The Cal Bears are 4-1, but here is how they can be better

BERKELEY — After three decisive victories, an unexpected defeat and a come-from-behind road win to open ACC play, Cal faces a potent Duke team on Saturday night, hoping to improve to 5-1 for the first time in 10 seasons.

“We’ve seen some stretches of good football,” Cal coach Justin Wilcox said. “Now it’s about: What does our best look like? That’s what we need to find out. We’re going to have to play our best this weekend.”

Cal (4-1, 1-0 ACC) and Duke (3-2, 2-0) are meeting for the first time since 1963. Kickoff is 7:30 p.m. at Memorial Stadium, meaning that Blue Devils fans in Durham, NC will have to stay awake until nearly 2 a.m. ET to see the finish on ESPN.

California Golden Bears quarterback Jaron-Keawe Sagapolutele (3) throws a pass against the Minnesota Golden Gophers in the second quarter of their game at Memorial Stadium in Berkeley, Calif., on Saturday, Sept. 13, 2025. (Jose Carlos Fajardo/Bay Area News Group)

The Bears have shown some encouraging signs on both sides of the line scrimmage. They’ve also been less than at times, including two weeks ago in a 34-0 loss at San Diego State and early last week, when they fell behind 14-0 at Boston College before rallying for a 28-24 victory.

“We’ve left so much on the bone,” said quarterback Jaron-Keawe Sagapolutele, who was tagged by ESPN this week as the nation’s second-best freshman at any position. “When we play our best game, and it will come, you’re going to expect great things from our offense, for sure.”

Senior defensive tackle Aidan Keanaaina feels the same way about his unit, despite some highs and lows. “We need to stay at those highs and play the way we know we can.”

Here are four areas the Bears need improvement to get to that next level:

SLOW STARTS: Cal never recovered from its early deficit at SDSU but had a better response when BC jumped out to a 14-point lead after 8 minutes.

“Nobody flinched. We kept playing and fought our way back into it,” Wilcox said. “The most valuable lesson that we talked about is finding a way to win when you’re not at your best.”

UNEVEN RUN GAME:

Cal’s Kendrick Raphael rushes against Texas Southern in the second half at hosting Cal Berkeley in Berkeley, CA on Saturday, Sept. 6, 2025. (Don Feria for Bay Area News Group)

has two 100-yard rushing games, including 119 yards at Boston College. That was an improvement but Bears are averaging just 108 yards on the ground to rank 14th in the ACC.

“Obviously, the offensive line has a lot to do with that,” Wilcox said. “I thought the O-line took a step forward. And we can continue to make significant growth in the run game.

“Really pleased with what Kendrick did. Now we’ve got to do it again and do it better.”

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PRE-SNAP PENALTIES: While this seems like it should be an easy fix, the Bears have been plagued by infractions even before a play begins.

Over the past three games, they been flagged 11 times for pre-snap penalties, including nine false starts by the offense. Those can be drive killers, five yards at a time.

MORE PASS RUSH: Cal collected 35 sacks in 13 games last season for 2.7 per game. Even so, the Bears wanted to improve their pressure on quarterbacks this fall.

Instead, they have just seven sacks through five games, an average of 1.4 per outing. The task gets harder without junior edge Ryan McCulloch, whom Wilcox called “one of the best players on the team,” but is out for the season due to injury.

Keanaaina said ratcheting up the heat is a priority. “We all want to have more plays in the backfield, more pressures, more sacks, more hits,” he said. “That’s something we need to emphasize.”