Coming off back-to-back losses at home for the first time since 2019, North Carolina State will look to pick up a win on the road when it heads to the West Coast for the first time this season in the new-look Atlantic Coast Conference to face California on Saturday afternoon in Berkeley, Calif.
NC State (3-4, 0-3 ACC) is still searching for its first conference win. The Wolfpack have failed to live up to expectations after being picked to finish fourth in the ACC preseason poll, garnering eight first-place votes. Heading into this game against the Golden Bears (3-3, 0-3), the Wolfpack seem to be in jeopardy of letting their season go off the rails.
The Wolfpack are coming off a home loss to Syracuse, in which they lost by just one score and lost the turnover battle 3-0.
“When you’re used to it, when you start taking that stuff for granted, sometimes the football gods come back and remind you how hard it really is to win a game,” NC State coach Dave Doeren said this week. “We can’t take winning for granted. We can’t take how to win for granted, the precious details, the value of field position and turnover margin.”
After Coastal Carolina transfer quarterback Grayson McCall suffered his second head injury in the past 12 months in NC State’s loss to Wake Forest on Oct. 5, true freshman CJ Bailey has taken the reins. Statistically, he had his best game yet against Syracuse, completing 17 of 24 throws for a season-high 329 yards and two touchdowns. But he also fumbled once and threw an interception.
NC State turns the ball over 1.9 times per game, which is the most in the ACC.
Cal has lost three games in a row, but by a combined eight points. The Bears lost on the road at Florida State by five, home to Miami by one in a controversial ending, and most recently at Pittsburgh by two. Two of Cal’s losses were also to AP-ranked opponents.
In Cal coach Justin Wilcox’s opinion, the team’s problem lately has been protecting its quarterback. The Bears have allowed 24 sacks through six games, which is the second-worst mark in FBS, tied with Colorado and trailing only South Carolina.
“We can’t get sacked so much. Everybody’s involved in that,” Wilcox said. “We’ve got to throw the ball on time, we have to protect the quarterback up front. The quarterback, there are times we can make better decisions.”
That quarterback is Fernando Mendoza, who has a completion percentage of 66.5 percent and is averaging 8.1 passing yards per attempt, both of which rank in the top 10 in the ACC.
Saturday’s game will be the first meeting between NC State and Cal in football.
