here’s an example where he lets his accuracy get away from him:

QB Jackson Arnold has WR DeAngelo Irvin wide open over the middle but doesn’t set his feet and a bad throw behind his receiver

Here Arnold has time, but still sails the throw high:

QB Jackson Arnold sails a throw over the middle

Arnold is also prone to misfiring even on easy throws:

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Wurster Hall: Because Not Every Graph Needs to Be Sad - UNLV PREVIEW

Tue, 29 Sep 2026 16:02:45 GMT

According to Wikipedia, “"Flood the zone" is a political strategy in which a political figure aims to gain media attention, disorient opponents and distract the public from undesirable reports by rapidly forwarding large volumes of newsworthy information to the media.” The college sports world has been inundated in graphs, all of them bleak. Through Wurster Hall this week, we’re going to “flood the zone” with what I consider good graphs. Let’s jump right in and learn about UNLV in the process!

Wurster Hall Interior courtesy of Daniel Ramirez. Bleak. Sad. Uninviting.

Allegiant Stadium - Toilet Valhalla

For many Cal Fans visiting Allegiant Stadium, this will be the first time witnessing the glory and splendor of the ~~San Francisco~~ ~~Los Angeles~~ ~~Oakland~~ Las Vegas Raiders new stadium. Cal of course was supposed to open up the stadium alongside UNLV in 2020 way back on August 29th and that’s enough about that!

I am sad that us fans never got to stress test it, much like they did back in June 2020. I never realized this was a significant part of game day operations for a team, but you learn something new every day! Anyways, that led me to discover Allegiant Stadium has a whopping 297 restrooms with nearly 1400 toilets! Wow! What a feat of engineering. But I’ll take the 90+ Stadium Rim Porta Potty’s every couple Saturdays thank you.

The History of Concrete

Next, we’ll jump in to stadium construction. Allegiant Stadium was of course completed in 2020 while California Memorial Stadium was built in 1922. California Memorial Stadium used approximately 50,000 cubic yards of concrete to build the stadium while Allegiant required double that at 105,000 cub yards of concrete, which according to their website “is enough to pave a sidewalk from Los Angeles to Las Vegas”. What an odd measurement! But you have to give the edge here to Cal, being efficient with the public dollars!

All Hail The Sphere

Next we take a look at a critical statistic, namely quite literally how our QBs stack up. As a comparison, we’ll use the neutral Vegas Sphere (The Wizard Of Oz is playing if you’re so inclined.) The Sphere itself measures in at 366 feet or 4,392 inches. UNLV QB Jackson Arnold measures in at a whopping 73 inches, meaning you would need approximately 60 of him plus his shin and feet to equal one Vegas Sphere, while Cal QB Jaron-Keawe Sagapolutele at 75 inches comes in at an efficient 58 Jaron’s and then approximately 1/2 of him. That my friends is what we call efficiency, and you love to see it in a QB.

Age Is But A Number

We move now now to discuss the age of each university in the year of our Oski, 2026. UC Berkeley was of course chartered in 1868 and is currently in its 158th year of existence. UNLV was chartered in 1957 and is currently celebrating their 69th birthday. Here’s a list of things that are older than UNLV.

Oski Bear (85)
Tom Hanks (70)
Play-Doh (70)
10 of UC Berkeley’s Nobel Prizes

The Closest Bear Is…Holy Cow Los Angeles?

Friends I researched this one extensively and as near as I can tell, the nearest Bear to the University of Nevada, Las Vegas is indeed the same Bear that is the closest to the University of California, Los Angeles. I tell you I was shocked to uncover this statistic, a whopping 271 miles from campus to the LA Zoo. I’m not sure what this means, but it can’t be a good sign right?

Well friends, that’s this week sampling of relevant statistics and graphs. I have to say, I feel a lot better now compared to Monday facing the onslaught of analytics. While I’m bummed I’ll miss the game on the plane, I’m looking forward to landing and see our victorious California Golden Bears come Saturday. Thanks for reading, and Go Bears!

DBD 2026-09-29: Risk

Tue, 29 Sep 2026 09:14:57 GMT

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Cal v. Virginia Tech College Football 2026 Kick-Off Time Announced

Mon, 28 Sep 2026 17:18:28 GMT

The California Golden Bears (2-2, 1-1 ACC) and Virginia Tech Hokies (4-0, 1-0 ACC) will have an early kick-off, according to announcements from Cal Athletics and the Atlantic Coast Conference Monday afternoon.

Cal v. Virginia Tech will be played on Saturday, Oct. 10, at 12:30 p.m. Pacific at Databricks Field at California Memorial Stadium in Berkeley, Calif.

The Cal v. Virginia Tech college football game will be broadcast nationally on either ESPN2 or the ACC Network.

Post-Game Thoughts: Clemson Football 2026

Mon, 28 Sep 2026 10:03:29 GMT

photo via @calfootball instagram

The desperation for Cal football to succeed was overwhelmingly palpable.

Friday night games are always challenging, and despite my best attempts, I felt a headache coming on while walking up to Memorial Stadium. Such is the price of a workday followed by a 90 minute drive before a long day of football.

