Cal Football Preview: Bears Host Washington State Saturday

Bears play their final home game and need to win all three remaining games to become eligible for a bowl berth

Cal will play its final home game of the season against Washington State on Saturday afternoon. It is also Senior Day for the Golden Bears in this matchup of teams on losing streaks.

Here are all the important facts for this game:

CAL (3-6, 1-5 Pac-12) vs. WASHINGTON STATE (4-5, 1-5 Pac-12)

SITE: California Memorial Stadium

WHEN: Saturday, 1 p.m.

TV: ESPN2 -- Beth Mowins (play-by-play), Kirk Morrison (analyst), Stormy Buonantony (reporter)

RADIO: 810 AM -- Justin Allegri (Play-By-Play), Mike Pawlawski (Analyst), Kevin Danna (Sideline Reporter)

BETTING LINE: Cal is favored by 2 points, according to SI Sportsline, as of Saturday morning. (Cal was favored by 1.5 points on Thursday). Three betting sites -- Fan Duel, Draft Kings and BetMGM -- list Cal as a 2.5-point favorite as of Saturday, others list Cal as a 2-point favorite. Over/under is 59.5 points

WEATHER FORECAST: Partly cloudy skies on Saturday morning in Berkeley will give way to a sunny afternoon. A high of 68 to 70 degrees in the afternoon will fall to about 46 degrees Saturday night. There is just a 7% chance of rain.

CAL-WASHINGTON STATE HISTORY: Cal leads the alltime series 48-30-5, but Washington State has won the past two meetings. The Cougars beat Cal 28-9 last year in Pullman, Wash., and defeated the Bears 21-6 in Berkeley in 2021. Cal’s last win over WSU came in 2019, when the Bears claimed a 33-20 victory in Berkeley. The two teams first met in 1919, but because Cal is joining the ACC next year, this may be the last time Cal plays Washington State for a while, perhaps forever.

CAL STORYLINES:

--- Cal head coach Justin Wilcox said this week that a berth in a bowl game is still the goal for the Bears. To do that, Cal would have to win its final three games, against Washington State, Stanford and UCLA, none of whom is ranked in the AP top 25 this week. The Bears must finish with a 6-6 record to become bowl-eligible. Cal has not played in a bowl since 2019.

--- The Bears must also win their final three games to have a chance at their first overall winning record since 2019, when Cal finished 8-5. For Cal to finish with a winning overall record, they would have to win their final three regular-season games as well as a bowl game.

--- Cal running back Jaydn Ott leads the Pac-12 in rushing, averaging 105.9 yards per game. He has 847 yards, so he needs 153 yards to become Cal’s first 1,000-yard rusher since Patrick Laird ran for 1,127 yards in 2017. As a team, Cal has 22 rushing touchdowns, 12 shy of the single-season school record set in 1951.

--- Cal is coming off a 63-19 loss to sixth-ranked Oregon, which was the Bears’ fourth straight loss. (They lost six straight last year.) The 63 points were the most given up by Cal since 2016, the year before Wilcox became head coach. It was also the fourth time in the past six games that the Bears have allowed 50 points or more in a game. Cal has yielded 36.78 points per game this season, which ranks 127th of the 130 FBS teams that the NCAA ranks.

--- The Golden Bears need to win one more Pac-12 game to avoid its worst conference mark since 2013, when Cal went 0-9 in conference play. (This excludes the 2020 pandemic season when the Bears played just four games, all against conference foes, and went 1-3.) Cal has already assured itself of its 14th consecutive losing conference record, the longest such active streak in the Pac-12.

--- Redshirt freshman Fernando Mendoza is scheduled to make his fifth consecutive start. He is 0-4 as a starter, but all four losses were to teams that were ranked at the time. Washington State will be the first unranked opponent Mendoza has faced.

--- Cal RB Isaiah Ifanse, who is the Bears’ No. 2 rusher and has scored eight touchdowns, is not available for Saturday's game, but linebacker Kaleb Elarms-Orr, the Pac-12's second-leading tackler, is available after being listed as questionable early in the week.

WASHINGTON STATE STORYLINES:

--- Washington State was ranked as high as 13th after starting the season 4-0, with wins over Wisconsin and Oregon State, both of whom were ranked at the time. But the Cougars have since lost five games in a row, their longest losing streak since 2012, when they lost eight in a row.

--- Washington State ranks second in the country (behind Washington) in passing yards per game, at 335.7 passing yards per contest.

--- WSU quarterback Cameron Ward put himself in the Heisman Trophy discussion when he threw 13 touchdown passes with no interceptions over the first four games while leading the Cougars to a 4-0 start. But since then he has thrown four TD passes with four interceptions during the five-game losing streak. Ward still ranks fifth in the country in passing yards per game, averaging 308.1 yards.

--- The Cougars are coming off a 10-7 loss at home to Stanford. Washington State had just 4 yards rushing in that game and gave up three sacks for negative-25 yards. The Cougars rank 11th in the Pac-12 and 127th in the country in both rushing offense (78.6 yards per game) and yards per rushing attempt (2.89).

---The Cougars need to win two of their last three games against Cal, Colorado and Washington to reach a bowl game for the eighth straight year (excluding the shortened 2020 pandemic season).

--- Washington State has a minus-4 turnover margin.

--- Washington State and Oregon State are the only two schools left in the Pac-12 for next season. A court ruling regarding a lawsuit will help determine what the Cougars will do next season in terms of conference affiliation. The court ruling is expected soon.

--Washington State beat writer answers five questions about the Cougars--

CAL PLAYERS TO WATCH: RB Jaydn Ott (three games over 150 rushing yards this season); QB Fernando Mendoza (60.2% completion rate, 6 TDs, 4 interceptions); WR Jeremiah Hunter (team-leading 43 catches, 4 TDs); WR Taj Davis (31 receptions, but just one for 7 yards last week); ILB Cade Uluave (freshman had 32 tackles, 3 tackles for loss, in past three games); S Craig Woodson (15 tackles last week).

WASHINGTON STATE PLAYERS TO WATCH: QB Cameron Ward (68.8% completion, 17 TDs, 4 interceptions); WR Lincoln Victor (12 catches last week); WR Kyle Williams (two games over 100 receiving yards); EDGE Ron Stone Jr. (6.0 tackles for loss, 11 quarterback hurries); EDGE Brennan Jackson (7.0 tackles for loss); DB Sam Lockett III (61 tackles, 2 interceptions).

CAL STATISTICS: Click here

CAL NOTES, DEPTH CHART: Click Here

WASHINGTON STATE STATISTICS: Click here

WASHINGTON STATE NOTES, DEPTH CHART: Click here

JAKE'S PICK: Cal 31, Washington State 28

JEFF'S PICK: Cal 35, Washington State 31

GREG WOODS’ PICK (Spokane Spokesman Review): Cal 28, Washington State 20

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Cover photo of Washington State head coach Jake Dickert by Gary A. Vasquez, USA TODAY Sports

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