Cal is not spending much time on Wagner’s 87-3 loss to James Madison.
That’s the message from first-year head coach Tosh Lupoi as the Bears get ready to host the Seahawks on Saturday at Memorial Stadium. The score from Wagner’s last game, Lupoi said, doesn’t change the way Cal is approaching the matchup.
“We’ll dive into what they do well and what I think might be a weakness,” Lupoi said. “And then we’re going to try to attack that accordingly, like every other opponent.
“I’ve learned in 20 years of coaching the last thing you’re doing is allowing the last performance to be the judgment of a team. They’ve got a head coach that I’ve got a lot of respect for who’s been coaching for 40 years. He’s been calling defenses for a long time.”
Cal starting center Bastian Swinney echoed that mindset. In his sixth season as a college player, he said the Bears are treating Wagner like any other opponent.
“I’ve been playing this game too long to really care about what their score was last game,” Swinney said.
“Every week it’s a nameless, faceless opponent. I have much respect for Wagner, their defensive front and front seven. They’re technicians, so I’m preparing for them like I would any other team.”
The Bears enter at 1-1 after beating Syracuse 21-18 in their ACC opener last week. Cal opened the season with a 45-24 loss to UCLA.
Wagner, a small private school in Staten Island, New York, plays at the FCS level, formerly known as Division I-AA. The Seahawks were picked to finish fourth in the Northeast Conference, but last week’s result against JMU - an FBS program that reached the College Football Playoff last season - was one-sided from the start.
Even so, Cal is not taking the matchup lightly. The Bears are 17-0 against FCS opponents since 2005, and while Las Vegas does not post betting lines for games involving FCS teams, Cal is expected to be in control.
The game also puts Lupoi across from Wagner coach Tom Masella, a veteran who is 67 and has worked at Boston University, Central Connecticut, Fordham and Wagner over the past seven years. Masella has coached at 10 schools since 1982, one year after Lupoi was born, after playing defensive back at Wagner.
Lupoi said Wagner’s defensive numbers are what have his attention. He pointed to the Seahawks’ ability to create pressure and pile up tackles for loss as the real issue Cal needs to prepare for.
“They’ve got a head coach that I’ve got a lot of respect for who’s been coaching for 40 years,” Lupoi said.
“That’s problematic so that’s what I’m looking at,” he said.
Cal defensive coordinator Michael Hutchings said the Bears still have plenty to clean up, even after a noticeable step forward defensively from Week 1 to Week 2.
“We’re going out there and playing an opponent. An opponent is an opponent, no matter who it is,” Hutchings said. “You treat everyone with respect and you arrive on the site and that’s the enemy at the time.”
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