Then came the game itself, where I was bombarded with all kinds of whizz-bang attempts to make Cal football fun for the fans. Flashing wrist bands! Drones! Constant noise and music and flashes, as my head pounded harder and harder, more painful with each passing second of stimuli.

Then there would be actual football, and my head would have moments of sweet relief because exactly one thing happened in 60 minutes to make the crowd feel any excitement or make any organic noise.

To be clear, I don’t begrudge Cal for doing anything and everything in an attempt to make football fun, to bring out families, to try to build loyalty and create memories for everybody involved. That stuff is not for me, a sicko who spent 3 hours watching every failed passing play against Syracuse because my brain is diseased, and that’s fine. (Well, the brain disease part isn’t fine, but the not-for-me part is.)

But all of the production values only served to underline how, in two highly anticipated home games, the fans have been given precious little actual football to get excited over. And no amount of game production will make the slightest bit of difference if Cal’s coaches create a situation where Stanford’s Davis Warren has a vastly more productive season that JKS.

Offense

Efficiency Report

9 drives: 2 field goal attempts (1-2), 4 punts, 3 turnovers (1 downs, 2 interceptions), 0.3 points/drive.

4.7 yards/play against UCLA
4.2 yards/play against Syracuse
4.1 yards/play against Clemson

Look man I could say plenty of things, but Avi covered most of it already and I think the best summary of Cal’s offense against Clemson is that the longest pass of the game was a 26 yard throw from tight end Mason Mini.

There’s just not much value in saying a ton and belaboring the point when . . .

Everything is broken

When an offense isn’t working, everybody tries to figure out why, and all kinds of broad theories are tested. Is it the offensive system? The talent level? Play calling? Execution? In game adjustments? Personnel usage?

For this Cal offense, the answer is “Yes.” Everything is wrong, everything is broken, nothing is working, and every explanation is partially correct. And to the extent that Cal did have something that was working, it was Adam Mohammed’s ability to break tackles and manufacture yards, but he left the game with an injury and his availability for the immediate future is in doubt.

Cal’s offense was roughly half as productive against UCLA at home as Purdue was on the road. Cal’s offense averaged two yards/play fewer against Syracuse than Pitt did in terrible weather. Cal’s offense was roughly as productive against Clemson as Georgia Southern was.

Every single data point says the same thing that anybody with eyes can see: this offense is a complete failure.

I have reached twin conclusions:

Cal has to consider drastic changes in-season to attempt to fix this.

I don’t have any idea how to fix this, but I do know that trying the same thing isn’t going to work.

What’s the right move here? Scrap a huge percentage of the play book and go a different direction? Give some playing time to other players further down the depth chart? Hand the reigns to Nick Rolovich? Find whatever commune in the woods Tony Franklin has retired to and try to convince him to take on one last job?

Any drastic change is almost certainly doomed to failure.

The offense is so broken that I am deeply skeptical that it can be fixed in season. That doesn’t mean Cal shouldn’t try, but as fans we get to be realistic about our chances here.

Defense

Efficiency Report

9 drives: 2 touchdowns, 2 field goal attempts (1-2), 3 punts, 2 turnovers (1 interception, 1 fumble), 1.9 points/drive.

For 55 minutes, Cal’s defense almost outscored Clemson.

The Tigers had scored 10 points on offense, and 7 of those points never would have happened if it weren’t for a special teams penalty that extended a Clemson drive. Now, Cal still had opportunities to keep them out of the endzone, but it still took another 12 plays, two 4th down conversions, and an iffy unnecessary roughness penalty to get Clemson all the way into the end zone.

That this defensive performance resulted in a 14 point loss is . . . demoralizing, among many other depressing adjectives.

As good as you can ask for until one play

Clemson’s 75 yard touchdown run to ice the game obviously stands out as the only meaningfully bad moment for Cal’s defense, but an important one because it outlines the only real flaw right now on this side of the ball: occasional run game breakdowns.

So let’s look at that play to try to figure out what went wrong. Here’s a link to the video if you prefer watching in higher definition, but I’ve got a GIF too:

As best I can tell, this is a combo of an unfortunate play call combination and not winning on a few blocks.

The main player to watch is #9 AJ Tuitele, who lines up in the gap between left tackle and left guard, before stunting around to the middle of the line . . . which is unfortunate, because he vacates the very gap that Clemson’s running back ends up sprinting through.

Tuitele’s stunt leaves #51 DE Jayden Williams defending two gaps, and Clemson’s RB does a great job of running right at his left guard until Williams commits himself to the C/G gap, leaving the G/T gap wide open.

Meanwhile, Clemson’s left tackle seals the edge on OLB #6 Emmanuel Okoye, CB #7 Daniel Harris is taken out of the play while he chases Clemson’s outside WR on a route away from the play side.

The only guy left with a prayer to make the play is backup safety #14 Aiden Manutai, but I don’t get the sense that he recognizes the danger and engages with a Clemson WR and is blocked out of the play.

