Cal vs. Oregon State 2025: Keys to the Game and Predictions

The season is officially here. Week 1 of college football is one of the best days in the United States. This season, the California Golden Bears will look to change the narrative surrounding the program. This is a big year for Cal, especially head coach Justin Wilcox and new General Manager Ron Rivera. To open up the season, the Bears will head to Corvallis, where they will take on a long-time familiar foe in the Oregon State Beavers. It’s Cal vs. Oregon State in Week 1 of the 2025 season, and predictions for this matchup are all over the place. Let’s dive in.

California Golden Bears vs. Oregon State Beavers: Matchup History

Most Cal fans have PTSD when it comes to playing the Beavers. Corvallis is a tough place to play, and no doubt, their fanbase is fired up to beat Cal after they were left out of the last round of realignment.

The history of these two programs dates back all the way to 1905. Since then, they have met a total of 77 times, with Cal holding a slight advantage in wins. The last time these two teams faced off was last season. Then, the Beavers travelled to Berkeley only to leave with their tails tucked after a major trouncing by Cal. These programs have been battling over the past decade, with each team having won five games.

Cal vs. Oregon State 2025: Keys to the Game and Predictions

Key Players for Cal

Jaron-Keawe Sagapolutele is the biggest key player in this game for Cal. If you told Cal fans that they would have a true freshman making his debut up in Corvallis a year ago, they would probably be in disbelief and wonder what went wrong with the program. But JKS is different.

Cal was able to successfully lure him away from Eugene. And to much surprise, he won the starting quarterback job for this team. Now, fans are excited, and they absolutely should be.

JKS has brought new life into the program, and he should elevate the ceiling of this offense. Still, it’s his first game, and it is on the road, so temper expectations, but fans will more than likely see why this kid is the real deal on Saturday.

Luke Ferrelli is one player who might not have been on a lot of people’s radar until as of late. The redshirt freshman out of San Diego has earned the right to be the starting inside linebacker next to Cal Team Captain and star player, Cade Uluave, Justin Wilcox announced earlier this week.

This, to me, was more surprising than the JKS announcement due to the fact that Cal landed Harrison Taggart, BYU’s regular-season tackle leader last season. They also added Buom Jock, another solid linebacker from Colorado State. Ferrelli will have a tough task on Saturday helping Uluave stop the run against a physical running back in Anthony Hankerson. Yet, if the staff feels like he’s up to the task, then he should be ready for the challenge.

Key Players for Oregon State

Maalik Murphy is a stud. There’s no way of putting it. Last season, the Bears faced off against a Beaver offense with poor quarterback play and a team riddled with injuries. Yet this Oregon State offense will look much different than the offense of last year, with Murphy being a huge upgrade over Gulbranson.

Murphy was previously at Duke, where he threw for almost 3000 yards with 26 touchdown passes. Not to mention he has great size, where he is listed at 6-foot- and 234 pounds. Murphy can beat you deep, or he can run straight through most tacklers. Cal has to keep him contained on the edge and force him to throw short if they want to win this game.

Stopping the run will be key for Cal to win this game. The Beavers have a thumper at the running back position, and his name is Anthony Hankerson. Hankerson was kept in check the last season when these two teams met, but he still rushed for over a thousand yards and scampered into the endzone 15 times. He’s a big player, and paired with Murphy, poses a serious challenge to this Cal defense in Week 1.

How Cal Wins in Week 1

One noticeable difference between this year’s team and last year’s team is the size of the offensive line. The big boys who do all of the dirty work are much bigger this year, and that is the biggest factor in this game.

Last year’s game means absolutely nothing. Oregon State brought in a plethora of new players via the transfer portal and upgraded at several key positions. The national media is extremely low on this Cal team right now, but I think that’s perfect for the Bears.

Yes, there are a lot of new faces for Cal, so we won’t know what this will look like until they are on the field. However, I think the Bears lean on their hogs up front in this one to beat the Beavers in consecutive seasons. The offense might start slow, but expect a good Bears’ defense to keep them in this one until the offense gets going.

Final Prediction: Cal 24 Oregon State 17