The Cal Bears’ biological clocks will be tested the next two weeks.

Cal plays at SMU this Saturday in a game that begins at 9 a.m. Pacific time, and the ACC announced Monday that Cal’s game at North Carolina State on Saturday, October 31 will also begin at 9 a.m. Pacific time, noon Eastern time.

This week’s game against SMU in Dallas will start in the morning local time, with kickoff set for 11 a.m. Dallas time.

The following week’s game will be Cal’s first game ever at North Carolina State. That October 31 matchup at Carter-Finley Stadium in Raleigh, North Carolina, will start at noon North Carolina time, but that will still necessitate breakfast-time television viewing for Cal fans.

The October 31 game against NC State will be televised live on the ACC Network.

This Saturday’s game against 23rd-ranked SMU will be televised by The CW.

Cal’s only previous game against North Carolina State resulted in a 24-23 Wolfpack victory in Berkeley in 2024.

The Bears will play their next three games on the road, and their next home game will be the November 21 Big Game against Stanford.

The Golden Bears (3-4, 2-2 ACC) are coming off a 41-7 loss at home to Wake Forest, while North Carolina State (3-3, 1-2 ACC) had a bye this past weekend and faces Staford this Friday night in a game that will be televised by ESPN.

North Carolina State had nearly as much trouble with Wake Forest as Cal did. The week before its bye the Wolfpack lost to Wake Forest 38-14.

Heading into the game against SMU (5-1), Cal seems unsettled at the quarterback position after Jackson Brousseau got the start against Wake Forest instead of Jaron-Keawe Sagapolutele.

Follow California Golden Bears on SI on X: https://x.com/jakecurtis53