Cal football is ready for a breakthrough game

The time is now in Berkeley.

“I’m very confident. I think we have the opportunity to go out and be successful,” said Ron Rivera, California’s athletic director and football common supervisor. “If we can be successful early on, we can most certainly build faster than anticipated as well.”

The Golden Bears haven’t delivered an eight-win common season since 2009, an outright convention title since 1958 or a national championship since 1937.

Led by a tenacious new head coach and a left-handed prodigy under heart, with a loaded offense and an aligned administration to match, the Golden Bears are as earnest as ever coming into Saturday evening’s home opener against UCLA.

“You can feel the anticipation in the locker room,” Cal quarterback Jaron-Keawe Sagapolutele said. “Everyone’s excited to go out there and play for each other and represent the Bears.”

Lupoi returns

California’s renewed perception largely stems from first-time skipper Tosh Lupoi, who has instilled enthusiasm at his alma mater since taking over for the fired Justin Wilcox in December.

“He’s not scared to get … too hyped,” Golden Bears linebacker AJ Tuitele said of Lupoi. “The players just match his energy. It’s a big deal for us.”

A Bay Area native, Lupoi was a defensive lineman for the Golden Bears from 2000 to 2005 and grew to become the youngest full-time coach in program historical past at 26, rising as an elite recruiter as California’s line of defense coach on Jeff Tedford’s employees from 2008 to 2011.

Lupoi later gained expertise at Washington, Alabama, in the NFL and, most lately, as Oregon’s defensive coordinator for the last 4 seasons. But main the Cal has always been his dream.

“Every waking second of my life will be dedicated to the success of this program,” Lupoi said during his introductory news convention. “No matter what I say, it’s going to be based off of my actions. And I’m a man of action.”

Nine months in, Lupoi has labored to mould a program that lives by three pillars: relentless effort, ball excellence and energy of unit.

The confidence is contagious, prompting Lupoi to take the tarps off at Memorial Stadium for the first time in a number of years and permit 1000’s more tickets to be bought for the extremely anticipated opener against UCLA.

“Butts in the seats and eyes on the television,” Rivera said. “That engagement is so important.”

A rising star at quarterback

Cal quarterback Jaron-Keawe Sagapolutele seems to be to throw a cross against Hawaii during the Hawai’i Bowl on Dec. 24 in Honolulu.

(Darryl Oumi / Getty Images)

The Golden Bears also have a confirmed chief in Sagapolutele, also recognized as JKS, on their aspect.

Sagapolutele threw for 3,454 yards and 18 touchdowns as a true freshman with a restricted supporting solid and suspect offensive line. A folks hero in his home state of Hawaii, Sagapolutele is projected to be a first-round prospect in the 2028 NFL draft.

The 20-year-old has shown poise in the pocket, endurance when going through progressions and capability to throw to receivers open wherever on the sphere.

“Even if you’re covered, he finds back shoulders and back hips,” UCLA coach Bob Chesney said of Sagapolutele. “Even when under duress … [the football] seems to still be put right on the money. … A kid that’s very hard to fluster.”

He’ll be manning a pro-style scheme in 2026 constructed by first-time offensive coordinator Jordan Somerville, who comes to Berkeley after three years as Baker Mayfield’s assistant quarterbacks coach with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

“[Sagapolutele] is everything that is said about him,” Somerville said. “He is awesome to be around.”

Reeling in top expertise

Washington operating back Adam Mohammed is tackled by UCLA linebacker Jonjon Vaughns at the Rose Bowl on Nov. 22. Mohammed has transferred to Cal, calling it “a great place to be.”

(Eric Thayer / Los Angeles Times)

The Golden Bears assembled what recruiting community 247Sports called the ACC’s second-best switch portal class this spring, rebuilding its protection with youthful, high-ceiling gamers and stocking its offense with more confirmed expertise.

“Cal is a great place to be,” said operating back Adam Mohammed, who transferred in from Washington. “You get a good degree and a great education [and an] NFL coaching staff. That basically sums it up.”

It’ll be on first-time coordinator Michael Hutchings, who was the Minnesota Vikings’ safeties coach for the last three years, to put together a competent protection. He has strong returning choices to work with as properly as an inflow of transfers.

“Control what we can control [and] focus on us,” Hutchings said of his method.

The offense’s personnel is a lot less complicated. In Somerville’s system, Sagapolutele will work alongside seasoned transfers, including operating backs Mohammed and Carter Vargas (UC Davis), wideouts Chase Hendricks (Ohio), Ian Strong (Rutgers) and Cooper Perry (Oregon), tight end Dorian Thomas (New Mexico) and proper sort out Jimothy Lewis (Mississippi State).

California beat a number of bluebloods in the switch portal and continues to win high faculty recruiting battles, with an elite 2027 class on the horizon led by Westlake wideout Charles Davis and Chaparral quarterback Dane Weber.

Assistant common supervisor Marshall Cherrington, who has largely led the Golden Bears’ roster-building efforts for almost eight years, remembers when major recruiting wins weren’t sensible.

“The access we have now is unparalleled to what we’ve had here in my time,” Cherrington said. “The positive trajectory only improves the opportunities to do more selecting rather than recruiting.

“It’s not like, ‘Oh, we can’t go after a kid because he’s in Florida or Mississippi or wherever.’ It’s like, ‘Oh, we got access.’”

Claw or nothing

Cal football common supervisor Ron Rivera, proper, and new football coach Tosh Lupoi maintain up a jersey during Lupoi’s introductory news convention on Dec. 5.

(Thearon W. Henderson / Getty Images)

Lupoi was the lacking piece alongside Rivera and Chancellor Rich Lyons, forming a trio of Berkeley graduates who perceive the significance of elevating the college’s profile with a contending football program.

“It’s hard to overstate the importance and benefit of the fact that Tosh, Ron Rivera and I are all Cal alumni who share profound respect for Berkeley’s values, traditions, and persistent pursuit of excellence in all that we do,” Lyons said.

The trio has labored to faucet into Berkeley’s alumni community, from Silicon Valley to the NFL — and it’s paying off.

California Athletics lately announced it acquired $88.5 million in “gifts and pledges” from July 2025 to June 2026, in a yr when the football workforce posted a 7-6 document and both basketball applications missed the big dance.

“This is not a normal university in terms of what people expect and don’t expect from you,” Rivera said. “The expectations at Cal are high.”

It all begins with Saturday’s “Pac-12 After Dark” throwback against UCLA, with the game kicking off at 7:30 p.m. and airing on ESPN.

“You should be really excited about what you’re going to see,” Sagapolutele added. “You’re going to want to keep coming to our games, for sure.”