Bears Renew Rivalry With Bruins In 2026 Opener

Saturday, September 5

Berkeley, Calif.

7:30 PM

California

UCLA

Tickets From $59 - $469

Sophomore quarterback Jaron-Keawe Sagapolutele readies for his second year as Cal's starting signal-caller.

Photo by: Al Sermeno/KLC fotos

9/1/2026 10:00 AM | Football

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Lupoi Era Begins In Berkeley

By: Cal Athletics

BERKELEY – California football will open its 2026 campaign and the program's first season under Travers Family Head Football Coach Tosh Lupoi this Saturday night as the Golden Bears welcome longtime rival UCLA to Berkeley. Kickoff at California Memorial Stadium is set for 7:30 p.m. PT with the game to be shown live on ESPN.

SATURDAY LINEUP
Venue: California Memorial Stadium, Berkeley, Calif.
Time: 7:30 p.m. PT
Watch (ESPN): Tom Hart (PxP), Roddy Jones (Analyst), Quint Kessenich (Sideline Reporter)
Listen (English Radio): 810 AM – Justin Allegri (PxP), Mike Pawlawski (Analyst), Ben Ross (Sideline Reporter); Sirius XM Ch. 177 or 234/Sirius XM App 958, The Varsity App, YouTube Live Stream
Listen (Spanish Radio): Cal Football YouTube Live Stream – Jesus Zarate (PxP), Enrique Zarate (Analyst)

BEARS VS. BRUINS
- A historic rivalry that dates back to 1933 will be renewed as the Bears face the Bruins for the first time since November 25, 2023. This will be the 95th meeting between the former conference-foes, with the Bruins leading the series 58-35-1.
- In the 2023 game, Cal forced four turnovers and held the Bruins scoreless in the second half en route to a lopsided 33-7 victory, which was the first over UCLA since 2019, and made the Bears bowl-eligible for the first time in four years. Cal has made a bowl-game appearance every season since.
- The last time the Bruins visited California Memorial Stadium was November 25, 2022. Cal led by as many as 11 points in the second quarter, but then-No. 17 UCLA came back to narrowly defeat the Bears, 35-28, in the 2022 season finale.
- Cal and UCLA first met on the gridiron in Pasadena on November 4, 1933, in what was the lone draw between the two teams with a 0-0 final score. The first time the Bears and the Bruins squared off in Berkeley was the following year, when Cal notched the first win of the series with a 3-0 shutout.
- Cal and UCLA played at least one conference game every season for 91 consecutive campaigns from 1933-2023, while meeting twice each year from 1943-45.

THE TOSH LUPOI ERA BEGINS IN BERKELEY
– Tosh Lupoi was announced as the Travers Family Head Football coach of the Bears on Dec. 4, 2025. He is the 35th head coach in program history.
- Lupoi is a former Cal defensive lineman and assistant coach known for his elite recruiting ability. He has enjoyed extensive success both in college and the NFL. Most recently, he has served as the defensive coordinator and linebackers coach at Oregon.
- Lupoi won a pair of national championships during a five-year stint at Alabama where he served as outside linebackers coach and defensive coordinator, in addition to five conference championships (4 SEC, 1 Big 10).

SAGAPOLUTELE SET FOR SOPHOMORE CAMPAIGN
- QB Jaron-Keawe Sagapolutele is primed for a stellar sophomore campaign after bursting onto the college football scene in 2025. He was only the second true freshman to be named the Bears' starting quarterback for a season opener and the first since Jared Goff arrived in Berkeley in 2013, on his way to becoming the No. 1 overall NFL draft pick in 2016.
- Sagapolutele has been named to the Athlon Sports Fourth-Team All-ACC Preseason Watch List, the Davey O'Brien Award Watch List, the Maxwell Award Watch List, On3 Top 100 Players, Polynesian College Player of the Year Watch List and Sports Info Solutions Preseason Second-Team All-ACC ahead of the 2026 season.
- Sagapolutele completed 316-of-492 passes for 3,454 yards with 18 touchdown throws and nine interceptions while starting all 13 games in 2025. His 3,454 yards ranks sixth on Cal's all-time single-season list. He had the second-highest totals for completions, attempts, passing yards and passing touchdowns by a Cal freshman quarterback only behind Goff in 2013.
- Sagapolutele became Cal's first true-freshman signal caller to win a season opener in Cal's 34-15 win in Corvallis, Oregon. He completed the first nine pass attempts of his collegiate career and in his first two drives was 6-of-6 for 125 yards with two TDs.
- He passed for 200 or more yards in all 13 of his games as a 2025 rookie and is the only Power 4 and second FBS player to start his collegiate career with 13 consecutive games of 200 passing yards or more. Houston's David Piland began his career with 14-straight 200+ passing yard games spanning the 2010-12 seasons (did not play in 2011) to hold the NCAA record.
- Sagapolutele finished his freshman campaign by not throwing an interception in his final 178 pass attempts, which was just seven short of the school record of 185 set by Goff in 2015.
- He was named the ACC Rookie of the Week four times, the ACC's Quarterback of the Week twice, a Davey O'Brien National Quarterback of the Week twice and a Manning Award Star of the Week twice in 2025. He was the first freshman to win Manning Award Star of the Week multiple times and joined Georgia's Gunnar Stockton as the only other player in the 2025 season to win the award twice.
- His 18 passing touchdowns were the most by any true freshman quarterback in the 2025 season while his 22 total touchdowns (4 rushing, 18 passing) were the second most of any true freshman quarterback behind BYU's Bear Bachmeier (26).
- Sagapolutele set career-highs in completions (28) and passing yards (337) in Cal's appearance at the Sheraton Hawai'i Bowl. He had his career-best 77.5% passing efficiency in Cal's upset over SMU, finishing 31-for-40 for 330 yards passing with four touchdown throws and no interceptions or sacks. He completed two career-high 51-yard passes - one to Jaiven Plummer against Minnesota and another to Mason Mini at Boston College.

