Well, I guess since Indiana starts off this season with North Texas, Howard and Western Kentucky that these two teams are somehow comparable as early season games for Cal in 2027, but they are not exactly over the top crowd pleasers. That said, these kinds of teams do have the advantage of attracting very good players who want early career exposure that will enable them to be noticed and recruited into D1 programs. Tosh will have to ensure that the Bears don’t let up when faced with these games as an upset would not be, shall we say, helpful to the Cal program rebuild.
Yeah, their 2025 season included a blowout of VA Tech (which beat Cal) and a bowl win (something Cal couldn’t manage), not to mention they hung tough with Indiana in their opener. ODU arguably was better than Cal last year.
I disagree. ODU is ahead of Cal in the rebuild process (they blew out Virginia Tech last season, for example), and as far as Sac. State is concerned, it’s about time Cal played two in-state FBS non-cons in the same season. Nothing wrong with that. I enjoyed our tilts against San Jose State back in the eighties, when they were pretty good and we played them annually. Cal is playing plenty of east coast teams each year. West coast opponents are more interesting to me. Sure, I’d rather watch Cal vs. UW or Oregon every year, but that ain’t happening and UCLA is already on the schedule. Cal could have done much worse than ODU and the Hornets.
Purely subjective, but I think there's a difference between "good" and "exciting". ODU may be very good this year, but I don't think that's an exciting team to play. To your other point, that I very much agree with, there's a whole former Pac-12 we could play. @UCla, vs Sac St, Vs [select any former Pac12] would be much more exciting than ODU.
Yes, I would definitely prefer a more recognizable opponent. With regard to your other good points, ODU may represent a situation where if we lose the game, it looks very bad as people say “ODU, are you kidding me?” Whereas, if Cal beats ODU, no one will make much of a stir, even if they’re a good team.
When I saw this yesterday, I thought we can't be playing two FCS teams so I looked up Sac State and learned that they are now in FBS. Well today I learned that Old Dominion is also in the FBS. Wow.
Old Dominion? Why couldn't we schedule the new one? This sucks.
You already have a Dominion at home.
Well, I guess since Indiana starts off this season with North Texas, Howard and Western Kentucky that these two teams are somehow comparable as early season games for Cal in 2027, but they are not exactly over the top crowd pleasers. That said, these kinds of teams do have the advantage of attracting very good players who want early career exposure that will enable them to be noticed and recruited into D1 programs. Tosh will have to ensure that the Bears don’t let up when faced with these games as an upset would not be, shall we say, helpful to the Cal program rebuild.
When did ODU get good? 10-3! Wow !
Yeah, their 2025 season included a blowout of VA Tech (which beat Cal) and a bowl win (something Cal couldn’t manage), not to mention they hung tough with Indiana in their opener. ODU arguably was better than Cal last year.
Yawn. I'll be there but that's very unexciting
I disagree. ODU is ahead of Cal in the rebuild process (they blew out Virginia Tech last season, for example), and as far as Sac. State is concerned, it’s about time Cal played two in-state FBS non-cons in the same season. Nothing wrong with that. I enjoyed our tilts against San Jose State back in the eighties, when they were pretty good and we played them annually. Cal is playing plenty of east coast teams each year. West coast opponents are more interesting to me. Sure, I’d rather watch Cal vs. UW or Oregon every year, but that ain’t happening and UCLA is already on the schedule. Cal could have done much worse than ODU and the Hornets.
Purely subjective, but I think there's a difference between "good" and "exciting". ODU may be very good this year, but I don't think that's an exciting team to play. To your other point, that I very much agree with, there's a whole former Pac-12 we could play. @UCla, vs Sac St, Vs [select any former Pac12] would be much more exciting than ODU.
Yes, I would definitely prefer a more recognizable opponent. With regard to your other good points, ODU may represent a situation where if we lose the game, it looks very bad as people say “ODU, are you kidding me?” Whereas, if Cal beats ODU, no one will make much of a stir, even if they’re a good team.
When I saw this yesterday, I thought we can't be playing two FCS teams so I looked up Sac State and learned that they are now in FBS. Well today I learned that Old Dominion is also in the FBS. Wow.
Wow, way to tackle that non conference schedule. Yeeeee, what the heck.