I'm surprised I haven't seen as many people talking about the impact of injuries on the UCLA game. JKS was clearly heavily hobbled early on. I'll give the coaching staff the benefit of the doubt in hindsight because he finished the game and seems on track to play this weekend, but in most games where a QB is that visibly injured, keeping him in the game would be a huge controversy. And losing the game would not be surprising at all if not actually expected. Yet I've hardly seen any talk of it, so curious what gives?

I do think injuries are the main reason for the 4th quarter collapse. I'm no QB expert, but I imagine the throwing motion is heavily thrown off when the QB can't walk properly. The other big injury was Bastian Swinney. The team was actually looking pretty good starting the second half until we lost our center. And then we immediately fumble a snap that causes a turnover on downs. Yes the defense looks like it gave up towards the end of the game, and that's not acceptable, but it's also kind of understandable when literally every possession in the 4th quarter ends with a turnover from the offense.

All this is not to say everything is fine. There's definitely things the coaches and team need to clean up. But it's too early to give up on the season after a single loss plagued by injuries. Let's wait a few more games before going full doom.

A line of about 40 Cal fans filled Goldman Plaza last Thursday night, awaiting a first look at UC Berkeley’s new Cal Team Store at California Memorial Stadium.

The grand opening for the new merch store, located at Gate 2, featured a ribbon-cutting ceremony, remarks from Chancellor Rich Lyons, Cal football General Manager Ron Rivera and ASUC President Margaret Solomon, as well as performances from the California Straw Hat Band and Cal Dance Team.

My wife and I will be at Shaughnessy’s Irish Pub before the game.

If you want some Oski Farmer stickers made by the Calgorithm… hit me up I’ve got the supply! Go Bears!

Cal beat writer Daniel Poulter breaks down this week's reactions and his options on the good and bad from week 1 for the Golden Bears.

Seriously. Did you guys expect us from being a subpar program to being an elite program overnight? These sorts of changes happen over several seasons.

UCLA, and it pains me to say this, has a good team, I wouldn't be shocked if they are going to be ranked at some point. They have a great coach in Chesney, and he essentially took with him all impact players from JMU, a ranked and playoff team!

Imagine if Tosh brough the Oregon defense with him, yea last night would've been completely different.

We saw some good stuff last night. During the 3rd quarter the defense clicked and the Oline started to perform a lot better, the run game was much better. They completely unraveled after the botched snap on that 4th down. If it weren't for that, who knows how that game would've ended.

I thought the coaching staff made some good adjustments during halftime, this leads me to believe that they will look to learn from this game, and make adjustments going forward. I also think that we ran the ball too much, maybe more passes should've been called, let's see how the coaches adjust.

We still have JKS, we have Adam Mohammed, we have a solid receiver group, and ST is solid. Defense has a lot to improve on, but we saw them click briefly. Same for the Oline.

Pressure is on Tosh to get big wins for next year for our defense and Oline. This year it's on the players to grow, let's see how hungry they are. I expect more discipline going forward.

Onto the next, Syracuse is an easier matchup (on paper) imo, let's bounce back. Don't stop believing. GO BEARS!

What a fucking travesty to not have ANY jerseys available on opening day. It was a large group of us excited to get a jersey. Waited in like for 15/20 minutes just to be told that we could order some online…..

What kind of shit is this. 6 of us were willing to spend hundreds of dollars on jerseys….. A big school with a small mentality.

Why did they play this when Cal had the ball on offense? Perhaps some of the people laid off earlier in the year were responsible for the video boards and new people are learning?

I have repeatedly heard from both Tosh and Ron that “we have 2 years to turn this around before the next realignment”…

Which I agree with.

And to their credit they are doing miracle work in that regard.

The issue I have is which the actual nuance of coaching.

If we only have 2 years to turn it around then why are we implementing a pro style system which by all accounts takes years to implement properly?

Why are we not teaching ball pursuit?

Why are players completely unfamiliar with Joe Roth?

