Most new head coaches spend their first 24 hours on the job shaking hands and kissing babies. Others work the phones, trying to assemble a new staff. New Cal football head coach Tosh Lupoi spent his time at 30,000 feet.

The ink on his new five-year contract was barely dry, and the former Oregon defensive coordinator was headed to the airport. The destination? Hawaii. The goal? To retain the services of the Golden Bears’ most talented freshman quarterback in program history. 

By meeting Jaron-Keawe Sagapolutele, aka “JKS,” on the islands as the Freshman All-American was celebrating his high school alma mater’s state title, Lupoi made it clear that his first order of business was to ensure the talented left-hander would remain the face of the program. 

If flying to Hawaii seems like overkill, it wasn't. Keeping JKS was supposed to be the “impossible” part of the rebuild. Sagapolutele threw for over 3,000 yards and 17 touchdowns his freshman year. He was the hammer that knocked promising Louisville and SMU teams out of College Football Playoff contention, and the kind of player just about any team in the country would’ve liked to add to their offense.

Keeping JKS in Berkeley is massive, but it’s only part of the task at hand for Lupoi and the Bears to hit cruising altitude in 2026.

Lupoi secured the engine in JKS and quickly realized he needed to make some structural changes. 

According to ESPN, Sagapolutele had a -19.1 Sack Rate in 2025, 15th worst in FBS football. The Freshman All-American faced near-constant pressure. Quite frankly, it was a miracle he stayed in one piece over the course of 13 games.

If you were to build a scouting profile on Sagapolutele, the first bullet point would be that he’s a precision instrument. He’s not a scrambler and is not the type of player who thrives in chaos. He prefers to play from a clean pocket, allowing him to show off his arm talent. At times, he was able to play that way last season. But far too often, especially as the season progressed, he was inundated with pressure on what felt like every pass play. It impacted his ability to stand tall in the pocket and push the ball downfield.

To recalibrate the offensive line, Lupoi showed off his legendary recruiting gravity to bring in five new offensive linemen. All five transfer offensive linemen are three-star players. Lupoi hopes that with good coaching, his staff can tap into their upside and get the most out of them up front. 

Speaking of recruiting the transfer portal and fixing things around JKS, the Cal receiver room also needed an upgrade. Lupoi and company once again dipped into the portal to bring in three wideouts. The standouts from that crop are Ian Strong, formerly of Rutgers, and former Ohio pass-catcher Chase Hendricks. 

Strong finished the 2025 season with 762 yards and five touchdowns, while Hendricks tallied over 1,000 yards and seven touchdowns in the MAC. Sprinkle in the addition of promising young running back Adam Mohammed from Washington, and that trio should add nice pop and a new dimension to the Bears’ offense this season.

On the other side of the ball, the 2025 Cal defense gave up 30 points or more in seven games, including three straight to close out the season. While Lupoi won’t be working with the same type of game-wreckers he had at Oregon, it’s hard to think that group won’t take a step forward. 

Retaining Sagapolutele and adding reinforcements on both sides of the ball should put the Golden Bears in a much better position to be a tough out in a top-heavy ACC. 

One of the highlights from an up-and-down 2025 season was Cal’s upset over No. 25 SMU, which ultimately impacted the ACC Title Game. Cal built up a big, early lead, gave up three straight touchdowns to open the fourth quarter, answered with a touchdown with less than a minute to play, and walked it off after SMU’s kicker hooked a 52-yard, game-tying field goal attempt. The game was the type of ACC After Dark madness that would’ve made the old Pac-12 smile.

JKS dazzled that night, finishing 31-of-40 with 330 yards and four touchdowns. Onlookers knew just how special Sagapolutele was long before then. But that game was the proof in the pudding that he could single-handedly win a football game against a quality opponent. 

Lupoi likely wasn’t watching that night. He had bigger fish to fry with Oregon preparing for a looming College Football Playoff run. But if he needed evidence that #0 was worth a late-night flight and a sleepless layover, the SMU tape was it. 

For a coach who’s known for his dogged recruiting methods, Lupoi quickly learned that JKS isn’t just a player you build around, but also the type that can hijack games. With JKS leading the way, the 2026 Cal Bears feel like a team cleared for takeoff and ready to make noise in a crowded Atlantic Coast Conference. 

Since the very beginning, we’ve been built around the idea of bringing college football fans together. By joining us on Patreon, you’re helping us keep that mission alive—supporting the show while becoming part of a community that lives and breathes the sport every day.

As a member, you’ll unlock exclusive perks built for the most loyal fans:

👉 Ad-Free Episodes
Every show, no ads

👉 Bonus Shows
Exclusive content

👉 Early Access
Listen before everyone else

👉 Discord Community
CFB talk, 24/7

In this episode, we examine the most interesting college football teams hovering around the bowl eligibility line in 2026. With win totals sitting at 5.5 or 6.5, these are the teams that could just as easily surge to 8-4 as stumble into 5-7, and we try to figure out which direction they’re headed before preview season officially begins.

We start with Florida and the Jon Sumrall reboot, then dig into Arizona State’s questions, Kentucky’s brutal SEC schedule, Minnesota’s surprisingly low win total, and Virginia Tech’s fascinating reset under James Franklin. Plus, we debate whether TCU has enough runway and whether Wisconsin is finally ready to clear the bar under Luke Fickell.

Also: Dan searches for a new lease, Ty searches for a Seattle soccer ticket, third-quarter sing-along traditions, the dangers of too many stadium sound effects, and how fuzzy June math led us directly to today's concept.

▶️ Listen & Watch Here