Five Cal players that could give SMU fits

With an ACC title game already on the books, the SMU Mustangs host the Cal Golden Bears on Saturday afternoon for the regular season grand finale. It’s been a storybook season for the Mustangs who’d like to keep their 10-1 record as unblemished as possible ahead of the College Football Playoff. 

The Golden Bears are fresh off of a statement win against Stanford last week and would love nothing more than to continue the trend by delivering an upset to SMU on the road in Dallas. Cal has now clinched bowl eligibility, making it back-to-back bowl eligible seasons for head coach Justin Wilcox.

Despite sitting at 6-5, the Golden Bears have won four of their last five games, giving them plenty of steam to go head-to-head with the top-10 Mustangs. Here are a few Cal players to know before kickoff in Dallas on Saturday.

QB Fernando Mendoza

Miami native Fernando Mendoza is in his second season as a starter at Cal and he’s shown vast improvement from 2023 to 2024. After throwing seven interceptions last season, and another three in the team’s bowl loss to Texas Tech, Mendoza has cleaned up his game. This year, he’s thrown 16 touchdown passes and six interceptions with an overall completion percentage of 68.7%. Though not an aggressive runner, the 6-foot-5 starting quarterback has proven slippery at times. He’s tallied 105 net rushing yards with two rushing touchdowns on the year.

Last week against rival Stanford, Mendoza passed for 299 yards with a season-high three touchdown passes. He got his team the win even while taking six sacks on the day.

RB Jaivian Thomas, RB Jaydn Ott

The Cal Golden Bears have a two-headed monster in the run game that goes by Thomas (and Ott). Both players are California natives with just over 90 carries on the season. Thomas leads the team with 598 yards and seven touchdowns, meanwhile Ott has 264 rushing yards and four touchdowns with an additional 223 yards in the receiving game. Prior to ending the streak in Saturday’s win over Stanford, Thomas had touchdowns in five straight matchups.

TE Jack Endries

Though the Golden Bears relied on receiver Jonathan Brady to get the go-ahead score against Stanford, Fernando Mendoza’s go-to guy this season has actually been tight end Jack Endries. After a slow start to the year, Endries started to heat up in October and has accounted for at least four catches a game ever since. He posted 100-yard games twice this year, against Pitt and NC State, and could prove a nuisance as a mismatch for the Mustangs on Saturday. 

OLB Xavier Carlton

Cal ranks just behind SMU in total team sacks this season due in large part to senior Xavier Carlton. He owns nine of the team’s 31 sacks and has tallied 46 tackles in total. Though he leads the team in sacks, it’s been two weeks since he last brought down the quarterback. Carlton’s nine sacks place him tied for 12th in the nation through 11 games. 

Originally a Utah Ute, Carlton transferred to Cal in 2022 and has posted at least 4.5 sacks in each of his three seasons with the program. Behind the 6-foot-6 linebacker, 10 other Golden Bears players have notched one or more sacks this year.

DB Nohl Williams

It’s impossible to overlook the ball hawk of the Golden Bears defense, Nohl Williams. The former UNLV transfer leads the nation in interceptions with seven – an enviable stat for any DB. Williams returned one of his interceptions for a touchdown with the pick-six coming against Miami in the team’s one-point loss. On top of his seven interceptions, he’s also tallied 47 tackles and a forced fumble.