Here is the opening to my Friday column previewing the season of the Cal Bears:

Cal’s new football coach Sonny Dykes and his young players are clear about one thing. This isn’t a rebuilding season — or whatever they call seasons like this one in college sports.

The Golden Bears, who went a humbling 3-9 last season, are ready to play with the good teams, and they will prove it Saturday night starting at 7:30 against No. 22 Northwestern. We’ll skip over the brutal fact that Cal is opening at home at 7:30 p.m., and Stanford is opening in Palo Alto a week later at 8 p.m. Whatever happened to day football? What do the schedule makers have against, you know, sunlight?

So we ask, are the Golden Bears ready to play with the good teams as they insist?

To read the full column click here.