Cal at NC State Preview: Bears Try to Stop Skid in 9 a.m. Halloween Kickoff
Cal has lost three of its last four and heads to Raleigh as a road underdog for an early Halloween kickoff.
By the Bay Area Brief staff · Edited by Seamus McKenna · · 3 min read
Sailboats on Richardson Bay below the Sausalito hillside on a sunny day. Photo: Daderot / Wikimedia Commons, CC0 (cropped, resized and color-graded). Archive photo of the area; not a photo of the events in this story.
Cal football plays at NC State on Saturday, Oct. 31, at 9 a.m. Pacific at Carter-Finley Stadium in Raleigh. The game airs on ACC Network.
How Cal got here
Cal's schedule page shows the Bears at 3-5. Wins came against Wagner (49-7) and Virginia Tech (25-20). Losses came against Clemson, UNLV, Wake Forest (41-7) and SMU (59-20 last Saturday). After this game, Cal visits Virginia on Nov. 14 and hosts Stanford in the Big Game on Nov. 21.
The matchup
Line: Fourth Down Data shows NC State opening as an 8.5-point favorite, since moved to 7, with a total of 56.5.
Yards: Cal averages 369.3 yards a game, and NC State averages 419.9.
Third downs: NC State converts 52.5% of its third downs, compared with Cal's 36.7%. Cal's third-down defense ranks 126th of 138.
Turnovers: Cal is +0.3 per game in turnover margin, and NC State is -0.1.
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Stanford (4-4, 2-3 ACC) visits Louisville on Saturday, Oct. 31, at 12:15 p.m. PT on ACC Network after wins over Elon and NC State. Stanford won the only meeting, 38-35, in 2024.
Cal was picked 15th of 18 in the ACC preseason men's basketball poll. Mark Madsen's Bears return one starter, Lee Dort, and open Nov. 2 against Adams State at Haas Pavilion.
Cal led 20-17 at halftime in Dallas, then SMU scored 42 straight points. Kevin Jennings threw three touchdown passes and Kendrick Raphael scored three times.
