The article below originally appeared in the San Mateo Daily Journal and is being reprinted with permission.
Not only is the high school football season kicking off this weekend, so is the College of San Mateo season.
I’ll be honest. It caught me off guard. It used to be the community college season kicked off a week after the high school season, but here we are.
CSM, the two-time defending state champ, starts 2026 on the road Saturday when the Bulldogs travel to Visalia to take on College of the Sequoias. This will be the first meeting between the Bulldogs and Giants since a 49-21 CSM win in 2023.
Adding to the pressure of a road to start the season, kickoff is a weird time, as well — 11 a.m., instead of the usual 1 p.m.
But ahead of the season opener, the California Community College Football Coaches Association voted CSM the preseason No. 1 team in the state. The Bulldogs, which went 12-1 last season and have won three of the last four state championships, garnered 12 of the 13 first-place votes.
No. 2 Golden West-Huntington Beach, which suffered its only loss of the season when it fell to CSM 28-27 in the 2025 state title game, received the other first-place vote and was second in the preseason rankings.
And once again, CSM will be playing one of the toughest schedules in the state. Of the Bulldogs’ 10 games this season, half come against teams that earned a preseason ranking. In addition to 15th-ranked Sequoia, the Bulldogs will face 12th-ranked Butte Sept. 12 in Oroville before returning home the following week in a game that will have playoff implications.
Bulldogs host Modesto at 1 p.m. Sept. 19, which opens the season ranked third in the state. The Pirates lost to CSM in the Northern California championship game last year, 38-7.
Their other two non-conference games come against Santa Rosa and De Anza, both of which were preseason honorable mention.
When it comes to the six-team Bay 6 Conference, four of the six teams, including CSM, are ranked in the top 25 to start the season. Diablo Valley (Sept. 26), which went 10-2 last season, is ranked No. 7 in the preseason poll; San Francisco (Oct. 24), which was 7-4 in 2025, is ranked No. 13; Foothill (Oct. 17), 6-5 last year, is ranked 17th heading into the season.
