Tag: California Golden Bears

By Morris Phillips

BERKELEY, CA–After overcoming adversity voluminous enough to pen a short novel, Coach Justin Wilcox elected to hand his own club one last helping of adversity, a two-point conversion attempt to win or lose on the final play of an exhausting, two overtime game.

In a game where the Bears trailed Arizona by two touchdowns in the third quarter, the final play would be Cal’s only chance to steal one they seemingly had lost much earlier.

But Wilcox’s gamble failed when Ross Bowers pass to Jordan Duncan was broken up by the Wildcats’ Colin Schooler underneath the goalpost, allowing Arizona to escape with a 45-44 victory. Pegged with an agonizing loss, the Bears could at least claim unity in support of Wilcox’s uncommon choice.

“I felt like that was the best choice for us to win,” Wilcox said. “In the end, we didn’t play well enough–especially on defense–to win the game.”

Bowers supported Wilcox’s choice, saying that his indecision–thinking he could run for the conversion before hastily throwing flat footed to Duncan in the back of the end zone–was the real reason Wilcox and the Bears weren’t gutsy winners.

Vic Enwere, whose second and third efforts on a fourth down touchdown run prior to the game’s final play, appreciated the decision as well, saying “that says he has confidence in us. I appreciate that.”

Wilcox explained that his defense’s gassed play in the first two overtimes greatly influenced the decision to go for the win, and forgo a third overtime. After Cal scored first in the extra period, Arizona’s Zach Green rumbled 25 yards to tie it on the Wildcats’ initial, offensive play.

The Bears then allowed a second score in just two plays, as brilliant Arizona signal caller Khalil Tate bought time rolling to his right before finding Bryce Wolma near the goal line for a 45-38 lead.

For Wilcox, the lightning scores were enough. Already Cal had overcome the loss of defensive playmaker Devante Downs, lost for the remainder of the season due to injury, and survived the Wildcats’ run game that produced 345 yards in regulation. How could Cal bring an end to the evening for Tate, and steal the win?

Don’t expose his defense one more time, Wilcox reasoned.

Tate, the instant Heisman candidate, would top 700 yards rushing over a three-game stretch after hanging 137 against Cal. His 76-yard run to break the 7-7, second quarter tie was simply ridiculous, and as advertised. First Tate scrambled to his right, but quickly circled back to his left with linebacker Alex Funches seemingly in position to close. But Tate ran past Funches and headed downfield like a blur with four Cal defenders in his vapor trail as he crossed the goal line. How Tate blew past four defenders needed no explanation. In the two, previous weeks, Tate ran for touchdowns from 71 an 75 yards and four, other shorter distances. This second quarter run was merely the capper.

“He’s a really good player, really fast, really explosive,” said linebacker Jordan Kunaszyk. “We missed a couple of plays on him and he made us pay for it. Credit to Arizona. Credit to him.”

While Tate was his own wave of adversity, it was just a slice of what Cal was forced to digest Saturday night. Starting left tackle Patrick Mekari, the starter for Cal’s first seven games, was declared a late scratch, necessitating a shuffling of the line before kickoff.

Still Cal started fast, determined to impact the scoreboard first, they marched for a touchdown on their opening drive. Patrick Laird capped it with the clever run of Bowers’ Statue of Liberty handoff. The opening drive saw the Bears counter their tendencies, and keep the Wildcats’ defense off balance.

But Arizona recovered, first avoiding a huge fumble by way of a replay that captured Wolma’s catch and fumble came after he was down. Instead of Cal being in position to increase their lead to double digits, Arizona responded with a game-tying drive.

Tate’s big run would follow, then three Cal penalties would aid in a third Arizona touchdown drive at the outset of the second quarter. Cal trailed 21-7 with 11:20 remaining in the second quarter.

In the third quarter Tate was at it again, buying time with his feet before finding Shun Brown for a 56-yard scoring pass. Once again, Cal trailed by two touchdowns, 28-14 with 7:22 remaining in the third.

Offensively, the Bears were stingy with ball possession, running 35 more plays than the Cats, but without the string of big plays compiled by Arizona.  All four Cal touchdown drives in regulation consumed at least 11 plays.