My assumption here is that Cal made a defensive play call working under the assumption that Clemson would pass the ball on 3rd and 8. And while I get it, I think the threat of a run here, that Clemson would be conservative and try to protect a 7 point lead by running clock was a real one too. Either way, I’d have preferred just straight up defense here that would have maintained better gap integrity.

But that’s easy for me to say, and it’s unfair to nit-pick one play when Clemson averaged 4.2 yards/play (basically the same as Cal!) on the other 69 plays the ran.

Special Teams

I don’t understand the placekicker situation

I’ll admit, I’m perplexed here. Cal has Chase Meyer, who is generally pretty reliable from inside 40 yards, and Towns McGough, who isn’t very accurate but has a longer leg. They had a camp battle for field goal kicking that McGough evidently won, because he attempted Cal’s first three field goals, but then missed a longer kick and Cal pulled him for Meyer.

Then, facing a 4th and 11, Cal brings out Meyer for the longest kick attempt of his life, and the kick comes up short, and I am left wondering why Cal does not do the blindingly obvious thing and have Meyer attempt kicks from inside 45 and McGough attempt kicks longer than 45?

Probably the worst punt of Angus Davies’ life*?

Just last week, I catalogued how Cal was badly struggling in every phase of special teams but one: punting, because Angus Davies is a veteran with multiple years of successful punting under his belt. Then Davies hit a 39 yard punt with just about the least amount of hang time I’ve ever seen, allowing Clemson’s returner to get a running start towards the end zone well before Cal’s coverage team had a chance to get downfield.

Davies shook it off to come up with back-to-back punts downed at the 1 and 2 yard lines respectively, which kept Cal in the game, but it’s unfortunate that a misfire had such consequential repercussions.

*He did have 2 punt return touchdowns allowed against him while playing for Tulsa from 2023-25, but based on the highlights I don’t think either were Davies’ fault.

Big Picture

Cal has invested heavily in this football team, in every way. Cal paid to fire Justin Wilcox, paid to hire Tosh Lupoi, paid to bring in heavily recruited portal players, paid for a huge new staff. All with the idea that on-field success is less a goal and more a requirement.

And yet so far results have been not meaningfully different from Justin Wilcox, and arguably worse. Barring a truly unexpected change, this is just another year of struggling towards bowl eligibility.

We have already learned a bit about what kind of head coach Tosh Lupoi is. We will learn a great deal more in how he reacts to the current situation. Is he the kind of guy who tries to stay the course through crisis? Is he more the kind of guy to make decisive changes, for good or for ill? And if he is the latter, do those changes pay any kind of dividend, even if small and incremental? Can he be the kind of leader at head coach who can maintain morale and keep a team pushing in one direction?

The first four games have given us a really strong indication of what to expect for the rest of the 2026 season. The next few games will give us a really strong indication of what to expect from the rest of the Tosh Lupoi era . . . and maybe a strong indication of how long it will be.

DBD 2026-09-28: AAUGH

Mon, 28 Sep 2026 09:01:42 GMT

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The Cal Football Offense Is In A State of Emergency

Sun, 27 Sep 2026 13:29:14 GMT

Credit: Rob Hwang

Month one could not have started any worse for Tosh Lupoi at Cal.

There were hopes that after a disappointing UCLA result, the California Golden Bears were in the midsts of experiencing growing pains. There was wishcasting that this would eventually be fixed once the team learned to play with each other. Even if the metrics didn’t look good to start for this team, perhaps the Bears would eventually click into place with time and familiarity.

That has not happened.

One of the biggest concerns coming into this season was how green our leaders were on this football staff. A first-time head coach. A first-time offensive coordinator. A first-time defensive coordinator. A special teams coach with very limited special teams experience. Would they be able to adjust and adapt in new situations? Would this bet on youth and vigor in recruiting and talent acquisition result in a team that continues to improve week-by-week and develops?

Welp. We’re in trouble now.

After weeks of disappointing results, and essentially two weeks to prepare exclusively for one of Dabo Swinney’s weakest squads, the Cal offense bottomed out on Friday against Clemson, producing results devoid of scheme, rhythm, or coherence. A Clemson defense that got churned on the ground for 200+ rushing yards at home by the fighting Belichicks, all after being chunked to death by LSU, clamped Jaron-Keawe Sagapolutele in irons.

Who knows which of the warning signs we’ve seen the first three weeks first went off Friday night.

Maybe it was the constant rollouts to the short side of the field that left small windows and hard throws to pull off.
Maybe it was the timing of the quarterbacks and the wide receivers still looking continuously off-sync, where good ideas turn into interceptions, near-interceptions, deflections, or drops.
Maybe it was the offensive line not able to hold their blocks on run plays, leading to running backs wading through contact and trash to pick up positive yards
Maybe it was the screens that seem to produce 1-2 yards with general consistency, taking the pressure off the defense and putting all the onus on us to execute.
Maybe it was the general confusion the offense seemed to play with when they had the ball, overwhelmed with information and processing as defenses felt comfortable adjusting and straight manning up our team.

