The magical ride for the Wake Forest Demon Deacons continues with a road trip to Berkeley to face the California Golden Bears, a program that had high hopes for what it could achieve in Year 1 under Tosh Lupoi but has somehow fallen on its face harder than an asteroid hitting the moon.
Wake Forest and Cal are on opposite sides of the canyon that is “good vibes.” Whereas the Demon Deacons have continued to impress, most recently with a 38-14 triumph over NC State, the Golden Bears have not. Cal entered the season with a sense of wonder surrounding its squad. With Lupoi taking over the program and star quarterback Jaron-Keawe Sagapolutele returning after a breakout freshman season, it appeared that Cal could do great things in 2026. Sometimes those assumptions and expectations are misplaced.
As such, Wake Forest enters this contest as the heavy favorite, a sentence that Deacs fans should get accustomed to saying if the current trend of winning — and usually winning by a lot — continues.
Cal Players to Watch
Sagapolutele remains the most important name to know, though whether Wake Forest actually sees him Saturday remains uncertain. The sophomore suffered a concussion against UNLV and did not play in Cal’s 25-20 victory over Virginia Tech last week. Before the injury, Sagapolutele had completed 65.2% of his passes for 1,180 yards with eight touchdowns against five interceptions through five appearances.
His absence would not necessarily make Cal harmless, either. Jackson Brousseau stepped in against Virginia Tech and threw for 321 yards with a touchdown, helping the Bears pull off an upset despite entering the game as roughly a double-digit underdog. Cal also has a legitimate playmaker on the other side of the ball in safety Kingston Lopa, who has five interceptions this season, although he has also been dealing with an injury.
A Trap Game Awaits in Berkeley
Wake Forest and Cal have only played each other once before, back in 2024, the first year the latter was in the ACC. The Golden Bears won 46-36, outlasting a Demon Deacons squad that mounted a furious fourth-quarter comeback attempt, only to fall short.
It goes without saying that this matchup doesn’t contain the same passion and pageantry as last week’s game against NC State. That doesn’t mean Wake Forest is in a position to lollygag through this one, however. Despite Cal’s struggles compared to its expectations, it is still a team capable of making things uncomfortable, especially if an opponent takes its foot off the gas.
Just ask Virginia Tech, which went into Berkeley last week and found out the hard way how a cross-country road trip can make things all the more difficult against a struggling but talented opponent. Wake Forest has earned the right to be viewed as the better team entering Saturday. Now the Demon Deacons have to play like it.
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