Cal returns to Memorial Stadium on Saturday looking for its first home win of the season, and the matchup with Wagner brings a very different profile from the Bears’ ACC opener last week.
Cal is 1-1 overall and 1-0 in conference play after edging Syracuse 21-18. Wagner comes in at 1-2 and 0-1 in the Northeast after a brutal 87-3 loss to James Madison. The two programs have never met, and the game will be heard on 810-AM.
The Bears’ biggest defensive headline from Syracuse was sophomore safety Kingston Lopa, who intercepted three passes, including a 24-yard pick-6 that proved to be the winning touchdown. That performance earned him ACC defensive back of the week honors, and his four interceptions lead the nation.
Cal is also working through some uncertainty on offense. Tight end Dorian Thomas, an all-conference selection last year at New Mexico, missed the first game because of an ankle injury suffered in fall camp and was on the field for only two snaps at Syracuse. Running back Carter Vargas, the No. 2 back and a transfer from UC Davis, did not play last week after what appeared to be a knee injury in the opener.
There is also a quick turnaround ahead: next Friday brings a home game against Clemson.
Wagner, a small private school founded in 1883 on Staten Island, has not had a winning season since 2016, when it finished 6-5. The Seahawks were picked to finish fourth in the Northeast Conference, and they have been tough sledding against top-level opponents, going 0-8 all-time against Power 4 teams and being outscored by an average of 451 to 43 in those games.
Still, Wagner has found some offensive rhythm at quarterback since making a change. Redshirt freshman Benjamin Newman has thrown for 380 yards and three touchdowns after taking over for junior Jack Stevens, who was injured in the opener. Zion Fowler-El, a transfer from Pitt, leads the receiving group with 16 catches for 143 yards, though he has not scored a touchdown.
One number stands out on the Cal side: running back Adam Mohammed ranks third in the ACC with 97.0 rushing yards per game, which is actually more than Cal’s team average of 93.0 yards. Wagner, meanwhile, has been outscored by an average of 40.7 points to 13.7 through its first three games.
Another odd wrinkle for the Seahawks: three different quarterbacks have combined to attempt 91 passes this season without throwing an interception.
In Other News...
Cal Showed Off A Dangerous New Edge In Blowout Win
Cal left little doubt in its blowout win over Wagner, leaning on a physical edge and an offense that kept finding answers all game. Jaron Keawe Sagapolutele helped direct the attack, Adam Mohammed found the end zone multiple times, and the Bears kept stacking scoring drives while Wagner had trouble sustaining anything of its own.
The big-play element also showed up in a hurry, with Cal stretching the field and turning one explosive moment into a wider avalanche. Wagner did manage to score once, but most of the afternoon belonged to a Bears team that looked faster, stronger, and much harder to handle than the opposition, a promising sign for a group trying to prove it can bring more than just efficiency on offense. [Read more 🡒]
Cal Pulled Off A Syracuse Win That Makes No Sense
Cals win at Syracuse was the kind of result that leaves the box score looking upside down. Syracuse outplayed the Bears in most of the familiar categories, but Cal kept finding a way to stay alive because the defense kept swinging the game back in its direction. Kingston Lopa was at the center of it, turning in one of the best defensive showings Cal has had in recent memory and changing the feel of the afternoon with every takeaway.
The odd part is how little the broader performance seemed to matter once the turnovers started piling up. By the usual in-game metrics, this was a victory that barely made sense, one of those results the models would not have liked for Cal without the hidden value created on defense. Lopas impact was so large that it moved the Bears from being outplayed to being the team with the better path to the finish, which is why the game will be remembered less for how it looked and more for how it ended. [Read more 🡒]
Cals Offense Just Sent Clemson A Message Before A Bigger Test
A tune-up like this can only say so much, but Cal still did exactly what a good team is supposed to do against an overmatched opponent. In a 49-7 win over Wagner, Adam Mohammed gave the Bears an early jolt, Jaron-Keawe Sagapolutele kept the offense humming through the air and the defense never let the game drift anywhere uncomfortable. The result was the kind of complete afternoon that lets a staff spend less time correcting mistakes and more time feeling out what this offense can become.
Kingston Lopa also kept his breakout stretch rolling on the back end, finishing with five tackles, a pass breakup and his fifth interception of the season as Cal held Wagner to seven points. The bigger question now is whether the Bears can carry that rhythm into a far tougher stage, with Clemson next on the schedule and far less margin for the kind of early burst that turned this one into a runaway. [Read more 🡒]