What to know before Cal kicks off at San Diego State
CAL AT SAN DIEGO STATE
Records: Cal 3-0 overall, 0-0 in ACC; San Diego State 1-1 overall, 0-0 in Mountain West
Kickoff: 7:30 p.m. Saturday at Snapdragon Stadium, San Diego, CA
TV: CBS Sports Network
Radio: 810 AM
Series history: Cal leads 5-4, including a 31-10 victory in Berkeley
Cal storylines: The Bears close out non-conference play, seeking their first 4-0 start since 2019, when they had their most recent winning campaign at 8-5. … Cal has won three straight games by double-digit margins for the first time since the start of the 2009 season. … Freshman QB Jaron-Keawe Sagapolutele won ACC Rookie of the Year honors for the second time in three weeks after passing for a season-high 279 yards with three touchdowns in the Bears’ 27-14 win over Minnesota. … Senior cornerback Hezekiah Masses is one of five players nationally with three interceptions. … Fourteen Cal receivers have at least one catch and six different players have caught touchdowns.
San Diego State storylines: The Aztecs, coming off a bye last week, opened their season with a 42-0 home victory over FCS-level Stony Brook, then lost 36-13 at Washington State a week later. … SDSU joins the new-look Pac-12 next season, along with Boise State, Fresno State and Colorado State. … Junior quarterback Jayden Denegal has thrown for 340 yards and two touchdowns in two games without an interception. He is a 6-foot-5, 230-pound transfer from Michigan, who was the backup QB on the Wolverines’ 2023 national championship team. … Junior edge Trey White, a first-team All-Mountain West pick last season when he had 18.5 tackles for loss, including 12.5 sacks, was named 2025 preseason MWC defensive player of the year. … Second-year head coach Sean Lewis, who served as offensive coordinator at Colorado under Deion Sanders in 2023, was 3-9 last season in his debut season. He previously was 24-31 in five seasons (2018-22) as head coach at Kent State.
Stats that matter: Cal is 19th nationally in scoring defense, allowing 10.7 points per game. … Cal has scored on all 13 trips to the red zone, including 10 touchdowns. SDSU has converted each of its seven red-zone opportunities, six times for TDs. … SDSU placekicker Gabe Plascencia, who grew up in Oakland, has made 14 consecutive field-goal attempts. … Cal has outscored foes 24-0 in the first quarter and 30-9 in the fourth quarter.
— JEFF FARAUDO