Three Keys to Cal Beating North Carolina

Cal begins the second half of its 2025 football schedule on Friday night against North Carolina. Kickoff is 7:30 p.m. at Memorial Stadium.

The Bears, coming off a bye, are 4-2 overall, 1-1 in the ACC in the wake of their 45-21 home defeat to Duke two weeks ago.

Carolina is 2-3, 0-1 in conference play and dealing with the daily distractions that have come with coach Bill Belichick.

"We haven't played our best football," Cal coach Justin Wilcox says in the video above. "We've plyed in spurts. We have to get all three phases of the game working in unison at the same time to see what our best football looks like."

Here are three keys to Cal generating its fifth win of the season:

Put the Heels in a hole

Struggling teams struggle first with confidence. Carolina is making a long trip, playing three time zones from home and without a victory against anything resembling a good team.

The Tar Heels are vulnerable, especially early.

In lopsided defeats to TCU, UCF and Clemson, the Tar Heals trailed by a combined total of 75-13 at halftime.

An early deficit here could not only serve to remind Carolina of its shortcomings but energize what should be a good home crowd.

Establish the run

The Tar Heels have struggled to defend the pass, surrendering an average of 302 yards through the air and eight touchdown passes in their three defeats. They’ll try to avert that threat by coming hard after Cal freshman quarterback Jaron-Keawe Sagaolutele.

That’s where the run comes in. Cal hasn’t rushed for more than 122 yards in any of its five games against FBS opponents. It’s pretty much been a problem all season.

But at least the Bears averaged 119 yards on the ground through their first three games and that may have helped keep the heat off Sagapolutele, who responded by throwing six touchdowns and just one interception in three victories.

The ground game has nearly ground to a halt the past three games, generating less than 75 yards per game on just 2.3 yards per attempt. Defenses don’t fear the Bears’ run game and the pass attack has felt the difference. Sagapolutele has thrown six picks in those three games and been sacked nine times in the two defeats.

Create turnovers

The Bears have been vulnerable to the run the past two games, but the overriding difference in their defense this year has been their inability to generate game-changing plays.

A year ago, Cal was among the nation’s leaders with 22 takeaways, including 17 interceptions. Through six games this fall, the Bears have taken the ball away just seven times.

Junior Cade Uluave, a big-play linebacker his first two seasons, has 52 tackles but just one sack and no interceptions or fumbles caused/recovered. Even cornerback Hezekiah Masses, who has an interception in each of Cal’s four victories, has none in the Bears' two defeats.

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