BERKELEY - The California football team will head to Mississippi for an early-morning matchup with Ole Miss on Saturday at 9 a.m. PT/11 a.m. CT. Cal entered the rankings this week at No. 23 in both the AP Poll and the Coaches Poll. The Bears will put their 3-0 record on the line as the face-off with a dangerous Ole Miss team that enters the matchup 2-1 on the season. 

CAL HEADS TO SEC COUNTRY
- This will be the second matchup between Cal and Ole Miss after the teams played two years ago in Berkeley. 
- Cal is 10-11-1 all-time against teams that are currently in the SEC; Alabama (1-1), Arkansas (0-1), Florida (0-2), Georgia (0-2), Missouri (4-2-1), Ole Miss (1-0), Tennessee (2-2) and Texas A&M (2-1).
- The Bears are 3-1 against teams currently in the SEC over the past 30 years with one win over Ole Miss (2017, 27-16) a 2006 Holiday Bowl win over Texas A&M, 45-10, and a 1-1 record vs. Tennessee in 2006 (L, 18-35) and 2007 (W, 45-31)
- The Bears are 8-0 in non-conference games under Justin Wilcox collecting wins over UNC (twice), Ole Miss, BYU, North Texas, Idaho State, Weber State and UC Davis. 
- Cal has gone 13-1 over the past 14 non-conference games. 
- Cal has two players on the team from the state of Mississippi: Jordan Duncan (Hattiesburg) and Gentle Williams (Florence).   

CAL'S DEFENSE STIFLING OPPONENTS
- Cal has held 10 straight opponents under 24 points, five of those have been held under 15 points and four did not score more than a single touchdown.
- North Texas averaged 460 yards and 34.6 points per game last year. Cal held them to their second lowest totals in total yards (329) and points (17) in the past 16 games. 
- Cal held Washington to their lowest point totals (by 28) and yardage totals (by 102) of UW's three games this year. 
- Cal held UC Davis to their lowest point totals (by 22) and yardage totals (by 246) of the season. 
- By holding UC Davis to 13 points, Cal kept UCD to their lowest total in the past 13 games. 
- Cal held UC Davis to their lowest yardage total in the past 35 games (264). 
- Cal has held opponents to only two touchdowns in seven red zone trips through three games. 

GENERATING EXPLOSIVE PLAYS AND TAKING CARE OF THE BALL ON OFFENSE 
- Last season, Cal generated five or more explosive plays of 20+ yards in three of the team's 13 games, the Golden Bears have done that in two of the first three games of the 2019 season. 
- Cal opened the season with seven explosive plays of 20+ yards vs. UC Davis. That was more than the Bears had in all but one game during the 2018 season (Oregon State, 8). 
- The Bears generated five 20+ yard plays in the win over No. 14/12 Washington.
- Cal has taken care of the ball in 2019, not turning the ball over vs. either Washington or North Texas, the Bears only had two games in 2018 where they had zero turnovers. 
- This is first time Cal has recorded back-to-back zero turnover games since the final two games of the 2016 season. 
- Cal notched 24 first downs vs. UC Davis, the most it has had since they secured 27 first downs vs. Oregon State last season. The team surpassed 24 first downs just three times in 2018. 
- Cal is 7-7 in converting in the red zone, scoring four touchdowns and hitting three field goals, including the game-winning 17-yard field goal to defeat Washington.

GARBERS PUSHING BALL DOWNFIELD
- With an emphasis on creating more explosive plays, redshirt sophomore Chase Garbers has responded to begin his second year at the helm of the Bears' offense.  
- Garbers had a career-high 238 yards passing in the season-opener vs. UC Davis. 
- He notched three completions of 30+ yards in the season opener, after collecting only five passes of 30+ yards all of the 2018 season. 
- Garbers' five completions of 20+ yards vs. UC Davis was the most he's had in a game at Cal and he added two more against both Washington and North Texas.   
- Garbers has led the Bears to an 9-4 record as the starting quarterback including two top-15 wins over Washington and a victory over USC. 

