Cal Football Preview: Bears Face Wake Forest on Friday Night

Cal travels across the country looking for its first ACC win in a rare Friday game

Wake Forest running back Demond Claiborne / Neville E. Guard-Imagn Images

Cal travels to Wake Forest for a Friday night game, hoping to get its first ACC win.

Here are the facts of the game:

CAL (4-4, 0-4 ACC) Vs. WAKE FOREST (4-4, 2-2 ACC)

SITE: Allegacy Federal Credit Union Stadium, Winston-Salem, North Carolina

WHEN: Friday, 5 p.m. Pacific time (8 p.m. North Carolina time)

TV: ACC Network -- Jorge Sedano (play-by-play), Orlando Franklin (analyst), Morgan Uber (sideline)

RADIO: 810 AM and Sirius XM Radio (Sirius XM 113 and 202) -- Justin Allegri (play-by-play), Mike Pawlawski (analyst), Kevin Danna (sideline reporter)

BETTING LINE: Cal is favored by 7.5 points as of Friday morning (up from 7 points on Thursday). Over/Under is 54.5 points as of Friday morning (down from 55 points Thursday).

WEATHER FORECAST: Friday night will bring mostly clear skies to Winston-Salem with an afternoon high temperature of 79 degrees dropping to 50 degrees by late Friday night. There is only a 2% chance of rain Friday night.

CAL-WAKE FOREST HISTORY: Cal and Wake Forest have never faced each other on the football field.

CAL PLAYER AVAILABILITY: There is an outside chance that wide receivers Tobias Merriweather and Kyion Grayes will make their Cal debuts this week, but that’s a long shot. Inside linebacker Cade Uluave and tight end Corey Dyches are listed as “probable” for the game after missing the October 26 game against Oregon State. Outside linebacker David Reese missed the Oregon State game and is questionable for the Wake Forest game. Running back Jaydn Ott, guard Sioape Vatikani and offensive tackle T.J. Session are all expected to play.

CAL STORYLINES:

---Cal is coming off a bye following its 44-7, nonconference victory over Oregon State on October 26, and the Bears are still looking for their first ACC win.  The Bears have lost their four conference games by a combined margin of just nine points. Cal is currently alone in last place in the 17-team ACC standings.

---The Golden Bears need two wins in their final four games to become bowl-eligible for the second straight season. They are also hoping to finish with a winning overall record for the first time since 2019. A loss in any of Cal’s final four games would ensure that the Bears would finish with a losing conference record for the 15th consecutive season, the longest such active streak in the country. After Friday’s game against Wake Forest, Cal faces Syracuse in Berkeley next week, then plays Stanford in Berkeley on November 23 and finally faces SMU in Dallas on November 30.

---Cal quarterback Fernando Mendoza has completed better than 70 Percent of his passes in each of his past three games, and he has thrown three touchdown passes with no interceptions in that span.  He had the best game of his Cal career in the Bears’ most recent game, when he completed 27-of-36 passes for a career-high 364 yards, two touchdowns and no interceptions in the 44-7 victory over Oregon State.

---Mendoza was not sacked a single time in the game against Oregon State, the first time this season Cal did not allow a sack. Cal quarterbacks have been sacked 27 times, for an average of 3.38 sacks per game. Only four FBS teams have allowed more sacks per game. However, Wake Forest has recorded just 10 sacks, the fewest in the ACC.

---Cal is tied for second in the country in turnover margin at plus-13 (18 takeaways, 5 turnovers), and typically that would suggest a much better record than 4-4. Cal has intercepted 14 passes, tied for the third-most in the country. Cal cornerback Nohl Williams leads the nation in interceptions with six.

---Bears running back Jaydn Ott, a first-team all-Pac-12 pick last year, is almost fully healthy after having ankle issues much of the season.  He rushed for 1,315 yards last season, but this season, in five games, he has gained 180 yards on the ground and averaged 2.6 yards per carry. Cal’s leading rusher this season is sophomore Jaivian Thomas who has run for 370 yards and averaged 6.0 yards per carry.

---Cal is taking two place-kickers to Wake Forest. Freshman Derek Morris, who is 8-for-9 on field goal attempts and was 5-for-5 against Oregon State, will do the kicking on most of Cal’s field-goal attempts on Friday, but if Cal tries a field goal of more than 50 yards, it may use Ryan Coe, who has a stronger leg.

