Cal Eager For Much More Than Merely Bowl Eligibility

Cal is one victory away from bowl eligibility for the third straight season. But the Bears view that as just a beginning.

“Definitely not enough,” tight end Mason Mini says in the video above. “I feel like this conference is wide open, so why not just keep going and try to win every game we have for the rest of the season. We can do it.”

The next step for Cal (5-2, 2-1 ACC) is Friday at Virginia Tech (2-5, 1-2), where the Bears hope to secure a sixth victory and bowl eligibility at the earliest date on the calendar since 2006.

Cal didn’t win their sixth game until the Big Game on Nov. 23 last season, and needed a regular-season ending win at UCLA on Nov. 25 to get it done in 2023.

With five regular-season games left on the schedule, coach Justin Wilcox said there is opportunity to achieve a lot. He still awaits his team showing its best version of itself.

“It’s not the ultimate goal,” he said of become bowl eligible. “But that’s something we aspire to — winning bowl games and being in the best bowl game possible.”

Three ACC teams remain undefeated in conference play and Cal is among four more with just a single loss.

Cal has not finished with a winning record since 2019 and hasn’t posted a winning conference mark since 2009.

With a win Friday night the Bears will improve to two games over .500 in conference play for the first time since opening 2-0 in the Pac-12 in 2015.

WILCOX ON TECH QB: Virginia Tech quarterback Kyron Drones has the attention of Wilcox and the Bears. A third-year player at Tech after spending his first two seasons at Baylor, Drones is hard to miss at 6-foot-2, 235 pounds.

“Big, athletic, hard to tackle, runs their offense real well. He’s fast, he can throw the ball. He’s a weapon, for sure,” Wilcox said. “We’ve seen some great quarterbacks, but this guy is big and athletic. He can do a lot.”

Drones has passed for 1,397 yards with 11 touchdowns this fall and has 277 rushing yards and five TDs. He also has seven turnovers, including five interceptions.

More run-oriented as a sophomore at Tech in 2023 when he rushed for 818 yards, Drones has career totals of 5,263 passing yards with 39 TDs and 15 picks, and 1,480 rushing yards with 18 TDs. He also caught a touchdown pass last season.

GOFF NEW KING OF MNF: Former Cal quarterback great Jared Goff and the Detroit Lions beat Tampa Bay 24-9 on Monday night, moving Goff into a class of his on Monday Night Football.

The victory improves him to 9-2 on MNF, a winning percentage of .818 that is the best of any quarterback with at least 10 starts.

“Yeah, it’s pretty cool,” he said afterward on ESPN. “I love playing on these stages, I love being part of this team. We seem to play well in prime time — Monday night, Thursday night, Sunday night . . . don’t matter. We seem to show up for the occasion on these prime-time games, and tonight was no different.”

This was the Lions’ second MNF victory this season and Goff has led the franchise to a 5-0 record in that slot since the start of the 2023 campaign.

Goff was 20 for 29 for 241 yards with a touchdown against the Bucs. He is second in the NFL with 15 touchdowns, second in completion percentage at 749 and tied for second in passer rating at 116.4.

McCAFFREY PRAISES, JABS RIVERA: 49ers star running back Christian McCaffrey, appearing on KNBR radio Tuesday, spoke fondly of Ron Rivera, his coach when both were with the Carolina Panthers.

“It was great, man. I have so much respect for Ron. We still keep in touch today,” McCaffrey said. “Any one of his players, they all say the same thing: How much they love and respect him.

“He gave me a chance, he drafted me . I will always appreciate him for that.”

McCaffrey, a Stanford alum, couldn’t resist taking a playful jab at Rivera, who played at Cal and returned this year as the football program’s general manager.”

“I have to talk slow to him, but I still have a lot of respect for him,” McCaffrey said.

That’s “slowly,” Christian, not “slow.”

DE JESUS TURNS HEADS: In the wake of catching 13 passes for 105 yards with a touchdown last Friday against North Carolina, senior slot receiver Jacob De Jesus earned some attention.

He has been named to the Paul Hornung Award Honor Roll, with the year-end award going to the nation’s most versatile player. Also the Bears’ return specialist on kickoffs and punts, De Jesus was added to the watch list for the Jet Award, which honors the outstanding return man in the country.

Follow Jeff Faraudo on Twitter, Facebook and Bluesky

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