What we’d seen for three weeks in bits and spurts was all on display Friday, for a live three and a half hour display of nothing. Nothing happened on offense on Friday. 40,000+ Cal fans showed up to Berkeley on a Friday night and got nothing for their efforts.

There were major questions about the Jordan Somerville hire. How would a first-time offensive coordinator handle these duties, particularly one who had been gameplanning with NFL talent the last two years? How would he develop his rising quarterback this offseason to mold his abilities for the next level within the confines of a competent offense? What type of offensive style and scheme would be used to mitigate weaknesses and accentuate strengths?

The answer to all of the above questions so far are variations of “No.”

The Cal offense has produced a horrifying total of 20 non-defensive assisted points of off-script (after the first 1-2 drives of offense in each half) in its three Power 4 games. Sagapolutele is hesitating, taking too long to make decisions, making poor reads, and often finding no one to throw to. That Cal upgraded their talent significantly at wideout but cannot gameplan their players open is exasperating.

From the wide perspective of what is going wrong, it appears the Cal offense is simultaneously being asked to do two things

Before the play: The offense is working so much pre-snap to adjust to the defensive look, constantly running the game clock down, allowing the defense to also re-adjust. There appears to be so much processing going in that players are constantly confused about how to go about the actual play.
During the play: The change-ups or tendencies of Somerville’s playcalling are simple enough for defenses to adjust and lock down with straight man coverage. This is putting players in positions where it's nearly impossible to succeed.

In the rush attack, nearly everything is being created by the running backs. The offensive line was horrendous last year in creating space for their ball-carriers, and it’s improved somewhat, but only because the running backs have more elusiveness to grind extra yards. Adam Mohammed’s injury will make things even more difficult in the coming weeks. Is it too many playcalls? Are the reads too simple for the defense to plug the gaps?

In the receiving game, Ian Strong simply is not on the same page with Sagapolutele, as both struggle to find one another and sutain drives. All of the other receivers—besides some nice Chase Hendricks moments—aren’t getting open in space. There is something missing in the geometry of the pass game concepts, where wideouts are either not making the right read to get open or the plays themselves aren’t providing optionality, or are overlapping in limited space, or the offense is producing too much confusion for these players to actually produce consistent offense, or all of the above...

Against Clemson, Cal looked so thoroughly overwhelmed in the first half. The Golden Bears only managed a sustained scoring drive when they took the football out of JKS’s hands and gave Mason Mini and Dominic Ingrassia QB opportunities, with Mini throwing the football 10 yards short of where it needed to go and Ingrassia pirouetting out of the grasp of two Clemson defenders. To add insult to injury, Somerville decided to run variants of these same tricks that BARELY WORKED the first time, and both ended drives at critical junctures.

All the above failings culminated in a systemic collapse. Through one month of the season, Cal is now near the bottom of every P4 offensive category.

I do not see a well-coached unit. Somerville has neutered Cal’s future NFL Draft quarterback prospect, who has now been coached into throwing checkdowns and 50-50 balls and running five-step drops with a hard-working but fragile pass protection unit and wide receivers with limited skill sets. This offense is too much for this group, and Sagapolutele looks completely out of his element.

Given the two year window with this talent, this is unacceptable. There needs to be a fix, soon, before the fears of the transfer portal become fully realized.

Tosh Lupoi had two opportunities to win over the Cal fanbase and kickstart his head coaching career with a bang. Against UCLA, he was dressed down by Bob Chesney, who is admittedly looking like a National Head Coach of the Year candidate. Against Clemson, the sly fox Dabo Swinney seemed to be several steps ahead of his Cal counterparts. Only Kingston Lopa saved Lupoi from a truly calamitous beginning in the Carrier Dome.

Somerville was Lupoi’s first major hire. In a situation where we all knew Lupoi might have some learning curves as a first-time coach, particularly with regard to in-game strategy and tactics, it was a puzzling hire. Somerville had not called plays anywhere, and really hadn’t even come close to touching playcalling duties at any previous location.

There were dreams that Somerville was a wunderkind who would lift the offense to better places, but it’s looking like he is out of his element. Seasoned college defensive coordinators at Syracuse and Clemson have locked him down, and an up-and-comer at UCLA essentially figured him out in-game. And it won’t get any easier: Five of Cal’s last seven ACC opponents sport defensive coordinators with 10+ years of experience at this position.

There is one internal option to consider. Nick Rolovich is on staff, has plenty of offensive coaching acumen, and has a relationship with Sagapolutele that is very strong. Bringing him deeper into the offensive braintrust and assisting with playcalling feels like a quick fix. He already partly did this last year after the termination of Justin Wilcox and coached one of Cal’s best offensive efforts in an upset of SMU.

Lupoi has stated public confidence in Somerville, but how much longer can this go on? Sagapolutele is grading out currently as one of the least efficient P4 quarterbacks in college football, and you have to imagine the wolves are out from other programs offering opportunity elsewhere. A few more bad results and those dissenting voices will become drumbeats, and a second rebuild might be on the horizon for 2027.

