Go West
Cal and Stanford both open 2025 with a ton of question marks. But if those programs can find their way back to respectability, it could be a boon for the ACC.
Greetings from the left coast.
This week, Andrea Adelson, Kelsey Riggs-Cuff and I flew west to handle the California stops on the ACC Network's Fall Camp road trip at both Stanford and Cal.
First, it's pretty ridiculous how awesome both campuses are. If I'd been made aware during my youth that college could look like this, I might've tried harder.
Second, we had some great interviews with folks at both schools (more below).
For now though, I wanted to focus on Cal. Here's our interview with Justin Wilcox, who addresses some of the big concerns.
The Golden Bears finished last year 6-7, which is just about where Cal seems to finish nearly every season. But I'm not sure how much people realize how close they were to, perhaps, being in the playoff hunt.
They started 3-0, including a road win over Auburn. Then came the Florida State game. Cal got FSU before the Seminoles had completely packed it in for the year, but they still led 9-7 after the third quarter. FSU scored to open the fourth, and then Cal:
- Had a first-and-10 at the FSU 12-yard line before taking a sack and three penalties
- Had a 38-yard field goal blocked
- Forced a three-and-out
- Ran a 13-play drive that that go to the FSU 17 and still resulted in zero points
A week later, "GameDay" went to Berkeley for what was arguably the most energetic Cal home game in a decade or more, and the Golden Bears led by 25 mid-way through the third quarter against No. 8 Miami. And lost.
A week later, Cal had another 13-play drive to the Pitt 24-yard line trailing by 2 in the fourth quarter... and missed a field goal.
A week after that -- stop us if you've heard this before -- Cal had ANOTHER 13-play drive in the fourth quarter, trailing by a point, that resulted in a missed field goal and a loss to NC State.
Add in an eight-point loss to Syracuse in November and an 11-point bowl loss to UNLV, and six of Cal's seven losses came by a grand total of 28 points.
Now, here's some quick math that I discussed on the Cal road show:
Cal's 51.1% red-zone touchdown rate ranked 118th nationally.
Its 4.53 points-per-red zone drive ranked 105th nationally.
Its 68.4% success rate on field goal tries of less than 40 yards ranked 125th nationally.
Cal was AWFUL in those areas. But imagine if the Bears were, instead, FBS average. Not good, not elite, just average.
Change each of those rates to the FBS average rate and it would have equated to at least another 33 points scored last year.
That's 33 more points for a team that lost six games by a total of 28 points.
Be FBS average in two areas that really don't require elite talent to be good at, and Cal is a 10-win team... a team that would've ended last season with victories over Auburn and Pitt on the road and Miami and possibly Syracuse at home. That's honestly a team knocking on the door of the playoff.
So, what's that mean for 2025?
Honestly, probably nothing, because this team is almost entirely different. Cal's depth chart likely features 16 first-year transfers as starters (plus a completely new special teams unit).
A lot was made of all the outgoing transfers -- particularly at running back -- but as Wilcox noted, last year's Cal offense stunk (particularly a ground game that ranked 112th in yards/rush), so the changes this year are probably for the best.
The defense is a bigger issue, because that unit has kept Cal afloat. But Cade Uluave returns in 2025, and he's fantastic.
And if Cal can get good -- well, that could mean a lot for the ACC, as Ron Rivera noted with us.
Stanford's quest for relevance probably has further to go, and there are some real concerns I'd have about the offense.
The Cardinal have had virtually zero production from the running back position for the past two years. They return zero targets by wide receivers from last year's team. They will start a QB who couldn't land the starting job at Oregon State in each of the past two seasons.
Or another stat: 47% of Stanford's rushing yards in 2023 and 2024 came from QBs. Ben Gulbranson, the new QB1, has 33 career rushing yards.
The result is going to be an offense that likely runs through tight end Sam Roush, and that's actually a good thing because Sam is great. He allowed us to be honorary members of Nerd Nation.
We also talked with Andrew Luck about the goal of getting Stanford back to relevance. It's worth noting that it's not really a pipe dream.
The additions of Cal and Stanford to the ACC were largely laughed off by outside folks. Having two teams in California as members of the ATLANTIC COAST Conference felt silly on its face. But both schools have upside -- history, pedigree, monied alums and a gigantic media market -- that, if they could right the ship, could actually be a boon for the league.
The problem for both is the same problem afflicting so much of the ACC -- from Miami to Florida State to Virginia Tech. There's always talk about "getting back" to something (as Andrew Luck notes HERE) all while the rest of the sport races into a very uncertain future.
One last fun fact: As Luck tries to bring Stanford back to where it was during his playing days, he’s embraced one tool he remembers fondly from those years. The air horn.
What else was I doing this week?
I talked to a number of Bill Belichick's current and former players to get an idea of what it's like to play for the coaching legend.
I also wrote about South Carolina QB LaNorris Sellers, who might be the closest thing we've had to Cam Newton in college football in quite a while.
One other interesting tidbit I covered in the story: Sellers was *this* close to landing at Syracuse, and had the Orange not blown a game against Clemson -- and had instead started 7-0 in 2022 -- he'd probably be there now.
More stories worth a read
Don't miss Andrea Adelson's terrific profile of Max Johnson, who's working his way back onto the field after suffering a leg injury so catastrophic doctors say it's usually only seen in severe car accidents.
Chris Low's pre-season All-America team is out, and while a number of teams unsurprisingly have multiple names on the list, there's one that's a bit more of a shocker: Pitt.
Virginia Tech beat writer Doug Bowman found some really insightful documents on how the Hokies are viewing the future of the sport. Matt Brown goes deeper into the details. This is all a significant sneak peak into what many athletics departments are talking about.
Good eats
A quick ranking of the places I ate in the Bay Area last week.
Check out this view, too:
2. HK Lounge Bistro in San Fran
I hadn’t had good Dim Sum in forever.
Burger. Fries. Shake. Yes, please.
Normally I’m angrier at myself for filling up on chips at a Mexican restaurant but these were worth it.
Holy hell, the drunken noodles were good.
Wish I hadn’t been saving up for a big dinner because I would’ve liked to sample more than just the basic hot dog.
7. Oracle Park
The pantheon of great ballparks begins with Wrigley and Fenway, but Oracle is in the mix with PNC in Pittsburgh and Camden Yards in Baltimore for the No. 3 spot, and it might be the food that puts it ahead of the others.
Coming up next
After a ton of time on the road the past month, I’m back home in Charlotte until opening weekend, so hopefully that means a bit more fun and insight in the next newsletter or two.
Also, Inside ACCess kicks off its new season a week from Thursday on ACCN. Be sure to set your TiVo.