Don't look now, but there's a bear coming up behind you.

It's big and golden and it has teeth and claws and it's probably very hungry.

After BYU's game with Air Force this weekend fell through (Air Force needed to play on a different date), Cougars Head Coach Steve St. Pierre got a call from Cal Head Coach Jack Clark. The Golden Bears had been training, but very quietly as most college teams on the West Coast are having a tough time getting back on the field.

(We could go on for a while about how playing sports outside isn't the problem when it comes to mitigating COVID on campuses, but we've done that plenty and haven't been shown to be wrong yet>>.)

But with daily testing and a lot of careful steps forward, Cal is now (fingers crossed) ready to play. 

"We were glad we could work it out," said BYU's St. Pierre, adding that this is kind of a weird BYU-Cal game because they don't tend to play during the regular season. "I think this is the first time BYU has played Cal outside of a national championship since 2001."

BYU has been playing, and logged a pretty impressive 27-27 tie with Central Washington on March 20—CWU, BYU In Dramatic Tie—and on March 27 hammered Utah State 55-14.

For Cal, this will be the program's first rugby game in almost 400 days—their last game was March 7, 2020, a 62-22 defeat of West Point. 

Cal will be without  Henry Poon, who is studying this semester from home, and All-American Jack Manzo, who is injured. But they get Sam Walsh back after a being out a year with injury, and senior halfback Ken Kurihara partners with him. Sam Golla leads the forwards. Clark is wary of this opener.

"As would be expected we look completely undercooked," he told GRR. "We will have guys out ... [we're] just beyond rusty."

This will also be the first time BYU and Cal have met since the 2016 final of the old Varsity Cup, a game Cal won in a stunning comeback 40-29. 

The game will kick off at Cal's Witter Rugby Field at Noon Pacific Time. No fans will be admitted due to COVID restrictions.