Cal hopes to become bowl-eligible and stay in the fast lane for its first Atlantic Coast Conference title when the Golden Bears face Virginia Tech on Friday night in Blacksburg, Va.
Coming off a 21-18 home win over North Carolina, the Golden Bears (5-2, 2-1) kick off the weekend as one of eight teams in the 17-school ACC with no more than one conference loss. The Hokies (2-5, 1-2) have lost two straight.
A sixth overall win would be nice, Cal tight end Mason Mini assured reporters this week, but an ACC championship carries more heft.
“This conference is wide-open,” Mini said, “so why not just keep going and try to win every game we have for the rest of the season? We can do it.”
The cross-country meeting of the schools will be their first since 2003, when Cal rode a 394-yard passing performance from Aaron Rodgers to a 52-49 Insight Bowl win in Phoenix.
The Golden Bears have handed the reins to Jaron-Keawe Sagapolutele, their first true freshman starting quarterback since Jared Goff in 2013.
Sagapolutele put himself on the ACC radar when, in his first conference road game, he threw for 254 yards and two touchdowns in a 28-24 win Sept. 27 at Boston College.
The left-hander’s 1,696 passing yards rank fourth among ACC quarterbacks, and on Friday he can become the second in the conference to top 2,000 after Duke’s Darian Mensah.
Virginia Tech senior Kyron Drones actually has the edge on his Cal counterpart in touchdown passes (11-10), fewer interceptions (7-5) and passing efficiency (126.4-126.0) despite having thrown for almost 300 fewer yards.
Drones ran for a touchdown and a season-best 83 yards to go with 181 yards and two scores through the air in Virginia Tech’s most recent outing, a 35-20 loss at Georgia Tech on Oct. 11
Virginia Tech center Kyle Altuner looks forward to his first Friday night college football experience.
“You always dream of playing under the lights in front of a big crowd,” he told reporters this week. “So that’ll definitely be fun.”
