Complete Preview of Cal's ACC Football Opener at Boston College

Cal travels 3,100 miles to play its ACC opener on Saturday afternoon against Boston College, which leads the nation in passing offense.

The preview:

CAL (3-1. 0-0 ACC) vs. BOSTON COLLEGE (1-2, 0-1 ACC)

SITE: Alumni Stadium, Chestnut Hill, Massachusetts

WHEN: Saturday, 12:30 p.m. Pacific time

TV: ACC Network – Chris Cotter (Play by Play), Max Browne (Analyst), Kendra Douglas (Sideline Reporter)

RADIO: 810 AM -- Justin Allegri (Play-By-Play), Mike Pawlawski (Analyst), Ben Ross (Sideline Reporter)

BETTING LINE: Boston College is a 6.5-point favorite as of Friday morning. Over/Under is 52.5 points

WEATHER FORECAST: Some sunshine and some clouds will be present in Boston on Saturday afternoon with the temperature reaching 73 degrees. The temperature will fall a bit by the time the game is over and there will be increased cloud cover and a 24% chance of rain Saturday night. (The game is expected to end around 7 p.m. Eastern time.)

CAL-BOSTON COLLEGE HISTORY: Boston College and Cal have played each other only once in football, and that was in 1986, when Boston College beat Cal 21-15 in Chestnut Hill, Massachusetts.

CAL PLAYER AVAILABILITY: Two defensive starters -- safety Isaiah Crosby and outside linebacker Ryan McCulloch – will not play in this game, and kicker Abram Murray is also out. Murray is used for Cal’s long-distance field-goal attempts and is 3-for-3 this season with a long of 49 yards. Cal wide receiver Mark Hamper probably will play. (Full player availability list.)

BOSTON COLLEGE PLAYER AVAILABILITY: Boston College will be without two starters – wide receiver Jaedn Skeete and defensive back Amari Jackson. Starting offensive tackle Jude Bowry is questionable.

CAL STORYLINES:

---Cal hopes to bounce back from last week’s humbling 34-0 loss to San Diego State when the Golden Bears were 14-point favorites. It was Cal’s first shutout loss since 2019, when the Bears lost to 12th-ranked Utah 35-0. Cal’s starting quarterback in that game six years ago was third-string freshman Spencer Brasch, who was making his first college start with Cal’s top two quarterbacks sidelined with injuries.

---Similarly, Cal true freshman quarterback Jaron-Keawe Sagapolutele will try to rebound from his first subpar performance. He completed seven of his first eight passes last week against San Diego State, but then went 10-for-30 with two interceptions and no touchdowns the rest of the way.

---ESPN’s College Football Power Index gives Cal a 61.4% chance of getting the six wins needed to become bowl-eligible, but gives the Bears just a 0.1% chance of winning the ACC championship.

---For the second week in a row, Cal will face a team coming off a bye, which is typically an advantage for the team that gets two weeks to prepare for an opponent. It seemed to be an advantage for San Diego State, which did not play the week before handing Cal a 34-0 defeat. Boston College did not play last week after losing to Stanford 30-20 on September 13.

---Cal has not had a reliable running game this season. The Bears rank 16th in the 17-team ACC in rushing, averaging 105.3 yards per game. Cal averages 3.5 yards per rushing attempt, which ranks 14th in the ACC. Kendrick Raphael is the team’s leading rusher with 228 yards, with 122 of those coming against Texas Southern.

---Saturday’s game will be the first of three games Cal will play on the East Coast this season. Last season Cal went 1-2 in games in the Eastern time zone, but was competitive in all three. The Bears won at Wake Forest 46-36, and they lost road games against Florida State 14-9 and Pitt 17-15, although the Bears had opportunities to win both. Cal went 1-1 last year in games played two time zones away, beating Auburn 21-14 in Auburn, Alabama, and losing to SMU 38-6 in Dallas.

---Cal struggled in the red zone last week after being successful in that category in the first three games. Cal scored in all 13 of his red-zone opportunities while starting 3-0, and it scored touchdowns in 10 of those 13 chances. However, Cal went 0-for-3 in the red-zone opportunities against San Diego State. An incompletion on fourth down, an interception and a missed field goal ended those Cal drives after getting inside the Aztecs’ 20-yard line. The Bears also failed to score on two other possessions after getting to the San Diego State 34-yard line and the Aztecs’ 31-yard line.

---The Bears’ defense is allowing just 3.18 yards per rushing attempt, which ranks fourth in the ACC. Boston College has had one of the worst rushing offenses in the country so far.

---Cal committed three turnovers in last week’s game and did not force any turnovers from San Diego State. For the season Cal is even on turnovers – committing five and forcing five by its opponents.

---Cal quarterbacks were sacked four times last week. and the Bears have allowed eight sacks for the season. Only four ACC teams have allowed more sacks than that. Cal’s defense has recorded six sacks, and only three ACC teams have fewer.

