SMU Opponents at a Glance: Cal

The inaugural ACC campaign for SMU will finish with a home game against fellow conference newcomer Cal.

The Bears went to their first bowl game in four seasons last year, but a loss gave them their fourth-straight losing season and sixth in eight years.

It will be the second-ever meeting between SMU and Cal and first since 1957, a 13-6 win for the Mustangs.

Cal Bears

Head Coach: Justin Wilcox (8th season)

Offensive Coordinator: Mike Bloesch (2nd season)

Defensive Coordinator: Peter Sirmon (7th season)

2023 Record: 6-7 (4-5 Pac-12, Independence Bowl loss to Texas Tech)

NFL Draft: One player drafted (DB Patrick McMorris — 6th Round), two undrafted free agents (OL Matthew Cindric , LB Jackson Sirmon )

Transfer Portal: 18 players transfer out (QB/WR Sam Jackson , WR Jeremiah Hunter , LB Kaleb Elarms-Orr ), 21 players transfer in (WR Mikey Matthews , RB Kadarius Calloway , QB Chandler Rogers )

Recruiting Recap: No. 56 in the nation for Class of 2024 — Top Signee: Three-star WR Trevor Rogers — zero Top 100 players — zero Top 200 players — 0% blue chip

Recent Results: No. 71 (2023), No. 59 (2022), No. 28 (2021)

Offensive Overview

Cal’s offense is led by third-team Preseason All-America and first-team Preseason All-ACC selection running back Jaydn Ott . He is coming off a season with 1,315 yards and 12 touchdowns on 246 carries. Ott will be joined in the backfield by a pair of newcomers in Jerry Johnson (Texas A&M) and Calloway (Old Dominion) with the next two leading rushers from last year’s team gone.

The Bears will also have a new quarterback, likely former UNT signal caller Rogers. He threw 3,382 yards and 29 touchdowns, with just five interceptions, last season. Cal does also return Fernando Mendoza (153-243-10—1,708, 14TDs) who played in nine games, splitting time with a pair of departed QBs.

Cal lost its leading receiver from a year ago to the portal, but does return Trond Grizzell who caught 39 passes for 590 yards and five touchdowns for second in all three categories. The second leading returning receiver is tight end Jack Endries (35-407, 2 TDs). So the Bears went out and picked up five receivers from the portal, led by Matthews (Utah) along with Kyion Grayes (Ohio St.), Jonathan Brady (UMass), Cole Boscia (Colorado) and Tobias Merriweather (Notre Dame) to help out.

The offensive line loses a pair of stalwarts, but Cal does return TJ Session , Matthew Wykoff and Sioape Vatikani who started 13, 12 and 11 games, respectively, there this past season. The Bears also added Braden Miller (Michigan St.) and Rush Reimer (Montana St.) through the portal.

Last season Cal’s offense finished averaging 218.2 yards passing (71st NCAA) and 172.8 yards rushing (45th) for 390.9 total yards (61st) per game. The Bears averaged 30.2 points (47th) per game.

Defensive Overview

The Cal defense gave up more yards and points than its offense was able to get. The Bears allowed a third-worst 280.7 passing yards and 133.4 rushing yards (35th) for 414.1 total yards (102nd) and 32.8 points (111th) per game.

Cal lost its leading tackler to the transfer portal (Elarms-Orr) and second-leading tackler to the NFL draft (McMorris) making defensive back Craig Woodson the leading returner after making 81, including 3.5 for loss, a season ago. Linebacker Cade Uluave is also back after finishing with 66 tackles, 6.5 for loss and 2.5 sacks, to go with two interceptions, two forced fumbles and two fumble recoveries.

Linebacker David Reese is back after leading the team with eight tackles for loss a season ago along with a team-high 6.5 sacks. Uluave was second in TFLs while Xavier Carlton was second in sacks with 4.5 and also returns.

Uluave, Nohl Williams and Lu-Magia Hearns III are all back after intercepting two passes each. Reese had a team-high three fumbles forced while Uluave, Williams and Michael Luckhurst all recovered two.

The Cal defense added some top-end talent on defense too with former four-star recruits at safety in Ryan Yaites (LSU), corner Jasiah Wagoner (Oklahoma) and linebacker TJ Bollers (Wisconsin). The Bears also bolstered their defensive line with Aidan Keanaaina (Notre Dame) and Serigne Tounkara (Missouri) along with some other nice portal pickups to hopefully improve from last year’s numbers.

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