Four weeks in, the honeymoon is over. It’s time for Tosh Lupoi to find fixes, before the 2026 season is truly lost.

Cal top WR commit Charles Davis reopens his recruitment, remains committed

Sat, 26 Sep 2026 18:34:25 GMT

UPDATE: Davis has updated his post to indicate he is still committed, but his recruitment is open.

A tough weekend got tougher for the California Golden Bears as they lost their best offensive recruit. Westlake wide receiver Charles Davis, a consensus top-15 wide receiver and top-10 California recruit in this class, will be seeking new opportunities.

Davis was in attendance in Berkeley on Friday night and decided to make the call to reevaluate his options after a 24-10 loss to Clemson. It was a tough night in Memorial Stadium for the Davis family, as Charles’s brother Niles committed an offside penalty on a 4th and 4, which led to Clemson’s first touchdown.

Among Cal WR commits, Demare Dezeurn, Zion White and Blake Gunter remain committed to Cal, but with Dezeurn being Davis’s teammate and the Cal offense still struggling to produce, it’ll now become a priority to retain these players and find another option before signing day.

Cal Falls Flat Against the Clemson Tigers, 10-24

Sat, 26 Sep 2026 06:02:00 GMT

Courtesy: Cal Athletics

The last time the Clemson Tigers (3-1) played the California Bears (2-2) was New Year’s Day, 1992, at the Citrus Bowl. The Bears won that match 37-13. Clemson was the first team to receive and begin the work of running the ball. On their second passing attempt of the game they threw an interception to Sidney Crosby. Cal’s drive progressed for two sets of downs before JKS himself was picked off by Clemson CB Elliot Washington II.

On the next drive, Clemson QB Tait Reynolds lost the ball on a QB scramble, and redshirt sophomore Kamar Mothudi ran it in for six. The next successful Clemson drive was stymied deep in the Cal redzone, and the Tigers had to settle for a field goal to start the second quarter. Despite offensive constipation, Clemson successfully converted two fourth downs after an unsuccessful Cal effort, with a penalty bringing them to 1st and goal on the Cal one, where they punched it in, making it 10-7 in the Tigers’ favor after the successful extra point.

On the first drive of the second half, Cal showed signs of life, successfully running two trick plays before the drive sputtered at the Clemson 12. Chase Meyer sank his field goal attempt this time around to tie the game at 10 with just under ten minutes left in the third quarter. Clemson and Cal traded ineffective turns on offense, before a shallow Cal punt gave Clemson a short field which they returned for a touchdown bringing the score to 17-10 in favor of the Tigers with 3:57 left in the third quarter.

The fourth quarter played out with the teams trading off ineffective possessions, however Clemson took vastly more time off the clock. Cal cleaned up their punting, forcing the Tigers to start drives from inside their own five yard line on two consecutive drives, failing to contain them either time. On yet another 3rd and short for Clemson, their back Gideon Davidson took the ball 75 yards to the house, making the score 24-10. The next Cal possession ended in an interception. With less than two minutes of game time, the stands began to empty. By the end of the game, Clemson outstripped Cal in time of possession by more than six minutes. Next week Cal will travel to Las Vegas to play the UNLV Rebels.

Cal vs. Clemson College Football 2026: Live Fan Chat - Bears Offense Stopped in 10-24 Defeat

Fri, 25 Sep 2026 22:02:10 GMT

How to watch Cal v. Clemson college football

When: Friday, Sept. 25, 2026
Kick-Off Time: 7:30 p.m. Pacific
Where: Databricks Field at California Memorial Stadium in Berkeley, Calif.
TV: ESPN
Radio: KSFO 810 AM; Channel 81 on SiriusXM Radio and the SiriusXM app and website; The Varsity Network app; or the official Cal Bears YouTube channel

How to watch Cal v. Clemson college football online

The Cal v. Clemson college football game will air on ESPN.

ESPN can be streamed online on the ESPN app, ESPN website, popular online TV streaming services and major paid cable or satellite TV providers’ online services.

Subscribe now

Cal v. Clemson college football first quarter stats

Cal v. Clemson college football second quarter and first-half stats

Cal v. Clemson college football third quarter stats

Cal v. Clemson college football fourth quarter and full-game stats

Bear Insider Podcast - The Latest in the Lair: Cal Legends Mike Pawlawski and Troy Auzenne

Bear Insider — Fri, 25 Sep 2026 18:39:54 GMT

How to Watch Cal v. Clemson College Football: Live Stream and TV Channel

Fri, 25 Sep 2026 17:45:43 GMT

The California Golden Bears (2-1, 1-0 ACC) host the Clemson Tigers (2-1, 1-0 ACC) in the first regular-season matchup in either program’s history. The game is Cal’s first of its Atlantic Coast Conference slate in the 2026-2027 college football season.

Here is how you can watch Cal v. Clemson college football Friday night.

