After a heartbreaking last-minute loss at Arizona, Cal (2-1) returns to Strawberry Canyon to face the Buffaloes of Colorado (2-2) on Saturday, September 27 at 1 p .m. PDT.

In this space we had predicted that Cal would be up against a terrific offensive combination in the Wildcats’ WR Cayleb Jones — who caught 3 touchdown passes — and QB Anu Solomon. That was true enough. Also true was the fact that the Bears’ offensive line needed to give Jared Goff more time to find and hit his targets, and that happened to an impressive degree. A surprise, in the eyes of some, was the doggedness of the Cal defense, which held the 14-point favorites to a 49-45 win. But perhaps the key question which Sonny Dykes’ charges must deal with now is endurance. That will be the key element in the test against Colorado.

Last Saturday, the Buffs won over Hawaii, 21-12, as junior Nelson Spruce led the charge by receiving 13 passes to set a school record. He will be the chief target of the Cal secondary, in addition to Shay Fields and fullback George Frazier. Meanwhile, the defensive line will need to shut down the air attack of Sefo Liufau.

Remaining games in the season are:

Saturday, October 4: @ Washington State, 7:30 p.m.

Saturday, October 11: Washington, TBA

Saturday, October 18: UCLA, TBA

Friday, October 24: Oregon, at Levi’s Stadium, Santa Clara, 7:00 p.m.

Saturday, November 1: @ Oregon State, TBA

Thursday, November 13: @ USC, 6:00 p.m.

Saturday, November 22: Stanford, TBA

Saturday, November 29: Brigham Young, TBA