Cal Football Game Preview: Bears Open Season at Oregon State

Cal opens its 2025 season with a road game against Oregon State on Saturday night.

With all the changes on the Cal roster and its coaching staff as well as having a true freshman (Jaron-Keawe Sagapolutele) as its starting quarterback, it’s difficult to predict how the Golden Bears will perform this season or in this game against the Beavers.

Cal head coach Justin Wilcox admits in the video atop this story that there are more unknowns this season than in any of his previous eight seasons at Cal.

The preview:

CAL (0-0. 0-0 ACC) vs. OREGON STATE (0-0, 0-0 Pac-12)

SITE: Reser Stadium, Corvallis, Oregon

WHEN: Saturday, 7:30 p.m.

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

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

BETTING LINE: Oregon State is favored by 1.5 points. Over/under: 49.5 points.

WEATHER FORECAST: The temperature in Corvallis will rise to 79 degrees Saturday afternoon, but will drop to about 67 degrees by game time and will be down to about 57 degrees at the end of the game.  Humidity with be about 80 percent at game time, but there is only an 8 percent chance of rain.

CAL-OREGON STATE HISTORY: Cal leads the alltime series with the Beavers 40-37. Cal beat the Beavers 44-7 in Berkeley last year, which was their first meeting since 1963 that they were not in the same conference. Oregon State beat Cal in both 2023 and 2022, and Cal’s last victory in Corvallis came in 2018 when the Golden Bears beat Oregon State 49-7.

CAL PLAYER AVAILABILITY: Defensive lineman Nate Burrell is out for the season with an undisclosed injury. Cal did not release an official injury report for this game, but it will be required to do so prior to ACC games.

OREGON STATE PLAYER AVAILABILITY: Wide receiver Darius Clemons is out for the season after tearing his Achilles tendon during preseason camp.

CAL STORYLINES: 

---Jaron-Keawe Sagapolutele will be the second Cal quarterback ever to start a season opener as a true freshman, joining Jared Goff. Sagapolutele will be the first Cal freshman quarterback to start the season opener on the road.

---Sixteen of Cal’s 26 starters (including punter, kicker, punt returner, kick returner) were not on the Cal roster a year ago.  Eight of Cal’s 11 starters on offense did not attend Cal a year ago.

---For Cal to earn a berth in a bowl game for the third straight season, it needs to fare well in its four nonconference games. All four are winnable from a Cal standpoint, although the Bears are slight underdogs against Oregon State and probably will be an underdog in its September 16 home game against Minnesota.

---Justin Wilcox enters his ninth season as Cal’s head coach, and the Bears have not had a winning season since 2019.  Wilcox’s current contract runs through the 2027 season, although it is unclear whether his job will be in jeopardy if Cal finishes with a losing record this season.

---Subpar place-kicking cost Cal at least two games last season, and the Bears will try to improve on that this season with two newcomers -- Abram Murray, who will handle long field-goal attempts (longer than 40 yards), and Chase Meyer, who will be the kicker for shorter field-goal attempts.

---Cal has seven new assistant coaches, the most significant being offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach Bryan Harsin. Harsin’s task is to breathe life into an offense that has failed to finish in the top half of the conference rankings in scoring offense in any of Cal’s eight seasons under Wilcox. Cal was 14th in the 17-team ACC in scoring last year.

---Cal also has new defensive coordinators. Peter Sirmon, the Golden Bears’ defensive coordinator the past six season, left to take a job with the New Orleans Saints. Vic So’oto and Terrence Brown were named co-defensive coordinators for this season, and Brown will call defensive plays for the first time in his career. Cal will have new starters at all five secondary positions, as three of last year’s starting defensive backs are now on NFL rosters. Defense has been Cal’s strength under Wilcox, and the Bears ranked second in the ACC in scoring defense last year, allowing 22.3 points per game.

---It’s unclear who the primary running backs will be for Cal. Three transfers – Brandon High Jr., Kendrick Raphael and LJ Johnson Jr. – are vying for playing time, but offensive coordinator Bryan Harsin has said he plans to rotate just two running backs. All three are likely to get playing time against Oregon State as the Bears begin to sort that out.

---Cal is hoping to win its season opener for the fourth consecutive year, after beating UC Davis in 2022, North Texas in 2023 and UC Davis in 2024.

Informative tweet from Jon Wilner of the San Jose Mercury-News: