Category: Cal Bears

By Morris Phillips

Justin Wilcox has had enough of close games, narrow losses and explaining the shortcomings to the media after games.

From the California coach’s perspective, his guys are capable. Add to that, the USC coaching staff admitted the Trojans play left them vulnerable to a loss Saturday night, and they were fortunate to escape with a 41-35 win at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum.

That left Wilcox to issue terse, brief responses and basically ignore a critical sequence before halftime in which Jeremiah Hunter was blatantly held while running a deep pattern. That caused Jake Plummer to overthrow his pass to Hunter that was picked off by USC’s Caleb Bullock. Three plays later the Trojans were in the end zone, and in possession of their first, two-score lead of the night, 20-7 heading into halftime.

“I can’t really talk about the officials,” Wilcox said. “We needed something more at the end of the first half.

“We need to play better football so we can win some of these games.”

The Bears were playing better football, forcing the high-octane USC offense to punt four times before halftime. Down just 13-7 approaching the half, Cal found itself in a winnable game without–to that juncture–having exploited the Trojans’ less than stellar defense.

Bullock’s critical interception, accelerated the pace, and allowed quarterback Caleb Williams to find his stride. Williams’ 39-yard pass play to Tahj Washington set the Trojans up at Cal’s 7-yard line, and they punched it in on the next play when Williams hooked up with Michael Jackson III on a diving catch in the end zone.

Cal’s three-and-out to start the second half simply increased the pressure on the defense that had held up so well early. Four plays later, the Cal defense broke when Jackson caught a short pass, slipped linebacker Oluwafemi Oladejo and was off to the races. Jackson’s 59-yard scoring play put USC up 27-7.

The 20-point margin forced Cal to take chances in the pass game, and that approach worked with the Trojans’ defense finally showing its warts. After a scoreless, second quarter that essentially decided the outcome, Jack Plummer made the game competitive with a passing performance that would see him throw for 406 yards and three scores.

The Bears got within 34-21 with 12:56 remaining when Plummer connected with Mavin Anderson on a 47-yard pass play. Four minutes later, Hunter’s three-yard touchdown catch had Cal down 34-27.

Jackson was the catalyst again on USC’s ensuing drive. His 29-yard catch, and 19-yard run put the hosts in Cal territory. Four plays later Williams found Lake McRee for a two-yard touchdown pass that put the game out of reach at 41-27 with 5:34 remaining.

After a slow start, Williams finished with 26 completions for 360 yards and four touchdowns. For the No. 9 Trojans, who harbor championship aspirations, Williams was the good news.

Really disappointing,” USC defensive coordinator Alex Grinch said. “It’s a 60-minute football game. That’s not new. The nice thing is we sit here today as frustrated as we are and it’s after a win.”

“If you’re winning, you’re doing more good than bad, right?” head coach Lincoln Riley said. “We just got to continue to do more good. And we gotta continue to eliminate some of the bad football that has held us back from playing our best.”

The Bears have suffered one score losses to Notre Dame, Colorado, Washington and USC. Their last win: September 24 over Arizona. Five, consecutive losses frame Wilcox’s frustration.

“Execute at a higher level move the ball and put it in the end zone, get people off the field. Yeah, we know USC is a great team, phenomenal talent, top speed. But the evidence.. you got to show them on the tape,” Wilcox said.

The Bears (3-6, 1-5) travel to Corvallis Saturday to face Oregon State (6-3, 3-3) who undoubtedly will fall from the national rankings after their narrow 24-21 loss to the Huskies on Friday.

By Morris Phillips

BERKELEY, CA–It’s the story thus far of Cal’s season, and their four-game losing streak: spotty play, and the inability to sustain momentum.

“There’s some things that happened at the end of the first half and start of the second that if we would have performed a bit better, then we could have made that game very competitive,” coach Justin Wilcox said.

Cal’s 42-24 loss to Oregon saw Cal stop the high-scoring Ducks early, handing them their first, scoreless opening quarter in six games, but not backing that effort with a significant lead they could protect. Instead Cal’s brief 10-7 advantage evaporated and quarterback Bo Nix emerged.

Nix led the Ducks on a pair of touchdown drives before halftime, another in the third, and another to start the fourth quarter. Within that stretch, the Bears went without points on five, straight possessions and found themselves trailing 35-10 with 12:19 remaining.

Deflating? You bet, especially for Cal fans inside Memorial Stadium that gained a charge from Cal’s encouraging, first 25 minutes of play. But this was hardly surprising. The Ducks, winners of seven straight, are jelling under new coach Dan Lanning, and they own this series. Oregon has won 12 of 14 since 2009.

Lanning’s remarks after the game reflected the dominance. The former Georgia defensive coordinator didn’t expend a bunch of words crediting Cal. Instead, his focus was clearly on what his club needs to clean up with their unspoken goal of remaining in the National title hunt.

“At times we really had it and at times we didn’t,” Lanning said. “(We) struggled a little bit times at times in the red area, gave up some big pass plays that we don’t want to see on defense. I think all around there’s moments of improvement for our team. I think our guys are hungry to improve.”

Nix stood as the biggest difference between the clubs with his 27 of 35, 412-yard afternoon. The Auburn transfer had three touchdown passes and ran for three more scores. That combination of passing yardage and touchdowns put Nix in rare company with the deceased Dwayne Haskins and current 49er Brock Purdy as the only FBS quarterbacks to throw for at least 400 yards and three touchdowns along with three rushing touchdowns in the last ten seasons.

“I didn’t play my best today, but fortunately the guys around me played really good to still put up some points,” said Nix, with his mind on a pair of interceptions he threw that ultimately didn’t damage his team at all.

The Bears haven’t beaten a team ranked in the top ten nationally since 2017, and the numbers revealed the distance they’ll need to cover to again pull of that feat. No. 8 Oreon put up 586 yards in total offense and 42 points, which is two touchdowns more than Cal had allowed in the six, previous games this season.

Freshman Kai Millner replaced Jack Plummer in the fourth quarter, and the redshirt freshman led Cal to a pair of respectability-grabbing touchdowns in the game’s final five minutes. Plummer didn’t play poorly with 214 yards passing and the touchdown pass to J. Michael Sturdivant that gave Cal its lead. But with the game’s outcome decided, Wilcox opted to get Millner valuable experience.

Sturdivant and Jeremiah Hunter were Cal’s bright spots with a combined 11 catches, and their ability to outduel Oregon’s secondary for a pair of lengthy pass completions. Given their success, Hunter’s words after the game confirming that the Cal locker room remains unified holds significance. Hunter also echoed Wilcox regarding Cal’s inconsistent play.

“We have to have a game where–like coach said–both sides of the ball come together and play their best,” Hunter said. “We haven’t done that yet.”

The Bears visit USC on Saturday night with the No. 10 Trojans giving them a second, consecutive, top ten opponent.