---Cal punter Lachlan Wilson is averaging 45.78 yards per punt this season, and that 0.22 yards ahead of single-season Cal record holder Bryan Anger's 45.56 in 2010. Wilson's career average of 44.56 is the eighth best among active FBS punters.

WAKE FOREST STORYLINES:

---Wake Forest is coming off a bye and has won two games in a row, including a 27-24 victory over Stanford on October 26 that gave the Demon Deacons a 3-0 record on the road.  However, the Demon Deacons are just 1-4 in home games this season, the only home win coming against North Carolina A&T in the opener. Wake Forest’s Allegacy Federal Credit Union Stadium is the smallest football stadium in the ACC in terms of capacity.  It seats 31,500 people, but the stadium has been nearly full for every game.

---The Demon Deacons need to win two of their final four games to be bowl-eligible for the eighth time in the past nine years. The only time since 2015 that they failed to play in a bowl game was last season, when they went 4-8. This is Dave Clawson’s 11th season as Wake Forest’s head coach, and the Demon Deacons have finished with winning records in six of the past eight seasons.

---Wake Forest might be the worst defensive teams in the ACC. It ranks last in the 17-team conference in total defense (439.6 yards per game) and 16th in both scoring defense (allowing 31.0 points per game) and passer rating defense.  Offensively, Wake Forest ranks in the middle of the pack in the ACC in most categories.

---Wake Forest safety Nick Andersen leads the ACC and is seventh nationally in tackles with 82, an average of 10.2 per contest. The Deacons have not applied much pressure on the quarterback, ranking last in the ACC in sacks with 10.

---Deacons running back Demond Claiborne missed much of the fourth quarter against Stanford because of an injury to his shoulder, but he is expected to play against Cal.  He had 189 yards from scrimmage against Stanford, rushing for 127 yards and catching three passes for 62 yards. He is sixth in the ACC in all-purpose yards at 120.1 yards per game. He has rushed for 711 yards while averaging 4.9 yards per carry, and has caught 14 passes for 157 yards and a touchdown. He also returns kickoffs.

---Wake Forest quarterback Hank Bachmeier is from Murrieta, California, and is in his sixth season as a college player. He played his first four seasons at Boise State, and played last season at Louisiana Tech before transferring to Wake Forest for his final season. He has completed 62.7 percent of his passes this season, with 12 touchdowns and six interceptions. Bachmeier had three touchdown passes against Stanford.

---You will hear the term “slow mesh” when Wake Forest has the ball.  That refers to the way the Demon Deacons run their run-pass option.  When the quarterback is deciding whether to hand the ball off to his running back or pull it out to attempt a pass, he keeps the ball in the running back’s midsection for a ridiculously long time before releasing the ball to the running back or pulling it out. That long delay at the mesh point is called the “slow mesh,” and it gives the quarterback a few additional moments to read the defense.

---A Wake Forest beat writer answers five questions about the Demon Deacons---

CAL PLAYERS TO WATCH: QB Fernando Mendoza (8 TDs, 3 interceptions); RB Jaydn Ott (2.9 yards per carry); RB Jaivian Thomas (6.0 yards per carry); CB Nohl Williams (6 interceptions, tops in the nation); ILB Teddye Buchanan (77 tackles, 9.0 tackles for loss); TE Jack Endries (23 receptions over the last three games); OLB Xavier Carlton (7.0 sacks)

WAKE FOREST PLAYERS TO WATCH: QB Hank Bachmeier (throws an average of 33 passes a game); RB Demond Claiborne (rushed for more than 120 yards three times this season); WR/PR Taylor Morin (39 catches, 17.45 yards per punt return); S Nick Andersen (10.2 tackles per game); DL Kevin Pointer (7.0 tackles for loss, 5 quarterback hurries); DE Jasheen Davis (33.5 tackles for loss over his past 23 games); K Matthew Dennis (14-for-16 on field goals).

Wake Forest coach Dave Clawson talks about the Cal game in the video below:

CAL STATISTICS: Click here

CAL NOTES, DEPTH CHART: Click Here

WAKE FOREST STATISTICS: Click here

JAKE'S PICK: Cal 32, Wake Forest 20

JEFF'S PICK: Cal 31, Wake Forest 17

JOHN DELL'S Pick (Winston-Salem Journal): Wake Forest 23, Cal 20 (Overtime)

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