How to watch Cal v. Clemson college football

When: Friday, Sept. 25, 2026
Kick-Off Time: 7:30 p.m. Pacific
Where: Databricks Field at California Memorial Stadium in Berkeley, Calif.
TV: ESPN
Radio: KSFO 810 AM; Channel 81 on SiriusXM Radio and the SiriusXM app and website; The Varsity Network app; or the official Cal Bears YouTube channel

How to watch Cal v. Clemson college football online

The Cal v. Clemson college football game will air on ESPN.

ESPN can be streamed online on the ESPN app, ESPN website, popular online TV streaming services and major paid cable or satellite TV providers’ online services.

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Film Review: Passing Woes against Syracuse

Fri, 25 Sep 2026 16:00:21 GMT

The biggest storyline across the first two games of Cal’s season is an inefficient passing attack. 6.2 yards/attempt against UCLA followed up by 5.4 yards/attempt against Syracuse, after a freshman season that saw JKS go for 7.0 for the whole season has been setting off alarm bells for Cal fans who were expecting fireworks after Cal brought in pass catching talent in the portal.

So what gives? Well, here’s the deal: I’m going to go through every non-successful passing play from the Syracuse game until I either run out of time or find some kind of takeaway that might explain why Cal hasn’t successfully passed the ball yet. Let’s go:

Play 1: 1st and 10

Link to play

This was actually a solid play, in that Cal gains 5 easy yards, but here’s what I found interesting. Cal lines up in 5 wide . . . and all five guys just run stick routes five yards downfield, with JKS having basically every receiver as an open underneath option:

He hits Hendricks for a free five yards, but what does this play design say to me? We don’t trust our blockers to hold up for any kind of long developing route.

Play 2: 1st and 10

Link to play

Syracuse runs a DB blitz, sending their nickleback from the right side. JKS turns around from a play action fake to find Davion Kerr in his face. He makes the right read to throw the dumpoff to Purcell . . .

. . . but under pressure, he throws to high and Purcell can only tip it to the ground. This is a little bit bad luck, that ‘Cuse has a DB blitz called directly to the side that JKS is rolling towards.

If the throw is there, Purcell has an easy 7-10 yards, maybe more if he can break a tackle. It’s not an easy throw, but still one you would expect a QB like JKS to make. It’s probably not ideal that the play design makes it harder for a lefty to set himself. Purcell also maybe could have gotten a better chip on Kerr, but he’s a true freshman focusing on running his route.

Play 3: 3rd and 6

Link to play

Cal comes out in five wide, and Syracuse blitzes with 5 guys. Surely somebody on Cal will come open with 6 DBs to defend 5 receivers?

Nope. Jimothy Lewis is beaten on the right side of the line, and a stunt sends an interior lineman into JKS’s face. There’s nowhere to move in the pocket, so JKS is forced to unload a throw too soon. Cooper Perry runs an aimless looking slant that takes him right into a linebacker in a shallow zone but he wasn’t even looking for the ball that was arriving too soon.

Play 4: 2nd and 8

Link to play

Cal goes with a RB screen, and it’s a perfect play call because Syracuse sends a delayed safety blitz that vacates a ton of space. Just look at the moment Mohammed catches the ball with a convoy in front of him:

If Cal’s blockers can take out the ONE dude in space and Mohammed can outrun the chasing defensive linemen and the backside linebacker, this can go for acres.

Unfortunately, the pass takes Mohammed juuuuust too far outside such that he trips over the legs of the linemen blocking for him as he turns upfield.

I don’t even know if anybody is at fault for this, exactly? Did Mohammed stray too far outside in his route? Did JKS place the ball too far to the sideline? Did Cal’s blockers not get out fast enough? Is this just a random frustrating thing that happens sometimes? Regardless, it takes a play that probably would’ve gained 10 yards minimum and turns it into a 2 yard play.

Play 5: 3rd and 6

Link to play

This one is concerning for a few different reasons.

Reason one: JKS is a little trigger happy. Syracuse blitzes 5, but Cal’s line actually picks it up pretty well, and he has more time to make a decision than he thinks.

Reason two: JKS throws a contested ball up to Strong who is well covered on the sideline. The guy he should be throwing to?

That’d be Hendricks, who is completely uncovered as he runs a shallow crossing route. Hit him and he picks up the first down easily.

Reason three: This is far from an easy catch to make - Syracuse’s defender has better position on Strong. It’s maybe a catch . . . 20% of the time? But it’s a pretty good throw, and it’s another chance for a contested catch from a contested catch specialist, but he can’t come down with it, in part because it looks like Strong can’t disengage from the hand fighting he’s doing with the ‘Cuse corner in time.

Play 6: 3rd and 4

Link to play

Cal calls a WR bubble screen, and I can’t decide if this is an acceptable play call or a terrible play call.

Why might it be an OK play call? Because Syracuse has basically sent the house on 3rd and 4. The ball needs to come out FAST, but if you get it to a play maker there’s going to be space to roam. Just look at the picture when JKS releases the pass:

If Ian Strong can seal off ‘Cuse’s #7, Hendricks should easily get the 4 yards to get the first down, and if he can make the safety rotating down miss, then it could be a HUGE gain.

