Comrades in blue and gold, greetings. Quentin Oyelaran-Fitch here, philosophy PhD, lifelong Golden Bear and owner of more hand-lettered picket signs than any man in Alameda County. When the play-call is wrong, I protest. When the play-call is right, I protest in favor of it. I believe in the dignity of every snap.
This week I needed a lot of poster board.
Power to the play-call!
Part 1: A Philosophical Crisis in Strawberry Canyon
Wake Forest beat us 41-7 at California Memorial Stadium on Saturday night. We're 3-4 and 2-2 in the ACC. I'm a philosopher, so I'll approach this with Socratic honesty: I know that I know nothing, except that this one hurt.
The first sign went up early. It read "WHY?" Wake's first possession was a five-play, 99-yard touchdown drive. Then we went for it on fourth-and-1 at our own 34 and didn't get it, and Wake scored right away on a 29-yard pass. My second sign read "WHY, PART TWO." Wake scored touchdowns on five of its six first-half possessions and averaged 12.3 yards per play. We trailed 34-0 at halftime. AP says that was our biggest halftime deficit since 2013.
Wake's quarterback threw four touchdown passes, three to the same tight end. Wake outgained us 394-142 in the first half. Existentially speaking, the first half did not exist for us.
Now, the honest silver lining, because philosophy demands balance. We didn't turn the ball over. We had only five penalties. And in the fourth quarter, Jaron-Keawe Sagapolutele threw a 28-yard touchdown pass to Mason Mini, and he finished 15 of 18. That's a sign I can hold up proudly: "15 OF 18. RESPECT THE PROCESS."
And remember, one week earlier, we beat Virginia Tech 25-20. This team has a pulse. It just took a night off.
Part 2: The March on Dallas
Saturday, noon Eastern, 11 a.m. in Texas, on The CW. Cal (3-4) at No. 23 SMU (5-1) at Gerald J. Ford Stadium.
The Manifesto on SMU
In fairness, and I'm always fair, SMU is good. It's 5-1 and ranked 23rd. AP says the Mustangs are 10-0 at home in ACC games since joining the conference in 2024. Kevin Jennings completes 72.9% of his passes, and SMU's passing offense ranks fifth in FBS. Its pass defense ranks 11th. Kendrick Raphael ran for 124 yards against Virginia last week. Marques White has 4.5 sacks.
Now, the rest of the manifesto.
SMU beat Virginia 23-13, but its coach said afterward that the offense didn't finish enough drives. AP noted SMU's offense gained just 218 yards against Boston College two weeks earlier. SMU's kicking game was 3 of 7 on field goals this season before last week. Its new kicker is a former SMU soccer player who'd missed his only previous attempt. He made all three on Saturday, and I sincerely applaud him. But one of those field goals came on an untimed down after a roughing-the-passer penalty when time had already expired. The universe gifted SMU three points, and I have a sign about that: "THE COSMOS IS NOT NEUTRAL."
SMU is 114th in FBS in penalty yards, 95th in red zone offense and 93rd in rushing. And it lost at Louisville 41-31 in September.
The Most Important Fact in This Article
Last season, Cal beat SMU 38-35 in Berkeley. That's the most recent meeting, according to CollegeFootballData. SMU leads the series 2-1, but the last word belongs to us. And I'm a philosopher. The last word is all I ever want.
Honest Self-Critique
Every good protester critiques his own movement. Our running game averages 90.3 yards a game, 137th in FBS. Our defense allows 181.4 rushing yards a game, 111th. We're 131st in penalty yards. Those signs read "FIX IT" in very large letters.
But our passing game ranks 15th in FBS. Sagapolutele has 1,290 yards and nine touchdowns. Chase Hendricks has 47 catches. AJ Tuitele has three sacks, and Isaiah Crosby leads us with 40 tackles. If we protect the passer and slow down Raphael, we can make this a game.
Our List of Demands
Every movement needs demands. Here are mine, written in marker on the back of last week's signs.
Demand one: Protect the quarterback. SMU's pass defense ranks 11th in FBS, and White will be hunting. Quick throws to Hendricks. Get the ball out.
Demand two: Run the ball enough to keep SMU honest. Even 3 or 4 yards a carry on early downs changes everything about third down.
Demand three: No fourth-and-1 at our own 34 in the first quarter. I'm a philosopher, not a coach, but some questions answer themselves.
Demand four: Keep the ball safe again. We didn't turn it over against Wake Forest. Do it again, and make SMU drive the whole field against a red zone defense that ranks 24th.
Town Hall: Berkeley vs. Dallas
Berkeley. The University of California was founded in 1868 as the state's first land-grant university, and Berkeley is its founding campus. Our alumni, faculty and researchers include 65 Nobel laureates. Researchers here discovered 16 chemical elements, more than any other university in the world. One of them is named berkelium, after our city. Our town is literally on the periodic table. Show me Dallas on the periodic table. I'll wait. I'm very patient. I have a doctorate.
Our stadium, California Memorial Stadium, opened in 1923, with seating for around 63,000. The hill above it is known as Tightwad Hill, where fans have long tried to watch games for free. That's not stinginess. That's a philosophy of resource allocation.
Dallas. Dallas is big. Ninth-most populous city in the country. I respect scale. But here's the founding story, straight from the history books. In 1839, a man named John Neely Bryan planted a stake in the ground on a bluff near the Trinity River. Then he left. He came back two years later and founded Dallas. So Dallas began with a man making a commitment and immediately walking away from it. Philosophically, that's fascinating.
Dallas is also the largest inland metro area in the United States that lacks any navigable link to the sea. Berkeley has a whole bay. Dallas has highways and confidence.
And here's something I learned while researching. SMU isn't technically in the city of Dallas. Its home, University Park, is a separate town of about 25,000, surrounded by Dallas and Highland Park. So SMU is a Dallas team that lives in its own little enclave. In Berkeley, we'd call that a commune.
The mascot is Peruna, a black Shetland pony that's been at nearly every SMU home game since 1932. Lovely animal. But he was named after a popular patent medicine. A pony named after a tonic. I have no further questions, your honor. Wrong profession, but you get the idea.
Closing Argument
SMU has a strong quarterback, a stout pass defense and a nice home streak. Cal has a talented young quarterback, a strong passing game and the most recent win in this series. If we protect the ball like we did against Wake and finally find a running game, the people's march ends in a victory parade all the way back to Strawberry Canyon.
Power to the play-call! Go Bears!
My call: SMU Mustangs 35, California Golden Bears 18.