Tag: California Golden Bears

Cal has one of the toughest football schedules in the Pac-12

The California Golden Bears cannot be thrilled with how their 2023 schedule plays out in the Pac-12.

The California Golden Bears have not had a good offseason. Jack Plummer transferred to Louisville, meaning another QB is making their way to Berkeley.

Then, when the 2023 Pac-12 football schedule came out on Wednesday, the Golden Bears wound up with one of the most brutal schedules in the entire conference.

Why? They play on the road against UCLA, Utah, Washington, and Oregon (h/t Jon Wilner of The Mercury News).

“No team faces a more difficult array of road games than the Bears, who visit UCLA, Utah, Washington and Oregon (plus Stanford),” Wilner wrote. “Oh, and they host Auburn in Week Two. Considering how the schedule could have played out, the Bears should be satisfied with the final version: It gives them the best possible chance to succeed. The finale at UCLA will be Cal’s last scheduled game against UCLA, which heads to the Big Ten in 2024.

Cal could end the year at the bottom of the Pac-12 standings, especially with Colorado looking like one of the most improved teams in the entire country.

Justin Wilcox has a tough season ahead of him in Cal, and the Pac-12 schedule makers didn’t do the Golden Bears any favors whatsoever.

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MBB Recap: Ducks blow out Cal 87-58 in must-win game on the road

It was a must-win game vs. Cal for the Ducks, and Oregon blew the Golden Bears out 87-58.

I left Matthew Knight Arena on Saturday night wondering if the Oregon Ducks’ blowout win over the No. 9 Arizona Wildcats would mean anything. I questioned if the Ducks would use that victory as a jumping off point for the season, ready now to make a second-half run instead of turning around and flopping, much like they did previously against Arizona State.

It appears that the momentum is currently in Eugene, as Dana Altman’s squad came out on Wednesday night and blew the doors off of a bad California Golden Bears team, winning 87-58.

Of course, this is what was supposed to happen. The Golden Bears were 3-15 coming into the season and among the worst teams in the nation. A team as talented as Oregon is supposed to blow them out of the water.

It was just encouraging to see the Ducks play up to their potential. Here’s how it all happened.

Former Florida LB David Reese transferring to this Pac-12 program

After five years with the Gators, David Reese is headed out west to play in the Pac-12 for his last season of eligibility.

Former Florida linebacker [autotag]David Reese[/autotag] is headed out west to play for the California Golden Bears in 2023, according to a joint Instagram party he made with the program Sunday.

Reese was an edge rusher for Florida who mostly played in a special teams role through five years with the program. He joined the team in 2018 and redshirted after playing in one game his freshman year. An injury took his second season away, and Year 3 ended early because of another. [autotag]Dan Mullen[/autotag] couldn’t figure out how to use him in 2021, but Reese finally saw steady action with [autotag]Billy Napier[/autotag] in 2022, playing in 12 games this year and lining up for 103 defensive line snaps.

He leaves Florida with nine total tackles (five solo) through 20 appearances.

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Although Reese’s collegiate football career won’t end at Florida, he did manage to get a bachelor’s degree in Education Sciences in the spring of last year. That should come in handy during life after football, and Cal’s not a bad place to further one’s education either.

Reese will have one year of eligibility remaining with the Golden Bears.

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California WR J.Michael Sturdivant to enter the transfer portal

Former Cal WR J.Michael Sturdivant, one of the leading WRs in the Pac-12 in 2022, is now available in the transfer portal.

It used to be a rare occurrence that players would enter the transfer portal in college football and choose to play elsewhere in their own conference. However, that’s changed over the past few years. Now, it’s rarely a shock to see guys like QB Jayden de Laura move from Washington State to Arizona in hopes of finding more success, or Brenden Rice jumping from Colorado to USC, searching for a bigger stage to play on. The Ducks even found success using this model in 2022, getting CB Christian Gonzalez to transfer from the Buffaloes.