Why do I still kind of hate it? Because I am still unconvinced that Cal has outside receivers that can block. Ian Strong very much DOESN’T get the block, Hendricks is hit as he receives the pass, and Cal loses two yards . . . but the drive keeps going because the refs call a super questionable unsportsmanlike on Syracuse.

Should Cal have Strong as the blocking receiver here? Maybe it should be Mini or Purcell as the blocker? Would that telegraph that it’s a screen to Syracuse? Would the DB, who is super fast to the play, be too fast for a slower tight end?

Regardless, for YEARS I have watched Cal offensive coordinators call plays like this even though they have never had the blocking personnel to make these plays successful.

Play 7: 1st and 10

Link to play (the broadcast was late to the snap)

Cal runs max protect, with only three guys running routes. One of them is Mini, who is running a sideline route, but Syracuse does a good job using the sideline as a defender, and Mini is out of bounds even though he makes a contested catch.

The guy to throw to is Dorian Thomas, who comes open on the right running a deeper post, but it might be just as well that JKS seems locked into the left side of the field . . . because Jimothy Lewis is beaten on a speed rush to the outside, meaning that if JKS had gone to another read and tried to reset his feet, he’d have probably been sacked on his blindside, rather than ‘only’ taking a QB hit on this play.

Play 8: 2nd and 11

Link to play

This one’s pretty simple: it’s a blown assignment by the offensive line. Syracuse lines up one of their DEs WAY wide of left tackle:

For whatever reason, nobody slides over to block him, he’s not chipped, it’s not a play where Cal leaves a guy unblocked because they’re going elsewhere . . . he just runs right at JKS and tips the pass when JKS tries to make a throw.

Play 9: 3rd and 11

Link to play

Another concerning play. Cal’s protection on a 4 man rush is decent, but JKS doesn’t feel like he can step into a throw . . . which sails in the general direction of Ian Strong, but isn’t particularly close. It’s one of those plays where you’re left wondering - did the WR run the wrong route? Did the QB bail?

If JKS steps up into the pocket away from the outside rushers, I think there’s space for him to let routes develop and go through progressions. But he probably feels the pressure and gets rid of it.

BTW, by this point in the game Cal had already pulled Jimothy Lewis. Michael Klisiewicz did OK here - the Syracuse edge rusher maybe had a bit of outside leverage, but again if JKS steps up there’s a play to be made.

Takeaways

I ran out of time to type up larger breakdowns of individual plays, but I kept watching film from failed plays, like the 4th and 3 that Hendricks couldn’t bring in, and the sack that JKS took in the 4th quarter. Add it all up, and what do you get?

JKS is uncomfortable

He’s not stepping into throws, he’s feeling pressure before it gets there, and he was more inaccurate in this game than we’re used to seeing. Maybe it was a one off, because Syracuse was reasonably blitz happy and got some early hits in, but Cal needs their best player comfortable and confident.

If this was his first season as a starter, I’d assume that’s just his skill level in the moment. But we saw what JKS did last year and what he’s capable of doing, so I’m open to the idea that something else is off. Maybe he didn’t have the reps to build chemistry with the new guys. Maybe Cal’s new offense hasn’t been well-installed, or maybe it’s a bad fit for JKS’s skillset.

Whatever the reason for what we saw in Cal’s first two games (and particularly against Syracuse), Cal needs to figure out how to get JKS comfortable and slinging it, FAST.

Receivers need to make plays

There were multiple tough catch opportunities that went by the wayside. Sideline routes, balls that were tough but in the catch radius . . . this was one of those games where you’re reminded that 10 different things need to happen to make a successful football play and 1 mistake can kill it all.

Klisiewicz was an upgrade at tackle but issues on the edges persist

Most of the pressure Syracuse got was on the edges, and the issues were mostly physical (either beaten for speed or for power) but occasionally mental/identification. A change at right tackle slowed the problem (protection issues at that position was a primary issue for Cal’s slow start), which is some cause for optimism if Klisiewicz can play solid ball against Clemson.

I want more downfield plays with more protection

When Cal found success, it was with downfield passing off of 6 and 7 man protection schemes that helped JKS feel comfortable and have the confidence to survey the field and go down the field. Cal’s 2nd quarter touchdown drive came off of that kind of stuff, and there were narrow misses on similar plays in the 3rd quarter.

This goes double for as long as Dorian Thomas isn’t full go to play with the starters, because if Cal has fewer trusted downfield receivers, then you’re better off improving your protection and your QB’s confidence.

I get that Cal has to occasionally go underneath as a constraint play to keep a defense honest and potentially as a protection against constant blitzing. But I don’t really want to see much underneath stuff that isn’t to Mohammed, Cal’s best open field play maker.

Know The Enemy: Clemson Football 2026, Part 2

Fri, 25 Sep 2026 13:04:31 GMT

Matthew Goldin writes about Clemson Football and Baseball for Shakin the Southland. He is a Clemson grad and Frasier aficionado. Check out his work at shakinthesouthland.com.

image courtesy of @clemsonfb

1) It feels like the questions around your coach have been bubbling for a while, is the fanbase generally starting to turn? Are they set with the two nattys and fortified for a tough time, or are the expectations high all the time now?

