Cal and Virginia enter Saturday’s matchup in Charlottesville carrying the same ugly burden: three straight losses and seasons that have gone sideways fast.
The Bears and Cavaliers have both taken their lumps from Wake Forest this year, too. Cal was blasted 41-7, while Virginia absorbed a 51-7 beating. And even though Virginia sits at 4-5 overall to Cal’s 3-6, both teams are stuck at 2-4 in ACC play, leaving conference-title dreams out of reach and bowl hopes hanging by a thread.
That’s the backdrop for first-year Cal head coach Tosh Lupoi’s trip to Scott Stadium, where Virginia still presents a tricky test despite its record. Lupoi pointed to the Cavaliers’ offense and pressure packages as the biggest problems his team has to solve.
“Dual threat quarterback Beau (Pribula) does a great job running that offense. They’ve got the most attempted runs in the ACC, they want to run the rock - super exciting challenge for us,” Lupoi said.
“I believe they’re 7th in the country in generating pressures, getting after the quarterback. A lot of stunts up front, and there are some things that hopefully our preparation is going to carry over there.”
Virginia’s season has been frustrating, but the disappointment may sting even more in Charlottesville. Just 342 days ago, the Cavaliers were in the ACC championship game as the favorite over Duke, only to fall behind, rally with a 10-play, 96-yard drive in the final two minutes, and then lose in overtime. Duke later missed the 12-team College Football Playoff in controversial fashion.
There’s another layer of irony here, too. Virginia ended up facing Duke instead of SMU because of a Jaron-Keawe Sagapolutele-led Cal comeback against No. 25 SMU in the final game of the regular season.
Cal’s own season has been messy in its own right. A recent Athletic report described disagreements between Lupoi and general manager Ron Rivera, and said Lupoi admitted to getting “too involved.” That same report said Sagapolutele returning to Cal for his junior season is “considered unlikely,” which only deepens the uncertainty around the Bears’ future.
“I believe (Sagapolutele) can come back. And again, we’ll see what happens,” Rivera said.
“But I don’t want to put words in anybody’s mouth. The biggest thing that’s important right now is these next three weeks.”
For all the noise around both programs, Saturday still comes down to the matchup on the field. Pribula has been productive for Virginia, completing 65.6% of his passes for 1,581 yards with 14 touchdowns and only 3 interceptions. But the Cavaliers have also allowed 28 sacks, the most in the ACC, and that protection issue looms large against a Cal defense that will be looking to create problems.
The Bears got a boost coming out of the bye week on the injury front. Wide receiver Ian Strong was no longer on the injury report, and running back Adam Mohammed returned in a limited role against NC State before likely handling a bigger workload to support the Sagapolutele-led passing game.
Cal needs to win its final three games to reach bowl eligibility. The Bears will try to keep that path alive Saturday at 12:30 p.m. at Scott Stadium.
In Other News...
Cal's USC Loss Exposed A Frustrating Problem Effort Could Not Fix
Californias 77-65 loss to USC at Haas Pavilion had the feel of a game where the Bears kept trying to climb back in, only to watch the same problem keep resurfacing. Cal had stretches of effort from players like Sammie Yeanay and Nojus Indrusaitis, but the offense never found enough rhythm to make the comeback sustainable, and the shooting efficiency simply was not there against a Trojans team that controlled the flow for long stretches.
What made the defeat sting was how much of it came down to the kind of plays that usually travel with effort and urgency. USC kept turning those moments into possessions and points, leaving Cal to chase the game without ever fully closing the gap. For Madsens group, it was a reminder that hustle alone does not always solve a matchup when the margins are being decided in the middle of the floor and around the rim. [Read more 🡒]
Cal Let USC Take Over In One Brutal Area At Haas
Cal had chances to make life difficult for USC at Haas Pavilion, but the Trojans controlled the game in the areas that tend to decide tight Pac-12-style battles. The Golden Bears fell 77-65 after struggling to find enough offensive rhythm, even as Sammie Yeanay and Nojus Indrusaitis tried to keep them within reach. For a Cal team that needed cleaner possessions and better finishing, the night became a reminder of how quickly momentum can swing when shots are not falling.
The bigger issue was on the back end of those possessions, where USC kept extending trips and winning the scrappy plays that coaches hate to see disappear. Mark Madsen pointed to the rebounding and the loose-ball work as a major reason the Bears could not close the gap, and it left Cal chasing a lead it never quite managed to threaten. In a game where effort and physicality mattered as much as execution, the Trojans simply took over the most important margin. [Read more 🡒]
Cal Showed Fight Against USC But One Problem Still Lingered
Cal had enough fight to make No. 21 USC work for it at Haas Pavilion, at least for a while. The Bears came out with an early lead and showed some backbone against a ranked opponent, but the Trojans settled in before halftime and carried control into the second half on the way to a 77-65 win.
Sammie Yeanay and Nojus Indrusaitis led Cal in scoring, while USC spread the damage around with four players finishing in double figures. Jacob Cofie was especially difficult to handle inside, giving the Trojans a steady presence on both ends as the Bears again found themselves chasing a game that slipped away after the opening stretch. [Read more 🡒]