---Cal cornerbacks Hezekiah Masses did not have any interceptions last week but he has three on the season, which ties him for the second-most in the nation with five other players. Aamaris Brown of UNLV leads the country with four picks. Masses leads the nation in passes defensed with 10 (three interceptions, seven passes broken up).

---Cal missed a field goal for the first time this season last week. The Bears were 6-for-6 on field goals before Chase Meyer missed a 44-yard try against San Diego State in the Bears’ only field-goal attempt of the game.

BOSTON COLLEGE STORYLINES:

---Boston College is coming off a bye following its surprising 30-20 road loss to Stanford in its ACC opener on September 13. Boston College was without a number of key players because of injuries in that game. The Eagles beat Fordham, an FCS team, 66-10 in their opener, then lost to Michigan State on the road 42-40 in overtime.

---Boston College’s ticket site reports that Saturday’s game is a sellout at 44,500-seat Alumni Stadium. The Eagles are 7-1 at home since the start of the 2024 season, and the one home loss was a four-point defeat against Louisville last year.

---ESPN’s College Football Power Index gives Boston College a 34.1% chance of getting the six wins needed to earn a bowl berth and just a 0.1% chance of winning the conference title. However, Boston College’s Power Index rating of 1.8 is better than Cal’s Power Index rating of minus-2.8.

---The Eagles lead the nation in passing offense, averaging 393.7 yards per game, with quarterback Dylan Lonergan being the trigger man. Lonergan leads the ACC and is second in the nation in passing yards per game (330.3). His 73.2% completion percentage is the second-highest in the ACC, and ranks 10th nationally. Lonergan has nine touchdown passes in three games, and that ranks third in the conference.

---Eagles wide receiver Lewis Bond leads the nation in receptions per game at 9.67 per contest, and he is second in the ACC in receiving yards per game (91.7). Bond needs 47 catches to break the school record for career receptions, a record currently held by Zay Flowers.

---Boston College tight end Jeremiah Franklin has 19 receptions through three games, and his 6.33 receptions per game are the most by any tight end in the country. His 6.33 receptions per game rank second in the ACC among all players and 18th nationally.

---Boston College has had one of the worst running games in the country so far. The Eagles are averaging 73.3 yards on the ground, which ranks last in the ACC and 130th of the 134 FBS teams. Boston College is averaging 2.53 yards per rushing attempt, and that ranks 131st in the country.

---Eagles head coach Bill O’Brien was head coach of the NFL’s Houston Texans for six-plus seasons. He had a winning record in five of those seasons and took the Texans to the playoffs four times. He was fired in 2020 after an 0-4 start.

---Turnovers doomed Boston College in its loss to Stanford. The Eagles committed just one turnover in their first two games combined, but they committed three turnovers against Stanford without forcing any turnovers by Stanford.

---Boston College ranks 12th in the ACC in scoring defense, allowing 27.3 points per game, and ranks eighth in the ACC in yards allowed per play (5.0). The Eagles are slightly better defending the pass than the run. Their defense allows 3.8 yards per rushing attempt, which ranks 11th in the ACC, and allows 6.3 yards per passing attempt, which ranks sixth in the ACC.

---Five questions to a Boston College beat writer about the Eagles---

CAL PLAYERS TO WATCH: QB Jaron-Keawe Sagapolutele (coming off his first disappointing performance); LB Cade Uluave (fifth in the ACC in tackles at 8.5 per game); WR Trond Grizzell (15 catches, 17.7 yards per reception); WR/PR Jacob De Jesus (20 receptions, 13.4 yards per punt return); CB Hezekiah Masses (3 interceptions, 10 passes defensed); ILB Luke Ferrelli (8.3 tackles per game); TE Mason Mini (at least 4 catches in every game this season).

BOSTON COLLEGE PLAYERS TO WATCH: QB Dylan Lonergan (second nationally in passing yards per game); WR Lewis Bond (9.67 receptions per game, leads the nation); WR Reed Harris (141 receiving yards vs. Stanford); DB Omar Thornton (20 tackles, 5.0 tackles for loss); K Luca Lombardo (5-for-5 on field goals with a long of 51 yards); TE Jeremiah Franklin (leads the nation in receptions per game by a tight end); DE Quintayvious Hutchins (Eagles’ best defensive player).

CAL 2024 STATISTICS: Click here

CAL GAME NOTES, DEPTH CHART: Click here

BOSTON COLLEGE STATISTICS: Click here

BOSTON COLLEGE NOTES, DEPTH CHART: Click here

JAKE'S PICK: Cal 30, Boston College 27

JEFF'S PICK: Cal 24, Boston College 20

GRAHAM Dietz (Boston College Eagles on SI): Boston College 38, Cal 35

TICKETS: Click here (sold out). StubHub: Click here. SeatGeek: Click here

Recent articles:

Ron Rivera's message to the team

We asked a Boston College beat writer 5 Questions about Cal's next opponent

What did BC coach Bill O'Brien say about Cal QB Jaron-Keawe Sagapolutele?