The Beavers play the Bears Saturday afternoon in Berkeley, California.
The Oregon State Beavers play the Cal Golden Bears on Saturday afternoon at California Memorial Stadium in a matchup featuring old Pac-12 Conference foes.
Both teams enter the game in a funk, with the hard-luck Bears (3-4) riding a four-game losing streak and the injury-riddled Beavers (4-3) on a two-game skid. The defeats were close — all six games were decided by one score — and the teams could be in line for another nail-biting finish.
WATCH: The game is airing live on ESPN 2. You can watch for free with Fubo (free trial) or by signing up for Sling (cheapest streaming plans, $25 off your first month). If you already have cable, you can also live on Watch ESPN with your cable or satellite provider login information.
This is the second matchup against a former Pac-12 member for the Beavers, who suffered a lopsided defeat to rival Oregon in September.
Here’s a preview of this week’s game:
Oregon State (4-3) at California (3-4)
When: Saturday, Oct. 26
Time: 1 p.m. PT
Where: California Memorial Stadium, Berkeley
Coaches: OSU’s Trent Bray (first season) vs. Cal’s Justin Wilcox (eighth season)
Latest line: UNLV by 9½ (FanDuel)
TV channel: ESPN2
Stream: Watch live for FREE with Fubo (free trial) or by signing up for Sling (cheapest streaming plans, $25 off your first month). If you already have cable, you can also watch this game live on Watch ESPN with your cable or satellite provider login information.
Oregon State football 2024 season schedule, scores
Sign up for The Beavers Beat newsletter
A LOOK AT CAL
After opening the season with a three-game winning streak — which included an impressive 21-14 victory at Auburn — the Bears haven’t won since. And their four defeats have been brutal, featuring a mix of last-minute daggers, second-half meltdowns and heartbreakers.
The first loss came on Sept. 21, when Cal fell 14-9 at Florida State, and the Bears followed with gut-punch defeats against Miami, Pittsburgh and NC State by a combined four points.
The Bears led Miami by 25 in the second half, but lost 39-38 after Cam Ward tossed a 5-yard touchdown pass with 26 seconds left. And they led NC State by two touchdowns in the fourth quarter, before the Wolf Pack rallied to win 24-23 last week. Cal’s four defeats have come by a total of nine points.
But with the exception of the loss to Miami in Berkeley, the Bears’ defense has been stout. Cal has held to opponents to 15 points or fewer in five of seven games and is allowing an average of just 18.7 points this season, tied for 23rd-lowest in the nation. Nohl Williams is one of the best cornerbacks in the nation (see below), the Bears feature a pair of prodigious tacklers (Teddye Buchanan and Cade Uluave) at inside linebacker and defensive end Xavier Carlton ranks eighth nationally with eight sacks. Cal has recorded at least one takeaway in 42 of its last 45 games, including each of the last 19, the longest active streak in college football.
The offense, on the other hand, has been sporadic most of the season and unproductive during the Bears’ losing streak. In its losses to Florida State, Pittsburgh and NC State, Cal managed to score just three combined touchdowns and a total of 19 second-half points.
Quarterback Fernando Mendoza, who made his first start against the Beavers last season, has been consistent in his second season at the helm of the Bears. He’s completed 67% of his passes for 1,731 yards and eight touchdowns and has been solid in Cal’s four defeats, completing 90 of 137 passes for 1,142 yards and three touchdowns. But the Bears’ running game, which has been without star running back Jaydn Ott most of the season, has been anemic during their losing streak, averaging just 90.0 yards per game and 2.7 yards per rush.
OPPONENT SPOTLIGHT | NOHL WILLIAMS
The senior cornerback, who transferred from UNLV two years ago, is one of college football’s best defensive backs. He leads the nation in interceptions (six) and ranks fourth in pass deflections (10) this season, and also is the FBS active leader in career interceptions (13). Williams is just three picks shy of equaling Cal’s single-season record, set by Deltha O’Neal in 1999.
But Williams isn’t merely a ball hawk, he’s also electric with the ball in his hands. This season, he returned an interception 40 yards for a touchdown against Miami and returned a kickoff 80 yards for a touchdown against UC Davis, two of four touchdowns he’s scored in his career. He also had a pair of touchdowns on fumble recoveries last season, racing nine yards and 52 yards for scores against Oregon and Washington State, respectively.
A STAR RETURN?
Things are trending in the right direction for Ott to return against the Beavers. Ott injured his ankle in the season opener and has been limited or sidelined since, missing three games, including each of the last two, as he’s limped his way to just 135 rushing yards and three touchdowns in parts of four games.
But Ott returned to practice on Tuesday and Wilcox, when asked about Ott’s playing status earlier this week, told reporters “we’ll see how it goes through the week.”
His healthy return would be a boost for the Bears, who are averaging just 114.9 rushing yards per game, which ranks 107th in the nation. Ott rushed for 1,315 yards and 12 touchdowns as a sophomore last season, when he was named to the all-Pac-12 first team.
THEY SAID IT
“Talented team. Defensively, they’re playing really well. They’ve got big, physical kids that play hard. Offensively, they’ve got really good runners. It doesn’t matter who’s at running back, they’ve got good runners. The quarterback’s talented. So it’s going to be another challenge defensively for us this week.” — OSU coach Trent Bray on Cal.
SERIES HISTORY
This is the 77th meeting between former Pac-12 foes, who are playing for the 30th consecutive season. Cal holds a narrow 39-37 all-time advantage, but the Beavers have won four of the last five games, which includes a 52-40 victory in Berkeley last season.
THIS AND THAT
• Cal is tied for second nationally in interceptions (13) and ranks among the nation’s best in turnover margin (tied for fourth at plus-1.57 per game) and turnovers gained (tied for fourth with 16).
• OSU starting running back Anthony Hankerson has scored 10 touchdowns since Sept. 14, third-most in the nation during the stretch. Only Army’s Bryson Daily (17) and Tennessee’s Dylan Sampson (12) have scored more. Hankerson has 13 touchdowns this season.
• Cal inside linebackers Teddye Buchanan (71) and Cade Uluave (64) have combined to make 135 tackles this season, sixth-most by any duo in the nation and second-most by any duo in the ACC.
• The Bears have outscored their opponents 51-8 in the third quarter this season, and the eight points came in one game — the loss to Miami.
• OSU offensive guard Joshua Gray started the 51st game of his career in the Beavers’ loss to UNLV last week, breaking Roy Schuening’s program record for most starts (50).
• Oregon State wide receiver Trent Walker finished with a career-high nine receptions (for 88 yards) last week against UNLV and leads the Beavers with 46 receptions this season. Twenty three have come over the last three games, which is tied for the third-most nationally during the stretch.
— Joe Freeman covers the Oregon State Beavers. Reach him at 503-294-5183 or @BlazerFreeman. Listen to the Beaver Banter podcast or subscribe to the Beavers Roundup newsletter.
