Cal and NC State are both trying to stop the bleeding, and Saturday’s meeting at Carter-Finley Stadium gives one of them a chance to do it under even stranger circumstances than usual.
The Bears arrive at 3-5 overall and 2-3 in the ACC, while the Wolfpack sit at 3-4 overall and 1-3 in conference play. Because of where both teams stand, Cal’s trip to Raleigh comes with another early start - its second straight 9 a.m. PST kickoff, with the game set for noon local time.
It’s also a rematch with a very thin history. These programs have only played once before, when NC State squeezed out a 24-23 road win in October 2024.
Now they meet again with new head coaches, reshuffled rosters and seasons already wobbling.
Cal’s coaching reset has already been in motion. After the Bears failed to score an offensive touchdown against Clemson and managed only 7 points in the first half against UNLV, head coach Tosh Lupoi made a mid-game change at offensive play caller, moving from Jordan Somerville to Pat McCann.
The results since then have been uneven, and Jaron-Keawe Sagapolutele’s temporary absence while in concussion protocol only complicated matters. Last weekend in Dallas, though, he was back under center for his first start since returning from injury, and Cal briefly looked like it had found something.
The Bears mixed in trick plays and enough offense to carry a 20-17 lead into halftime against SMU, even with key injuries thinning the lineup. But the second half unraveled fast. SMU scored 21 points in each of the final two quarters, while Cal’s offense went silent in a 59-20 loss.
Afterward, Lupoi sounded frustrated as he took stock of his first season in charge.
“(We’ve) got to make every correction possible, see where we’re at and see where we can compete,” Lupoi said.
NC State’s week was just as turbulent, only in a different way. A day after a 31-28 loss to Stanford on Friday night, the Wolfpack fired Dave Doeren and promoted running backs coach and special teams coordinator Todd Goebbel to interim head coach for the rest of the season.
Doeren had led NC State for 14 years, and Goebbel has been on his staff for the last eight. On Monday, he said the transition should be manageable if the team sticks to what has already been built.
“The one thing I told him is, ‘At the end of the day, I’m going to be myself, but you’ve laid an unbelievable culture and foundation here,’” Goebbel said in a press conference on Monday. “The transition is seamless as long as I carry on his message and continue to respect what he’s built.”
Saturday will be Goebbel’s first game as a head coach, giving the Wolfpack a new voice as they try to steady themselves against a Cal team that is also searching for traction.
Sagapolutele believes the Bears have reason to keep pushing, even after the blowout at SMU. He said the tape still showed enough to build on.
“We’re going to continue to keep everyone up. I know everyone’s excited because we put some good things on tape as well, so we’re just excited to continue those good things that we did,” Sagapolutele said.
“A lot of growth moments for sure, but we’re just going to attack the film as much as we can. Go back, work out as hard as we can and (go) back to the drawing board next week, especially in practice.”
In Other News...
Cal Heads To NC State With Key Lineup Questions Mounting
Cals trip to North Carolina State arrives with the kind of injury report that forces a staff to keep one eye on the depth chart and the other on the available bodies. The initial availability list has multiple names in doubt across several spots, with question marks at running back, wide receiver, inside linebacker and along the offensive line, which leaves the Bears sorting through a week of uncertainty before they even get to Raleigh.
Among the most notable names, starting inside linebacker AJ Tuitele and starting wide receiver Ian Strong are listed as questionable, while Adam Mohammed is also in question after missing the past four games. Carter Vargas has been ruled out, adding to the pressure on a lineup that already has Jordan King, Carter Vargas, Dorian Thomas and Nate Burrell marked unavailable for the matchup. [Read more 🡒]
Tosh Lupoi Contract Details Raise A Bigger Question For Cal
Cals new five-year agreement with Tosh Lupoi gives the program a clearer financial picture, and it also says plenty about how the football operation is being run now. The University of California finalized the deal with a structure that includes a fixed salary and a talent fee, plus performance bonuses, while Chancellor Lyons and General Manager Ron Rivera signed on for the Regents, a sign that the administrative setup around the program has changed in a meaningful way.
What stands out, though, is how much of the contracts detail is tied to the bigger architecture of the department rather than just wins and losses. The buyout clause is set to shrink as the deal moves forward, and it is also tied to Riveras status with the university, which makes the coaching arrangement feel unusually connected to the front office structure Cal has built around Lupoi. For a program trying to stabilize itself, that kind of linkage could matter just as much as the headline numbers. [Read more 🡒]
Cal's Collapse Has Tosh Lupoi Searching For Fixes Fast
Cals latest stretch has left Tosh Lupoi juggling problems on multiple fronts, with penalties, injuries and uneven play all piling up at the wrong time. The Bears have had to search for answers in practice as much as on game day, and that has meant leaning on an offense that has been hit hard while still trying to clean up the kind of mistakes that keep drives alive for opponents.
Jaron-Keawe Sagapolutele has emerged as one of the steadier voices in the middle of it all, showing leadership even as the unit around him has struggled to find consistency. But the roster churn has been impossible to ignore, and it has forced Cal to get creative just to keep the operation moving. The bigger question now is whether those fixes can actually translate into something sturdier before the season slips further away. [Read more 🡒]