California had a phenomenal opening week. The play of quarterback Jaron-Keawe Sagapolutele brought renewed hope to Cal Nation.

Still, it’s important to be careful here.

Oregon State made a bunch of blunders that helped the Golden Bears shine in Corvallis. Cal was the better team, but the Beavers made it easy on them.

Sagapolutele threw for 234 yards, three touchdowns, and zero interceptions. He also added 30 yards on the ground.

Here’s big thing working in Cal’s advantage going forward: Their next six contests are all winnable.

Two of their next three are against Texas Southern and San Diego State, and they get Minnesota in between.

If the Bear defense can play at a high level, they’ll be tough to beat, as has so often been the case under Justin Wilcox.

As promising as his team looked in the opener of a make-or-break year for Wilcox, this Cal team might upset a few brand names in the ACC.

The Dam breaks under the weight of Oregon State’s mistakes

I don’t know if anyone knows what to make of what happened to Oregon State last week. They looked bad, shot themselves in the foot, or more accurately, “feet.”

Oh, and by the way, California might be kinda good.

But let’s get back to the Beavers’ mistakes. They had a “too many men on the field” penalty that extended the Cal’s opening drive, leading to a touchdown.

Then the Beavs lost a fumble at the end of the second quarter, trailing 14-3. Instead of a close halftime score, Cal took a fourteen point lead into the break.

Maalik Murphy also threw an interception at the beginning of the fourth quarter when OSU was trailing by fifteen points. That sealed the loss for the Beavers.

Murphy has to play better, but the season-ending injury to Darrius Clemons hurt this squad more than expected. They didn’t have a second option to throw to outside of Trent Walker.

The Beavers have got to find a way to play better against Fresno State, or their season could slip away. OSU travels to Lubbock and Eugene the following two weeks.

Stanford looks to rebound from Hawai’i setback at BYU

Stanford is probably excited to get back on the field after their Week-Zero loss at Hawaii.

A bye is a crucial thing to have before playing an opponent like BYU.

To compete against the Cougars, the Cardinal needs Ben Gulbranson to step up. The senior quarterback posted a 7-1 record as the starting quarterback at Oregon State in 2022.

So we know he can get it done.

It would also help if Micah Ford continues to make an impact. Ford rushed for 113 yards and one touchdown in the opener.

The Tree are still figuring out how to replace Elic Ayomanor’s production at wideout.

On defense, Matt Rose was a beast at linebacker in the opener. Rose had 13 tackles, two tackles for loss, and one sack. Clay Patterson also chipped in two sacks at defensive tackle.

The game against the Cougars should prove rough, but Stanford can make things happen if it gets back-to-back victories against Boston College and Virginia.

An upset against BYU would change everything.

Washington State feels fortunate to have survived against Idaho

Washington State’s first game was pretty ugly, but hey, it was a win.

The Cougar offense struggled throughout almost the entirety of Week One. WSU finished with a total of 211 yards, and only three on the ground.

If the Cougs can’t find a way to generate more offense this week, they’ll probably lose against San Diego State.

The key to WSU’s victory over Idaho was defense, and a last-second scoring drive—their offense did just enough.

Another interesting decision was sJimmy Rogers starting Jaxon Potter over Zevi Eckhaus, who didn’t even see the field. Julian Dugger was the backup quarterback in a running role.

All of which amounted to a decision that didn’t work. If the Cougars hadn’t won this contest, Rogers would’ve had some explaining to do.

As bad as it looked, Washington State survived, and at least has a rivalry victory under their belt. The Aztecs feel like a perfect level-up opponent to see where the Cougs really stand.

WSU is lucky to have their first couple of matchups at home.