The Dabo issue is a tough one. I think former Clemson defensive end Xavier Thomas said it best when he tweeted out that he wished Dabo had stepped down like Saban did when he saw the game changing and knew it wasn’t what he wanted to do. Clemson fans will always be grateful for what Dabo did for the program, but the fans also got used to watching a top quality program and don’t want to see that regress. Nationally, I think there’s a lot of misunderstanding with Dabo. People say that he said he “would quit” if players got paid, and the actual quote was him stating that if college football becomes professionalized, he might as well just go coach NFL. He’s been pretty supportive of players earning money through NIL, and Clemson is actively finding new revenue streams like concerts in Death Valley and ads on the field to bring in money to pay players. Thenilstandard.com shows Clemson spent $25.5 million on its current roster. For comparison, the site shows Georgia spending $30 million. So, Clemson is spending money to be competitive. The issues Clemson has relate to roster construction, portal usage, and coaching staff. A good bit of Clemson’s staff is made up of former players, and then you’ve got guys like Chris Rumph (Defensive Ends coach), Rich Bisaccia (Special Teams Coordinator) and Chad Morris (Offensive Coordinator) who are on their second stint at Clemson. To Bisaccia’s credit, he last coached Clemson in 1998, so the program looked completely different when he was last in Tiger Town. And even Rumph left after Dabo’s second full season as head coach in 2010 to join Nick Saban’s staff at Alabama. But regardless, I think most people would agree Clemson needs a big infusion of outside blood and new ideas to rejuvenate the program, and recent trends have people wondering if Dabo is willing to do that. There are exceptions to this. Defensive Coordinator Tom Allen, Offensive Line Coach Matt Luke, and former Offensive Coordinator Garrett Riley were all outside hires. Dabo’s Clemson staffs have always had a mix of outside guys along with some homegrown coaches. At this moment, some different perspective would help the program.

You then look at the success Clemson is seeing with the defensive players that were taken from the portal, and wonder why the program only took one offensive player when there are other offensive issues that needed addressing. Fans don’t seem to want to become a program where you’re bringing in 30+ transfers every year, but we do all want it used as needed. The hope is that seeing all the positives the portal has brought on defense will mean Clemson dips into it more on offense.

That was kind of a long winded answer, but basically I think the way to summarize it is that we love Dabo for what all he has done, but we don’t know if he’s going to make the moves needed to get Clemson back to where we all expect it to be, and so as that continues, the frustration from the fans gets louder and louder. Personally, I really hope he can right the ship because I hate to see his legacy suffer.

2) How do you see the rest of your season playing out?

I feel better after seeing the comeback win vs UNC. Seeing how the team does against Cal on the road Friday night will tell me a lot. Right now I really don’t know what to tell you because the second half of UNC was the first time we’ve seen good football out of Clemson this year. We’re also watching Tait Reynolds continue to grow. We saw a lot of what he can do against the Tar Heels. While there are certainly some growing pains that will still happen with a freshman QB, there are some reasons to be optimistic.

3) Defensive player to watch Friday?

Ashton Hampton is one of the better Cornerbacks in college. I’m excited to see him get a chance at a great passing attack with an NFL caliber QB in Jaron-Keawe Sagapolute.

4) Offensive player to watch Friday?

I’ll give you two. TJ Moore and Bryant Wesco are some absolute ballers. The numbers right now probably aren’t going to blow you away because of Clemson’s offensive woes in the first two games, but look at their body of work since 2024 and they are both playmakers. Wesco missed a chunk of last season with a neck injury he sustained against SMU. With Clemson’s offense starting to come together, I’d really like to see him catch fire in his comeback year.

5) How do you see the game going?

The general weirdness of having to go across the country and play at 10:30 PM Eastern Time with a short week of practice concerns me. The good news on the late kickoffs is that with weather delays, Clemson has dealt with a pair of games this year that kicked off after 9:00. Then you add in the fact that JKS is one of the best QBs that Clemson will face. The only reason I won’t call him the best QB the Tigers face is because Clemson does have to play Darian Mensah next weekend. I expect to see some of the good things that we saw from Clemson in the second half of the UNC game, like Gideon Davidson running well and Tait Reynolds continuing to improve. But I figure there will be some sloppiness on our end. If Clemson comes out with a win, I’ll be happy no matter how we got there.

6) What does Cal need to do to win this thing?

Clemson’s run defense struggled against LSU and UNC. As good as JKS is, Clemson’s passing defense is its strength. Adam Mohammed for Cal will need to play a role in this game. Not to say JKS won’t get his, but unless Clemson’s run defense improves, Mohammed may be the guy that decides this game.

7) Whom would you most like to punch in the face?

Hmmmm, I need an answer that won’t get me in too much trouble. Right now I think I’ll go with Pete Golding. That whole thing with tampering with Luke Ferrelli still irks me. We should be sitting here talking about his return to Berkley with the Tigers.