Oregon might try and dip their toes in the Pac-12 transfer portal once again this offseason, with former California Golden Bears wide receiver J.Michael Sturdivant becoming available on Wednesday.

Sturdivant was the second-leading receiver for the Golden Bears in 2022, hauling in 7 TD (tied 6th in Pac-12) and 755 yards (12th in Pac-12).

The Ducks currently have some good talent at the WR position, but a lot of the players on the depth chart are young and relatively unproven. Oregon already brought in Alabama transfer Traeshon Holden through the portal, and there’s a good chance that they add another veteran transfer as well this offseason.

Sturdivant is familiar with the conference and could be a great addition for the Ducks, should they choose to target him in the portal.

J. Michael Sturdivant’s Transfer Portal Profile

Penn State football’s all-time record against every Pac-12 member

From regular-season games against UCLA and Stanford to bowl games with USC and Oregon, Penn State has a decent history against the Pac-12.

In today’s game, Penn State is most likely to cross paths with a team from the Pac-12 in the bowl season. But once upon a time, Penn State played games against schools that would go on to form the Pac-8, later the Pac-10 and today the Pac-12, on a pretty regular basis. And Penn State even played USC a handful of times in the regular season in the 1990s.

Penn State played a number of games against schools like UCLA and Stanford. They once played Washington State in Hershey! Penn State has had a number of bowl matchups against teams from the west coast, including a handful of Rose Bowls against the Trojans and Oregon and, most recently, in the Fiesta Bowl against Washington.

Here is a look at Penn State’s all-time records against each current member of the Pac-12. For the purposes of this list, we are including Penn State’s record against Colorado prior to Colorado’s joining the conference. All data referenced is credited to College Football Reference. Rankings referenced are AP top 25 rankings where available.

Note: Penn State has never faced Utah.

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Sooners land commitment from three-star defensive lineman Ashton Sanders

Oklahoma earns commitment from three-star defensive tackle Ashton Sanders out of Los Angeles, California. From @thatmanbryant

Oklahoma’s 2023 recruiting class just got bigger. On one of their biggest recruiting weekends of the calendar year, they hosted dozens of recruits across multiple classes. One of those recruits was three-star defensive lineman Ashton Sanders, who hails from Los Angeles, California. After receiving an offer from the Sooners at the end of October, Sanders committed to the Sooners on Sunday night after taking his official visit this weekend.

Sanders, recruited by Todd Bates, was committed to the University of California-Berkeley this summer before decommitting in August. He received an Oklahoma offer on Halloween and fast-tracked his official visit for Bedlam.

 

Projections that had come in leading up to the visit had Sanders pegged as an Oklahoma lean. The visit looks like it confirmed all of the things Sanders wanted to know, and the rest is history.

Sanders brings the frame of a guy that the Sooners can beef up as a menace in the middle for them. While he is lightly recruited and doesn’t have the hype of some of his fellow defensive recruits, Sanders looks like a sleeper pick that can become a contributor with added time in the weight room and a little extra added beef to his frame.

Here’s what Sooners Wire Managing Editor John Williams had to say about Ashton Sanders.

Sanders projects to play interior defensive line at the college level. He’s a load on the interior, standing 6-foot-1 and weighing over 300 pounds. The three-star prospect has the size to bully interior offensive linemen and the athleticism to beat them with quickness as well. Sanders is strong at the point of attack and displays great effort in pursuit. He does a great job working to get off blocks and plays with really good leverage. – Williams, Sooners Wire

With Sanders on board, Oklahoma now has 21 commits in their 2023 recruiting class and is currently in pursuit of a few others.

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Cal offensive coordinator, who torched Alex Grinch’s USC defense, gets fired

Cal scored 35 vs USC and was then crushed by Oregon State. Justin Wilcox fired his OC. That and more in this #USC / #Pac12 notebook:

There is a lot to keep track of in the world of Pac-12 football after a crazy Week 11 and heading into a Week 12 which features two mammoth games.

