Cal Football Game Preview: Bears Host Duke

Cal will celebrate Homecoming in Saturday night’s home game against Duke.

Other events during Saturday's game include a 50-year reunion of Cal’s 1975 team that led the nation in offense and tied for the Pac-8 title, as well as honoring College Hall of Fame electee Alex Mack, an All-America center for Cal in 2008.

The preview:

CAL (4-1, 1-0 ACC) vs. DUKE (3-2, 2-0 ACC)

SITE: California Memorial Stadium, Berkeley, California

WHEN: Saturday, 7:30 p.m.

TV: ESPN -- Dave Flemming (Play by Play), Brock Osweiler (Analyst), Stormy Buonantony (Sideline Reporter)

RADIO: 810 AM -- Justin Allegri (Play-By-Play), Mike Pawlawski (Analyst), Ben Ross (Sideline Reporter)

BETTING LINE: Duke is a 2.5-point favorite at some betting sites and the Blue Devils are 3-point favorites on other sites. Over/Under is 54.5 points

WEATHER FORECAST: Saturday afternoon will be mostly sunny with a high of 72 degrees, but the temperature will drop to about 65 degrees by game time Saturday night. The temperature will drop further to about 56 degrees by the time the game is over. It will be partly cloudy Saturday night, with humidity of 83% and just an 9% chance of rain.

CAL-DUKE HISTORY: Cal and Duke have played each other only twice in football and they have not met at all in 62 years. Cal and Duke tied 22-22 in 1963 in Berkeley, and Duke beat the Golden Bears 21-7 in 1962 in Durham, North Carolina.

CAL PLAYER AVAILABILITY:  Kicker Abram Murray will miss his third straight game. He is 3-for-3 on field goal attempts this season and kicks Cal’s long field goals. All the kicking will be done by Chase Meyer, who is 3-for-4 on field-goal attempts, with a long of 43 yards.  It was announced earlier this week that starting outside linebacker Ryan McCulloch and starting safety Isaiah Crosby will miss the rest of the season with injuries sustained in the third game.

DUKE PLAYER AVAILABILITY:  Starting linebacker Nick Morris Jr. (3.5 tackles for loss) and backup linebacker Kendall Johnson (3.0 tackles for loss) have been ruled out for Saturday’s game. Tight end Landen King (2 touchdown receptions) is questionable.

CAL STORYLINES:

---Saturday night’s game will help determine whether Cal is part of the ACC title chase. The Bears are one of nine teams that are unbeaten in ACC play, and one of six teams that have played at least one conference game and are undefeated in ACC games.

---Cal is a slight underdog in this game against Duke, but that may be a good sign for the Bears. Cal is 3-0 this season in games in which it was the underdog (beating Oregon State, Minnesota and Boston College) and 0-1 in the only game in which it was favored (San Diego State).

---Cal is coming off a 28-24 road victory over Boston College, with Luke Ferrelli’s interception in the end zone in the closing second clinching the victory. It was the first Cal game this season decided by one score. Cal went 1-4 in games decided by five points or fewer last season. They are 1-0 in that category this year.

---Cal freshman quarterback Jaron-Keawe Sagapolutele rebounded from a disappointing performance in the Bears’ 34-0 loss to San Diego State with a strong showing against Boston College. He led Cal to the go-ahead touchdown in the closing minutes, throwing a 51-yard touchdown pass to Mason Mini with 1:30 left in the game. For the season he has completed 61.8% of his passes for eight touchdowns with four interceptions.

---Cal running game has been erratic, but Kendrick Raphael produced his second 100-yard rushing game of the season against Boston College, gaining 113 yards on the ground.

---Bears cornerback Hezekiah Masses is tied with UNLV’s Aamari Brown for the national lead in interceptions with four, and Masses leads the country in passes defended with 11 (four interceptions, seven pass breakups). No other player in the nation has more than eight passes defended.

---Bears wide receiver Trond Grizzell has made a habit of catching contested passes by using his 6-foot-4 height to jump  higher than the player covering him on long passes from Sagapolutele. He is averaging 17.2 yards per reception, but he may be defended all-ACC Duke cornerback Chandler Rivers at least part of the time on Saturday.