Kicker Matt Anderson capped Cal’s comeback with a 52-yard field goal to tie with 3:22 remaining. The kick came after Wilcox initially chose to attempt a conversion on 4th-and-4. After a timeout, Wilcox reversed, and put his faith in Anderson.

With the loss, Cal falls to 4-4, 1-4.  They travel to Colorado next Saturday where an 11 a.m. kickoff with the Buffaloes awaits them.

 

By Morris Phillips

BERKELEY, CA–Six days after the Bears were embarrassed by the Huskies, they were nearly flawless when confronted by the Cougars.

No dramatic story arc from an old National Geographic television segment, but Pac-12 football at its topsy-turviest, Cal’s dramatic turnaround produced the biggest upset of the conference’s season to date.

Eighth-ranked WSU and Heisman candidate quarterback Luke Falk hadn’t scored fewer than 30 points in any of their six victories, but a big Cal defensive effort shutdown the Cougars as Falk was sacked nine times, and intercepted five times. The ninth sack of Falk resulted in a fumble, and scoop-and-score for Cal’s Gerran Brown as the Bears rolled 37-3.

The win was just Cal’s second over a Top-10 team in the last 40 seasons, with the other coming in 2003 against USC as Aaron Rodgers starred. But unlike 2003, this win was foreseen by no one, and surprisingly lopsided.

“We weren’t good in any aspect of the game,” WSU Coach Mike Leach admitted. “Cal outcoached and outplayed us at every position that I saw.”

Coming in, Cal was reeling having lost three straight while allowing a combined 83 points in the two, previous road losses at Oregon and Washington. Offensively, things were even worse as the Bears managed less than 100 yards total offense and no points in Seattle.

But against WSU, Cal was better schemed, and more opportunistic than their opponent, who hadn’t played a game with a ranking this high in 14 years. The biggest key undoubtedly Cal’s ability to pressure Falk when common wisdom suggested Cal’s defense, and specifically their secondary, would be overwhelmed by the Cougars’ relentless passing attack.

“We wanted to change up where the four were coming from,” coach Justin Wilcox explained. “So most of it was four-man rush during the game. It was which four guys were coming. That’s what we changed up. That’s part of how we structure our defense and the guys executed it well.”

Cal hadn’t generated nine sacks since doing so against Stanford in 2005. The five interceptions were their biggest total since picking five against Washington in 2006.

The improvement for Cal was just as dramatic offensively as quarterback Ross Bowers was sacked just twice while throwing for 259 yards and a big touchdown pass to Kyle Wells before halftime that increased Cal’s lead to 17-3. In the previous three games, Bowers was sacked 17 times.

Afterwards, Bowers described a simple approach to the game that produced dramatic results.

“Preparation during the week, taking the right steps, working smarter and just focusing on doing our job,” Bowers said.

By Morris Phillips

Cal’s offense was so meager on Saturday night at Washington, the numbers didn’t add up.

Literally.

After quarterback Ross Bowers was sacked seven times, Chase Forrest once, and the Bears’ running game featuring Patrick Laird got stuffed, the Bears rushed for minus 30 yards, the third fewest number of yards rushing ever allowed by a Washington defense.

Cal’s total offense was totaled, just 93 yards, the lowest figure posted by a Bears’ offense in 18 seasons.

And after the game’s final play–a botched field goal attempt that lost 41 yards when the ball was fumbled–the Bears were declared a statistical nightmare in a 38-7 loss to the No. 5 Huskies in Seattle.

Afterwards, Coach Justin Wilcox tried to tie it all together, but couldn’t get past how poorly his Cal team played.

“That’s a really good football team,” Wilcox said. “I think we have a chance. But when you go out and play like that, you don’t give yourself a chance.”

The Bears lost for the third consecutive week after opening 3-0. And the theme in all three losses was ineffective pass protection that left Bowers flat on his back 17 times over that span. But even that didn’t absolve the quarterback of a significant portion of the blame.

“There were some things that showed up tonight that he could have done much better,” Wilcox said of Bowers. “Then we’ll see on the tape; that will paint the clearest picture, but Ross has to continue to play better.”

As do Bowers’ teammates.

 

By Morris Phillips

BERKELEY, CA–The Ole Miss Rebels started fast, but ended slow, and the Cal Bears’ unheralded defense rightfully could claim authorship to their opponents’ surprising about-face.