“Showdown Saturday” gives the Pac-12 the two biggest games of the coming weekend in college football. USC-UCLA is the first game at 8 Eastern and Utah-Oregon is second at 10:30. We will preview those games as the week unfolds, but for now, let’s look back at Week 11 and offer some updates on Pac-12 teams plus sharing some rankings from analysts and commentators.

We start with the fact that California and head coach Justin Wilcox fired offensive coordinator Bill Musgrave just over a week after Cal scored 35 against USC. Cal was flattened by Oregon State this past Saturday.

Imagine what a team with USC’s offense and Oregon State’s defense would look like.

Let’s go into our Pac-12 and USC notebook:

Sooners gaining momentum in race for California defensive lineman Ashton Sanders

Oklahoma continues to be the school with the most momentum to land three-star defensive tackle Ashton Sanders. From @thatmanbryant

Oklahoma has spent the last week and a half issuing offers for the 2023 and 2024 recruiting classes. One of the late 2023 offers went out to California defensive lineman Ashton Sanders. Sanders, a three-star defensive tackle who was once committed to California. He backed off that commitment in August and re-opened his recruitment.

He received his offer on Halloween and, in short order, received a prediction from Sooner Scoop’s Josh McCuistion.

If that wasn’t curious, more recruiting insiders have also logged predictions for Oklahoma to land the disruptive interior defender. Memphis Publisher’s Bryan Moss and Badger Blitz’s Jon McNamara have each flipped their predictions from Cal-Berkeley to Oklahoma in the last two days.

Oklahoma has seemingly positioned itself in a great spot for Ashton Sanders’ commitment. Todd Bates has locked in on another player as they continue to makeover the defensive line.

He looks more like a straightforward nose tackle in a four-man front akin to current Sooner Jeffery Johnson. In that scenario, he’d line up right over the center and try to collapse the interior from there. He’s got the size and strength to play in multiple defensive schemes.

With Early Signing Day in December, Oklahoma could have an answer soon on Sanders. Sanders told 247Sports’ Greg Biggins he plans to sign at Early Signing Day and graduate high school early.

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Notable quotes from Dan Lanning as Ducks wrap up victory over California

Dan Lanning addressed the Seven McGee situation and gave an early outlook for the Colorado game on Monday night.

The Oregon Ducks are putting the final touches on a win over the California Golden Bears. It was a performance that looked good on the scoreboard — 42-24, Oregon — but left a somewhat unsatisfying taste in the mouth of Ducks players, as the team felt that they underperformed in many places on the field.

The team has now had a couple of days to address those mistakes that they made, and will look to correct them going forward as they travel to Boulder, Colorado this weekend.

Head coach Dan Lanning met with media members on Monday night to discuss where the team can get better and what they are looking for as they shift focus to the Buffaloes. Here are some of the most notable quotes from that press conference:

Report Card: Defensive line shines against California’s running game

Oregon’s defensive line was able to stuff Jaydn Ott to just 57 yards, eight in the first half, and made Cal rely on its passing game.

The goal of every defensive coordinator is to make the opponent’s offense as one-dimensional as possible. Oregon wanted to bottle up California’s true freshman tailback Jaydn Ott as much as they could. He showed brilliance against Arizona with 274 yards and the Ducks didn’t want to be another victim to Ott’s legs.

Mission accomplished.

Ott was held to just 57 yards and no touchdowns. Quarterback Jack Plummer was sacked twice, but was hit numerous times. He sat out the majority of the fourth quarter because he was getting dinged up on almost every pass play.

Bo Nix continued his spectacular season with six touchdowns (three passing, three rushing) and the Ducks showed their tailbacks can be very dangerous catching the ball out of the backfield. Throw in a first touchdown by a legacy player, it turned out to be quite the day for Oregon as it improves to 7-1 on the season and 5-0 in Pac-12 play.

Here is the report card from the 42-24 win over the Golden Bears.