---Cal ranks second in the ACC in scoring defense, allowing 18.0 points per game, but the Bears are 13th in scoring offense, averaging 24.8 points per game. The shutout loss to San Diego State, which was the first time in six years that the Bears were shutout, hurt their scoring average.

---The Golden Bears would like to improve their pass rush. They have sacked opposing quarterbacks seven times, and only one ACC team has recorded fewer sacks than that. Cal quarterbacks have been sacked eight times, which ranks in the middle of the pack in the ACC.

---Cal inside linebackers Cade Uluave and Luke Ferrelli have combined for 78 tackles this year, and that ranks second by any duo on a team in the ACC and seventh by any pair of players on a team in the country.

---Tight end Mason Mini is the surprise of season for Cal. He had just five catches for 61 receiving yards and no touchdowns in 12 games as a redshirt freshman at Idaho in 2024. In five games for Cal this season, Mini has 23 receptions for 223 yards and a team-high three receiving touchdowns.

---Cal is hoping to move a step closer to its first winning season since 2019 and its first winning record in conference play since 2009.

DUKE STORYLINES:

---Duke has won two straight games and is coming off its best performance of the year in a dominant 38-3 road victory over Syracuse, which had defeated Clemson the week before. The Blue Devils rolled up 502 yards offense in that game, including 235 yards on the ground.

---Saturday’s game will be Duke’s first game on the West Coast since it lost to Stanford 50-13 in 2012 at Stanford Stadium. Before this week, Duke had yet to make a trip to the West Coast since Cal and Stanford joined the conference in 2024. The distance from Durham, North Carolina, to Berkeley is about 2,400 miles and requires a 5-hour flight.

---Saturday’s game starts at 7:30 p.m. Pacific time, which would be 10:30 p.m. Eastern time. The game will end at about 2 a.m. Duke time.

---Duke freshman running back Nate Sheppard made his first college start last week against Syracuse, and he rushed for 168 yards, the fourth-most by a Duke freshman in history. He has run for 356 yards this season and has an 8.1 yards-per-carry average.

---Blue Devils quarterback Darian Mensah, a transfer from Tulane, ranks first in the ACC and fourth in the country in passing yards per game (314.6), and he is second in the ACC in passer rating (166.88). He has thrown 13 touchdown passes with just two interceptions.

---Duke ranks eighth in the ACC in scoring offense, averaging 34.8 points, but the Blue Devils scored 83 points in their past two games combined, both against ACC opponents. Duke ranks 11th in the ACC in scoring defense, allowing 26.4 points per game.

---The Blue Devils are trying to improve to 3-0 in conference play for the first time since 2015. Duke finished just 4-4 in the ACC that season.

---Edge rusher Vincent Anthony Jr. has 5.0 sacks, which leads the ACC and is tied for fourth nationally. As a team, Duke has recorded 11 sacks, which ranks tied for fourth in the ACC.

---Five questions to a Duke beat writer about the Blue Devils---

CAL PLAYERS TO WATCH: QB Jaron-Keawe Sagapolutele (8 TD passes, 4 interceptions); LB Cade Uluave (40 tackles, 6.0 tackles for loss); WR Trond Grizzell (17.2 yards per reception); WR/PR Jacob De Jesus (28 catches, 13.4 yards per punt return); CB Hezekiah Masses (4 interceptions, 11 passes defended); ILB Luke Ferrelli (game-clinching interception last week); TE Mason Mini (at least 4 catches in every game this season).

DUKE PLAYERS TO WATCH: QB Darian Mensah (leads ACC in passing yards); RB Nate Sheppard (8.1 yards per carry); EDGE Vincent Anthony Jr. (leads ACC with 5.0 sacks);  CB Chandler Rivers (2024 first-team All-ACC); WR Cooper Barkate (21 receptions, 409 yards, 3 TDs); WR Sahmir Hagans (4 TD receptions); EDGE Wesley Williams (2 tackles for loss, 6 quarterback hurries)

CAL 2024 STATISTICS: Click here

CAL GAME NOTES, DEPTH CHART: Click here

DUKE STATISTICS: Click here

JAKE'S PICK: Cal 30, Duke 24

JEFF'S PICK: Cal 28, Duke 27

CONOR O’NEILL'S PICK (Devils Illustrated): Duke 38, Cal 34

TICKETS: Click here  StubHub: Click here. SeatGeek: Click here

PARKING AND TRANSPORTATION: Click here