BERKELEY - Cal has spent nearly two decades handling its business against FCS opponents, and the Bears know that streak matters only if they treat Wagner like a real game.
Since 2005, Cal has faced 17 FCS-level teams. Only one of them pushed the Bears anywhere near the edge: Portland State in 2013, Sonny Dykes’ first season, when Cal survived with a 37-30 win. That Bears team had a defense that would later allow 40 points or more nine times, and Portland State arrived after scoring 57 the week before coming to Memorial Stadium.
This version of Cal returns home Saturday for a 12:30 p.m. kickoff against Wagner College, and the warning signs around the matchup are different. The Seahawks are 1-2 after absorbing an 87-3 loss to James Madison, the worst defeat in program history. Cal, though, says that number has not entered its preparation.
“It’s irrelevant,” rookie coach Tosh Lupoi said, adding that the Bears approached Wagner the same way they handled UCLA and Syracuse in the previous two weeks.
“I’ve been playing this game too long to really care about what their score was last game,” Cal sixth-year center Bastian Swinney said. “Every week it’s a nameless, faceless opponent.”
Wagner has been one of the easiest targets in the country, and James Madison made sure of that. JMU, which reached the College Football Playoff last season as a Group of Six team, punted only once and scored 12 touchdowns, including three on punt returns to match an NCAA record.
Still, Wagner coach Tom Masella said his team is trying to shake off the lopsided result and reset for another difficult week. Masella, 67, said the Seahawks were up against two opponents with far more talent on paper and that the blowout briefly affected the group.
“We knew we were going to have back-to-back games against two teams that on paper are a lot more talented than us,” Masella said in a phone interview. “I understand these games.
Saturday’s game got away from us a little bit. Early on this week, I thought our kids were a little bit down, but I think they’ve started to come alive and look forward to the challenge.”
That challenge gets harder because Wagner is dealing with the kind of roster churn that comes with the transfer portal. Masella said he is constantly bringing younger players along, and he expects as many as five true freshmen in the starting lineup Saturday.
“That’s not a good recipe for these games,” Masella said.
Cal is coming off a 21-18 win at Syracuse, a result that showed progress but also plenty left to clean up. The Bears got more pressure on the quarterback and finished with three sacks, while safety Kingston Lopa picked off three passes.
But the offense still has not matched the expectations around it. Cal ranks 13th in the ACC in scoring at 22.5 points per game and sits last in rushing at 93.0 yards per game. Sophomore quarterback Jaron-Keawe Sagapolutele is 12th in passing efficiency, a reflection of his 5.8 yards per attempt and, Lupoi said, eight catchable balls that receivers have not secured.
Masella, for his part, sees the talent clearly. He called Sagapolutele “fantastic.”
“They’re a very talented team. They had a really good game against UCLA that kind of fell apart at the end,” he said, referring to Cal’s 45-24 loss.
“But you could see the talent all over the place. I think they’re a team that’s going to get better as the year goes on when they figure out who they want to be.”
For Wagner, the approach is simple after an 87-3 disaster.
“We’ve gotten used to this,” Masella said. “We didn’t get used to what happened Saturday.
That’s the way it is. We’ve got to pick ourselves up, dust ourselves off and move forward.”
In Other News...
Cal's Next Opponent Arrives With One Big Problem To Solve
Wagner is heading into its trip to Cal carrying the kind of bruised feeling that can linger all week after a rough result, and play-by-play voice Marc Ernay said the players and coaches are likely dealing with frustration and embarrassment in the aftermath. Even so, the Seahawks are trying to reset quickly, with an eye on making the most of a matchup that gives them a chance to show something different against a bigger opponent.
For Wagner, the focus now shifts to what the next game can reveal about a program still being rebuilt under head coach Tom Masella, who has a long connection to the school. Ernay pointed to quarterback Benjamin Newman as one of the names to watch, along with several defensive standouts, as the Seahawks try to sort through both the challenge in front of them and the questions that still remain around how theyll line up when they arrive in Berkeley. [Read more 🡒]
Cal Momentum Builds As Former Bear And Key Leader Draw Attention
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Jordan Kings latest recognition adds to that buzz, giving Cal another player name to point to as the season conversation builds. And there is also a reminder of the programs history arriving soon with a film centered on former Bear John Tuggle, whose story is set to return to the spotlight around Christmas, a fitting callback for a fan base that tends to appreciate both the present-day momentum and the people who helped shape the programs past. [Read more 🡒]
Cal Faces An Uncomfortable Wagner Question Fans Know Too Well
A familiar late-season scheduling conversation is back around Cal, with Wagner on the docket and the larger FCS-versus-FBS debate humming in the background again. For a program like Cal, these matchups are hardly unusual: most FBS teams line up at least one FCS opponent every year, and the Bears have built a long unbeaten run against those lower-division foes.
The uncomfortable part is that the benefits are obvious while the risks are never entirely gone. FCS games can offer a chance to manage workload, sharpen depth and bank a win, but they also invite the kind of scrutiny that comes whenever a Power Four team is expected to handle business cleanly. Cal does not have an FCS opponent lined up next season, which only adds another layer to a scheduling pattern fans have seen enough times to know exactly why it keeps coming back. [Read more 🡒]