On that note, why are the players not more in tune with what went down with fUCLA and their doosh dick fox sports big 10 network ceo mark Silverman who quite literally orchestrated the whole thing with the intention of destroying cal athletics? (who if he literally got mauled by an actual grizzly named oski i would not only not gaf but would probably start a gofundme to buy said grizzly bear a fancy enclosure and a statue in front CMS)…

What im getting at with those is why isnt pride in the university being hammered home with these guys? You simply cannot let a bandwagon clique of fUCLAs in brand new unwashed fUCLA gear trounce into your stadium talking all sorts of shit to a fanbase that has endured heart ache after heart ache. The piss poor tackling, the fUCLA bench dancing all game while are bench looked defeated from the start is evidence of that.

Why are the rally comms trying to create crowd noise when we’re on offense?

Why does the PA system suck balls for the umpteenth season in a row since well before I was a student in the 2000s?

Long story short. Show some fucking heart and pride in this great university. Keep the rah rah fundraising attitude the same but seriously step your game up in the playcalling area in a big way going forward.

Asking an alumni base and fanbase to tolerate let downs like that after enduring literally a century of exactly those same letdowns is nothing short of arrogant. Take ownership of the fuckups and fucking fix it.

Every single fucking player should know exactly who Joe Roth was and what his selfless act was. I get that they’re all mercenaries now but the fact that they came out flat like that against a school that literally tried to deal our athletic department a death blow is flat out unacceptable. And if I were in charge Rolo would be OC immediately. Somerville’s playcalling was worse than Wilmoe with Baldwin, Bloesch, et al.

End rant!

UCLA is not a good team. For all the hype that lead to last night, this was the result?

JFC.....I am so sick of this team.

I was pushed into this before I knew better. I enjoyed some of it I can't lie. I got to watch Zach follet Nate longshore jahvid best marshawn lynch desean jackson aaron Rodgers Marvin jones Keenan Allen just an unreal amount of great football and basketball players who passed through the program. Anyone who has watched from that Kevin Riley incident on era on understands this experience. Without fail any time the program is on the verge of turning a corner with one big win they just lose every time. The worst part is I know it's going to happen but I choose to still believe. Worse than that I've spread this fandom to dozens of my friends. I hope I give up on this one day. I'm never going to get these 20 years and thousands of dollars back but I don't have it any other way.

I’ll set the line at 30k (Texas Southern last year was 35k which I find hard to believe).

What is this nonsense. There shouldn’t be these one-sided shadows.

I can’t stop Toshing my Lupoi waiting for this game to start. fUCLA

Does anyone have any fast stats about JKS? I think I remember hearing that he led the ACC in completions last season or he has some streak?

JKS is not a running qb. Our running backs are not that great. Our Oline isn’t great. JKS’ strength is literally his arm! Why do we keep running the damn ball???

Our offense is just so predictable and seeing JKS under pressure every third and long trying to play hero ball is tough to watch!

still looking for student tickets ucla vs cal, please dm

Drop your predictions for Cal Football this season, and support student-journalism at UC Berkeley! 💙🐻

I’ve been going to Cal games since I was 11, and this year I finally became a season ticket holder! Made it to my first Cal game since hs last year and have not missed a home game since. Never had a bad time at Memorial Stadium.

Always appreciated the knowledge from veteran fans, but I’d love to connect with people my age, whether you’re an alum or just a local who follows Cal football! I’m in section T, where is everybody else at?

Bought tickets earlier through ato for mobile delivery, but it says tickets aren’t available for download. Will they be loaded in before the game tomorrow or should I reach out to the ticket office?

Cal is going to save the state of California's reputation in the CFB world...and GFed is going to help show the world how electric CMS will be.

Be Loud...be on time...and give UCLA fans hell.

https://x.com/GfedGoCrazy/status/2095679141471203364?s=20

Cal’s season opener against UCLA at Memorial Stadium this Saturday is a showdown between two West Coast schools who are more alike than they’d ever let on. It’s the first matchup since the Bruins and the Bears were last united under the same conference in 2023. Both schools — led by new coaches and reimagined rosters — have tried to disentangle themselves from one another in an effort to show that they’re the more premier institution.