That’s because apparently it’s not a phase, but a pattern. The line drawn in the sand by the Bears at the half is familiar. This is the third, consecutive week the Bears trailed at halftime, but won the game. According to head coach Justin Wilcox, it took a bunch of contributors to make that happen.

“I commend our players for never losing the faith and staying together, and it took so many guys,” Wilcox said. “You’re going to look throughout the stat sheet, but special teams, guys who made blocks and tackles, guys who came in and stepped up when guys got dinged and we needed everybody, that was the ultimate team win.”

Cal’s 27-16 win over favored Mississippi sets up an early-season showdown with No. 4 USC on Saturday in Berkeley. Television has endorsed the meeting of old rivals with a juicy 12:30pm start time on ABC. The Trojans barely managed to stay perfect themselves, coming up with a game-tying field goal to end regulation, and then squeezing past Texas, 27-24 in two overtimes.

So how did Cal get to this point–an unlikelihood for a team with a new coach, and so many new faces at key positions?

Under Wilcox, it’s been defense, running the ball, and a healthy slice of resilience. Quarterback Ross Bowers, who really picked it up after throwing a hurtful interception after halftime, explained.

“We just don’t flinch, whether we could be down, we could be up,” Bowers said. “This team is always prepared. We’re waiting for the adversity because that’s when we play our top game.”

Adversity was immediate for the Bears on Saturday as Mississippi exploited their size and speed at the wide receiver spots in the opening drive. Three of the Rebels’ first four plays–all passes–went for 9, 19 and 45 yards. Early in the second quarter, Mississippi’s Shea Patterson had added 71 and 72-yard touchdown passes to establish a 16-7 lead.

Down nine, the Bears’ response was three-and-outs on their two, ensuing possessions. But as things looked as if they were falling apart, Cal was actually putting them together. As Wilcox described, the strategic changes were subtle, and the contributions came from a bunch of different places.

“We played better,” Wilcox explained. “We didn’t install a new defense at halftime. We played it better. We changed up kind of what they were doing, who they were trying to isolate. A lot of the same calls, same coverages and our guys went out and executed better.”

 

By Morris Phillips

California football went from great mystery to great debut in just over three hours.

Unexpected? By any measure.

From the financial issues surrounding the California athletic department to all the unknown among the team’s personnel and coaching staff, topped off by the East Coast opener timed to start for breakfast in Berkeley, the Bears put all the uncertainty to the side with their surprising performance, surging after halftime in a 35-30 win at North Carolina.

“There’s going to be so much off the tape that was far from perfect, it’s never going to be quite as good as you want it, but man it feels good in that locker room right now and I’m just really, really proud of our team, the players, our coaches, our university, our fans,” new Bears’ coach Justin Wilcox said. “It’s just a great moment.”

Ross Bowers led Cal offensively, throwing for 368 yards in his first collegiate start. Bowers also authored the game’s signature play, a screen pass off a scrambling escape that put the ball in Patrick Laird’s hands on a 54-yard pass and run that gave Cal the lead after they trailed for the majority of the firtst half.

Bowers threw a touchdown pass in each of the four quarters, along with to interceptions, the second of which set up the Tar Heels to regain a 24-21 lead, after a 73-yard return by Andre Smith, at the conclusion of the third quarter.

But Cal rebounded with two touchdowns in the fourth to take control, the second on a Vic Enwere run giving the Bears a 35-24 advantage with 1:56 remaining.

While Bowers was a consistent force throughout the four quarters, UNC quarterback Brandon Williams completed just 7 of 16 passes for 60 yards, then saw his afternoon shortened after throwing a second interception in the third quarter. Redshirt freshman Chazz Surratt played as well, and finished 18 of 28 for 161 yards. Both quarterbacks seemed constrained under the platooning dynamic, but may have been limited to a greater degree by UNC’s ineffective receivers who failed to create separation from Cal’s defensive backs.

Not only did Cal’s secondary hold up, its defense as a whole held up, maybe the afternoon’s biggest surprise given that the Cal defense allowed 40 points a game in 2016, and didn’t gain any significant, new personnel. The 30 points allowed, including a meaningless touchdown in the game’s final seconds, stood as the fewest points Cal had allowed in a road game since 2015.