BROWN & DANCY EMERGE AS 1-2 PUNCH IN RUNNING GAME
- Cal is averaging 191.3 yards per game rushing through three games, the most since finishing 2005 with an average of 235.2.
- Sophomore Christopher Brown Jr. carried the offensive load in the season opener vs. UC Davis as he had 36 carries for 197 yards and a touchdown,  the 20th-best rushing performance in school history.
- The 197 yards was the most by a Cal player in their first start in recorded history. The most recent player to top 100 yards in their first start was Jahvid Best (111) vs. Michigan State on Aug. 30, 2008.
- Brown's 36 carries were the most by a Cal running back since Shane Vereen had 42 in 2009 Big Game win at Stanford.
- He ranks 14th in the NCAA and second in the Pac-12 in rushing yards (158.0). 
- Brown ranks 39th in the NCAA and fourth in the Pac-12 in all-purpose yards (277).
- Marcel Dancy emerged against Washington, rushing seven times for 72 yards and two touchdowns as he provided an excellent change-of-pace to Brown's bruising style.
- Chase Garbers has ran for 130 yards in three games and the trio of Brown Jr., Dancy and Garbers is averaging 195.3 yards per game. 

WEAVER NAMED NATIONAL PLAYER OF THE WEEK AFTER WASHINGTON GAME 
- With 11 tackles vs. North Texas, ILB Evan Weaver now has 10 straight games with 10+ tackles. 
- After his performance vs. UW where he notched 18 tackles, one TFL and one forced fumble. Weaver was named National Defensive Player of the Week by the Walter Camp Award, Chuck Bednarik Award, the Nagurski Trophy, College Sports Madness and he was the Reese's Senior Bowl Defensive Senior-of-the-Week.
- He is second in the NCAA with 9.7 solo tackles and fourth with 13.7 total tackles per game. 
- Weaver was named a 2019 preseason first-team All-American (Athlon), and a second-team All-American (AP, The Athletic, PFF, Sports Illustrated). He is the first Cal player to earn first-team preseason honors since Jahvid Best in 2009.
- He has been named to the preseason watch lists for the Lott IMPACT Trophy, Chuck Bednarik Award, Butkus Award and the Bronko Nagurski Trophy.
- Weaver's 159 tackles last season tied for second on Cal's all-time single-season list with David Ortega (1989). He only trailed Hardy Nickerson's 167 tackles in 1985.
- Weaver is Cal's active career leader in tackles (271) and has moved past Majett Whiteside and Mychal Kendricks and on to Cal's all-time top 10 list in ninth place. 
- He ranks ninth amongst all active NCAA student-athletes with 271 career tackles. 

TAKERS HIGHLIGHT DEFENSIVE IMPROVEMENT
- Cal's experienced defensive backfield has taken on the nickname of the "Takers" after the 2010 movie with the same name. A group of six players - senior NB/CB Traveon Beck, redshirt junior CB Camryn Bynum, redshirt senior S Ashtyn Davis, senior CB/NB Josh Drayden, junior CB Elijah Hicks and senior S Jaylinn Hawkins - have started 104 games in the defensive backfield since the start of 2017. 
- Four members of the team - Bynum, Davis, Hawkins and Hicks - have garnered 2019 preseason recognition; Davis was named honorable mention preseason All-American by PFF, while both he and Bynum are preseason first-team All-Pac-12. Hawkins is a second-team All-Conference honoree by multiple publications while Hicks is a third-team member according to Phil Steele.  
- Cal's secondary was ranked among the top eight in the nation in the preseason by three different media outlets. Phil Steele lists the unit second, while the Golden Bears are ranked fourth nationally according to Athlon and eighth by Lindy's.
- Cal's defensive backfield has combined for 24 career interceptions (Hawkins 7, Bynum 5, Davis 5, Beck 4, Drayden 2, Hicks 1)
- Hawkins is tied for ninth in the NCAA amongst all active players with seven career interceptions. 
- Bynum has five interceptions and 20 PBU's in his career. The 25 passes defended is tied for 24th amongst all active NCAA student-athletes. 
- Davis is tied for first in the Pac-12 and tied for sixth nationally with 0.67 forced fumbles per game, forcing two in the first three games.
- Cal recorded eight pass breakups in the opener vs. UC Davis, with five coming from five different members of the secondary. Eight PBUs is the most since Nov. 21, 2011 vs. Oregon State (8).