The college football season officially gets underway tonight with a game between the California Golden Bears and the Hawai’i Warriors in Sydney, Australia.
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Junior kicker Matt Anderson kicked a 22-yard field goal – one of three he made – with exactly four minutes left to give Cal a six-point lead. The Golden Bears averaged over 37 points per game last season with Jared Goff at the helm and replace him this season.
Michelle Hubbard of Melbourne was an early arrival for another reason – her son, Ben Scruton, is a walk-on player for Hawaii and will travel back with the team when the Rainbow Warriors leave for Honolulu right after the game.
It was much of the same in the second half, with Cal in cruise control.
The Golden Bears’ 2015 season got off to such a surprisingly great 5-0 start before stumbling to a 2-5 finish.
It will be almost impossible for Cal to replace a quarterback like Jared Goff. However, on multiple publications that go four deep on preseason all-conference teams, Hawaii was absent in that area. After losing the coin toss and Cal chose to receive, Hawaii tried an on-side kick that the Bears were able to recover at midfield. Rolovich said, smiling. “But seriously, I hope it sends a message that we are going to play aggressively and won’t back down”.
This will be the seventh straight season Hawaii has played a Pac 12 opponent to start the season. Webb played in 23 games with 14 starts at Texas Tech and had career totals of 5,557 yards and 46 touchdowns. Not Hawaii’s way on Saturday. This week, we asked Jeremy Mauss of Mountain West Connection about Cal’s upcoming game against Hawaii.
The Bears, who have been in Sydney all week, will fly home Saturday and have two weeks to recuperate before visiting San Diego State on September 10.
Playing this game in Sydney makes more sense now than the last time two college squads from the U.S. (BYU and Colorado State in 1987) played a game down under in front of roughly 7,000 spectators.
Both teams are looking to use this opener in Australia as a way to set the tone and pace for the rest of the 2016 campaign and fans will be eager to see the beginning of another college football season when the two kickoff at 10 p.m. ET, 6 p.m. PT on ESPN.
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Players posed at the Opera House in Sydney and snapped pics of former Cal running back Marshawn Lynch.
