Big Game week: Cal Bears look to balance excitement of Stanford rivalry with pursuit of becoming bowl eligible
BERKELEY — Cal coach Justin Wilcox sees the need for balance between embracing the Big Game and all that goes with it against a week of focused preparation for facing Stanford on Saturday.
The Bears (4-6, 2-5 Pac-12) and Cardinal (3-7, 2-6) meet for the 126th time in a 3:30 p.m. kickoff at Stanford Stadium, and there remains a lot on the line for Cal.
Wins at Stanford and UCLA a week from now would make Cal bowl eligible for the first time since 2019. The Bears’ 42-39 victory over Washington State last Saturday snapped a four-game losing streak and kept that ambition afloat.
Asked during his weekly news conference about the Big Game’s place on the Bay Area sports landscape, Wilcox quipped, “Geez, I don’t know if we have enough time to give it its due.”
He will not pretend it’s just another game.
“This is one of the greatest rivalries in college athletics,” he said. “I think it’s OK to talk about it, the history, The Axe, all that goes into it. I want them to appreciate how much it means to people and how special it is.
“It’s an honor and it’s humbling, but what’s most important is that we practice really well to give ourselves the chance to play good football this weekend.”
The Bears’ mantra is to be 1-0 each week, but that doesn’t mean they aren’t aware of the bigger picture.
“We know what the goal is,” Wilcox said. “But the only way to 2-0 is to go 1-0 this week.”
Defensive coordinator Peter Sirmon said the Bears will be all business between now and Saturday.
“The emotions of football ultimately are necessary on game days,” he said, “but the emotion of football the five, six days leading up to that I don’t think is necessarily advantageous for the preparation.”
GENERATING QB PRESSURE: Cal remains one of the Pac-12’s least effective teams sacking the opposing quarterback, with just 16 in 10 games. But they had six of those in their win over WSU, and now face a Stanford team that has allowed 36 sacks, second-most in the conference.
The correlation between getting to the quarterback and finding some level of success slowing down prolific Pac-12 offenses seems clear.
“That’s the way you have to play defense in this conference right now,” Sirmon said. “The offenses are so talented, the quarterbacks, that you have to find disruptive plays.
“That’s really what the game was because we still gave up points but it was about finding those disruptive plays, getting some negative yardage plays on the sacks and ultimately some of the takeaways were the difference.”
The Bears forced four WSU turnovers, with linebacker Cade Uluave and defensive back Nohl Williams each returning a fumble for a touchdown.
EX-CARDINAL ANCHORS CAL’S LINE: Stanford is coached these days by former Cal star quarterback Troy Taylor. But the Bears got some help from Stanford in Barrett Miller, who transferred to Berkeley after four seasons on The Farm.
Miller started 30 games at guard for Stanford from 2019 through ’22, and has been a fixture at left tackle for the Bears. He is believed to be the first former Stanford player to wind up at Cal.
“He’s a very smart, tough, dependable guy. It’s been great having him on the team,” Wilcox said. “He’s been here just a short time but really fit in well. The guys on the team really respect him for how he goes about his business. Shoot, wish we had him for longer.”
INJURY REPORT: Running back Isaiah Ifanse, who rushed for 365 yards and eight touchdowns in the first eight games as Jaydn Ott’s backup, could miss his third straight outing due to injury. Wilcox labeled him day-to-day.
Freshman running back Jaivian Thomas, the Oakland product who injured his neck two weeks ago at Oregon and was briefly hospitalized, is out. He is week-to-week, Wilcox said.
Reserve quarterback Sam Jackson V is unavailable for the third straight week, meaning that Ben Finley remains the backup to redshirt freshman starter Fernando Mendoza.