Cal Coach Tosh Lupoi on Wagner's 87-3 Defeat: `It's Irrelevant'

The Bears say their preparation this week's game will be no different than for any other opponent

Cal center Bastian Swinney sets up to block against UCLA | IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect

Wagner’s lopsided 87-3 defeat to James Madison will play no part in Cal’s preparation to face the visiting Seahawks on Saturday at Memorial Stadium.

“I’ve been playing this game too long to really care about what their score was last game,” said Cal starting center Bastian Swinney, in his sixth season as a college player.

“Every week it’s a nameless, faceless opponent. I have much respect for Wagner, their defensive front and front seven. They’re technicians, so I’m preparing for them like I would any other team.”

The Bears (1-1) are coming off a 21-18 victory at Syracuse in their ACC opener. Cal lost 45-24 to UCLA in its first game.

Wagner, a small private college located in Staten Island, New York, plays at the FCS level, formerly known as Division I-AA. They were projected to finish fourth in the Northeast Conference, but were annihilated last week by JMU, an FBS program which qualified for the College Football Playoff last season.

Las Vegas does not affix betting lines in games that involve FCS teams, but  Cal is widely expected to control the game. The Bears are 17-0 in games against FCS opponents since 2005.

The game will match Cal’s Tosh Lupoi, a first-time head coach, against Wagner’s Tom Masella, 67, who has served as a head coach at Boston University, Central Connecticut, Fordham and for the past seven years at Wagner.

Masella has coached at 10 different schools dating back to 1982 — one year after Lupoi was born — after playing defensive back for Wagner.

Asked how his team would regard Wagner’s apparent vulnerability, Lupoi called last week’s score “irrelevant.”

“We’ll dive into what they do well and what I think might be a weakness,” Lupoi said. “And then we’re going to try to attack that accordingly, like every other opponent.

“I’ve learned in 20 years of coaching the last thing you’re doing is allowing the last performance to be the judgment of a team. They’ve got a head coach that I’ve got a lot of respect for who’s been coaching for 40 years. He’s been calling defenses for a long time.”

Lupoi said Wagner is ranked high among FCS teams in creating defensive pressure and generating tackles for loss. “That’s problematic so that’s what I’m looking at,” he said. 

Lupoi stressed he and his coaches staff have lots to focus on to improve the Bears’ own performance. 

Cal defensive coordinator Michael Hutchings, whose unit made substantial improvement from Week 1 to Week 2, said there is still much to address.

“We’re going out there and playing an opponent. An opponent is an opponent, no matter who it is,” Hutchings said. “You treat everyone with respect and you arrive on the site and that’s the enemy at the time.”

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