Following a close 24-21 win over Arizona State last Saturday, Cal (3-2, 1-1 Pac-12) is now gearing up to host Oregon State this weekend for its homecoming game. With a drastically different team — one that beat a ranked Utah squad and jumped up in the rankings to No. 15 — on the horizon, Cal’s coaching staff talked in Tuesday’s media availability about its takeaways from last week and what the coaches are seeing ahead of this matchup.

Head coach Justin Wilcox, OC Jake Spavital and DC Peter Sirmon — as well as left tackle Barrett Miller — discussed some now-familiar themes, including the Bears’ quarterback situation as well as Cal’s play in the secondary on the defensive side of the ball. Here are five takeaways from Tuesday's media availability.

Last week was the first time a Cal quarterback played the entire way through a game in the 2023 season as Sam Jackson V earned the start following his performance in practice that week and with Ben Finley not cleared until later in the week.

Wilcox confirmed to the media Tuesday that Ben Finley is back and practicing, though the starting quarterback has not yet been confirmed. Wilcox added that redshirt freshman Fernando Mendoza is in the mix, and the freshman was taking reps last week in practice with Finley out.

Once again, though, the same word is being used over and over again: consistency.

“We were looking for more consistency at that spot, and we actually had planned to get Fernando some reps in the game and it didn’t happen,” Wilcox said. “Ideally, you’d like to have a quarterback that kind of takes the lead and takes the job over — we’re not quite there yet.”