Welcome to our weekly predictions post from our writers. You’ll see what they expect the score to be and any wacky or rational predictions they expect to see in each game!
Christopher_h
Scoreline: Cal loses 17-23
I'm just preparing myself to be disappointed. This one should probably be an ugly defensive struggle between two poorly-called offensive schemes.
Rob Hwang
Scoreline: Cal wins 33-27
Cal sneaks out the victory in Berkeley with a breakout performance from a Cal WR.
Nick Kranz
Scoreline: Cal loses 17-19
If Cal's coaches can restore even a semblance of the deep passing game we all saw in 2025, Cal should win this game with relative comfort. But we haven't seen it in 3 games, so until I see it I'm going to be down on the floor and the ceiling of this offense.
Callie Wake
Scoreline: Cal wins 20-17
This gonna be a rock fight that will take years off my lifespan, but I think defense saves the game for us.
Ben Rossi
Scoreline: Cal wins 24-20
Feeling a bit of North Carolina Déjà Vu from last season. Cal starts out as the stronger team given the favorability over Clemson with travel but falls asleep late and promising freshman quarterback Tait Reynolds gives Dabo Swinney and Clemson some hope and the Golden Bears bend but don’t break and stay undefeated in ACC play.
Piotr T Le
Scoreline: Cal loses 17-20
Cal will struggle to efficiently run the ball with the median run getting 1 yard per carry, and Clemson's passing defense will be good enough to keep Cal contained.
Reynolds will be good for a brain-fart or two but I think Cal's special team failures from the Wagner game will actually lead to good field position for Clemson for them to kick a field goal after a stalled drive and that will be the difference in the game.
Berkelium97
Scoreline: Cal wins 17-14
Clemson is down to their injured backup QB and the Cal offense is an inefficient mess. This one is going to be an ugly rockfight with some Pac-12 After Dark weirdness mixed in. Whoever loses is going to have some big feelings.
This is ridiculous! We have a QB with generational talent and a running back who has restored some sense of balance to the offense. Yet we cannot seem to build the kind of momentum necessary to carry this team to the level that we'd all like to see. This is an important game to build the kind of momentum this team needs if it is going to have anything approaching what we would call a successful season, and I do not mean 6-6. Clemson is not Miami (or Louisville or SMU) but at least a win can be another ACC win on Cal's side of the ledger. My greatest fear is that we will see something on the order of what we saw with Wagner in terms of play calling and OL play combined with WR who can't seem to catch the ball that they are paid to catch. I am hoping that Ian Strong lives up to his preseason hype and has a breakout game and that Adam Mohmmed has a big day keeping the Clemson defense off guard. If the Clemson DL can rattle JKS. we are pretty much toast. And for God's sake, get the special teams better coordinated and doing their jobs. I make no predictions except that we actually may have a chance to beat a hapless Stanford and virtually no chance of beating SMU if things don't change.
JKS and the WRs have a breakout game. Cal wins, 34-21. Go Bears