BEARS BRING IN NATIONALLY RANKED TRANSFER PORTAL CLASS
- Cal brought in a 2026 transfer portal class that ranks as high as 14th nationally and third-best in the ACC, according to 247Sports.
- The Bears acquired top talent from around the nation, including nine players who were on rosters of teams in the 2025 College Football Playoff: CB Ricky Fletcher (Ole Miss), CB Daniel Harris (Georgia), ILB Tristan Jernigan (Texas A&M), DL Jericho Johnson (Oregon), DB Kingston Lopa (Oregon), ILB Kamar Mothudi (Oregon), OLB Solomon Williams (Texas A&M), WR Cooper Perry (Oregon) and LS David Bird (Alabama, returning to Cal for second stint).
- Other notable highly-ranked transfers include running back Adam Mohammed (Washington), wide receiver duo Ian Strong (Rutgers) and Chase Hendricks (Ohio) and TE Dorian Thomas (New Mexico).

PASS-CATCHING PAIR GETS PRESEASON PROPS
- Senior wide receivers Ian Strong and Chase Hendricks were both named to the 2026 Biletnikoff Award Preseason Watch List.
- Cal is one of 10 schools in the FBS to land at least two players on the watch list, and the Bears' duo are two of 45 receivers that got the preseason nod.
- The pass-catching pair was also the highest-rated ACC wide receiver duo, according to PFF's preseason ratings.
- Strong started 10 games at wide receiver for Rutgers in 2025. He finished the season with 762 yards on 52 receptions and five touchdowns. He ranked fifth in the Big Ten with 76.2 receiving yards per game and sixth with 5.2 receptions per game last season. He was voted All-Big Ten by the coaches and media at the conclusion of the season.
- Hendricks started all 13 games for the Bobcats a season ago. He tallied 1,037 receiving yards and seven receiving touchdowns, becoming the fourth Bobcat in program history to log 1,000-plus yards in a single season. Over the course of the season, he recorded 100 or more receiving yards in six different games.

MOHAMMED MENTIONS
- Adam Mohammed was added to both the 2026 Doak Walker Award Watch List and the Paul Hornung Award Watch List leading up to the season-opener.
- The 2025 campaign saw Mohammed compile 523 yards and five touchdowns on 116 carries while adding 17 receptions for 138 yards through the air in 13 games for the Huskies. He was rated as high as the sixth running back in the 2026 transfer portal by both 247Sports and On3.

NFL INFLUENCE COURSES THROUGH LUPOI'S COACHING STAFF
- Lupoi has assembled a coaching staff that has a heavy NFL influence, with Jordan Somerville (Tampa Bay Buccaneers) named offensive coordinator, Michael Hutchings (Minnesota Vikings) the defensive coordinator, and first-round NFL Draft pick Ike Hilliard leading the wide receivers room.
- Somerville spent the last three seasons with Tampa Bay as the assistant quarterbacks coach working with Pro Bowl quarterback Baker Mayfield in a 2025 campaign in which he set career highs in completions (407), passing yards (4,500), passing touchdowns (41), completion percentage (71.4%) and passer rating (106.8).
- Hutchings comes to Berkeley after three seasons in Minnesota, the last two of which he served as the team's safeties coach. He helped the Vikings defense allow the second-fewest passing touchdowns in the league in 2025.
- Ike Hilliard had a 12-year NFL career and participated in Super Bowl XXXV as a player before having a 13-season career as an NFL coach with multiple different franchises, instructing NFL receivers to six 1,000-yard seasons and four NFL team top-10 passing yards seasons (Washington 2014, 2016, 2017; Atlanta 2024).