Colorado (0-5, 0-2 in Pac-12) vs. Cal (3-2, 1-1)
Time/location: noon Saturday, Folsom Field
TV/Radio: Pac-12 Network/850 AM, 94.1 FM
Line: Cal -15.5, 48 over/under
Weather: 60 degrees, partly cloudy
What to know
Starting over… again: It’s probably a bad sign when your program has more interim head coaches (3) than bowl appearances (2) in the last 12 years. Can Mike Sanford reverse the six-game slide that cost Karl Dorrell his job? The one thing he’s got going for him: Freshman quarterback Owen McCown has injected life into a once-dormant passing game. With the 109th pass defense in FBS (268.4 yards/game) coming to Boulder, there’s reason to believe the Buffs can at least make things interesting.
Getting defensive: Somewhat lost amid the news of Dorrell’s dismissal last week was the fact that defensive coordinator Chris Wilson followed him out the door. Gerald Chatman has taken the reins and adopted the motto “,” according to BuffZone. Considering Wilson’s unit was 129th in total defense (508.8 yards/game) and 130th in scoring defense (43.2 points/game), there’s nowhere to go but up.
All in the family: It’s Family Weekend in Boulder, which almost always means a packed Folsom Field — even when the Buffs are bad (like they are now). That includes last year, when 49,806 watched CU take down Arizona 34-0 in the team’s most complete performance of the season. Could that energy, along with new leadership, turn the tide for a Buffs team that hasn’t held a lead since the second quarter of the TCU game in Week 1?
Double bye: Thanks to the Pac-12 schedulers, neither team enters this weekend with a preparation advantage since both are coming off bye weeks. Still, it cannot be ignored that the Buffs are 5-2 coming off their last seven bye weeks, with a 5-1 mark on home games following a bye. Last year’s post-bye week game? That very same win over Arizona.
Key matchups
CU front 7 vs. Cal RB Jaydn Ott: Shutting down the Bears starts with limiting Ott — the prized recruit of Cal’s 2022 class. The true freshman had a breakout game in a 49-31 win over Arizona three weeks ago with 274 yards on 19 carries. Going up against CU, the worst run defense in FBS at 294.2 yards/game, the four-star commit figures to get fed — a lot.
CU WR Daniel Arias vs. Cal DBs: The 6-foot-4 Arias has been the Buffs’ most consistent receiving threat by a wide margin. With a leaky Cal secondary on the other side of the ball, he should figure heavily into new offensive coordinator Clay Patterson’s game plan.
Predictions
Sean Keeler, sports columnist: Cal 31, CU 17
Mike Sanford wins news conferences. But can he win games? For all the juice injected into the Buffs’ moribund football program over the last 10 days, the guy who created and orchestrated an offense thatap averaged 13.4 points per game is … still here. Until tailbacks stop firing through this defense the way Ralphie fires out of the gate, will it matter?
Matt Schubert, deputy sports editor: Cal 27, CU 17
The Buffs are double-digit dogs for the sixth straight game to start the season — which is about everything you need to know. Between this weekend and Arizona State’s visit to Folsom on Oct. 29, CU has two credible shots at avoiding its first winless season in program history. Here’s guessing it will come down to that date with the Devils.
