For Cal, Snaps Have Not Been a Snap

The shotgun snap: You can’t start the play without it, and it’s one of those things you take for granted until it goes wrong.

And it has gone wrong for Cal too often the past few weeks.

Poor snaps by the Golden Bears center against Virginia Tech and Virginia were costly.

Early in the third quarter of Saturday’s loss to Virginia, Cal trailed 17-7 when a bad snap passed by the left side of Cal quarterback Jaron-Keawe Sagapolutele, leading to a 15-yard loss that pushed the ball back to the Cal 2-yard line. Cal had to punt from there.

Even when he catches the snap, Sagapolutele often has had to reach down to pick up a misdirected snap at his feet or high above his head or to one side, sometimes upsetting the timing of the play and always reducing the time Sagapolutele has to survey the field for defensive alignments and open receivers.

“First thing we want to do on offense is get him the ball right here,” said Cal head coach Justin Wilcox, demonstrating in the photo below, then repeating the mission for emphasis. “Got to get him the ball right here in shotgun.”

Justin Wilcox demonstrates where the quarterback should receive a shotgun snap | Photo by Jake Curtis

The offensive line in general has been a shortcoming for Cal this season, but when asked to specify what the offensive line needs to improve, Wilcox first said, “Snap to the quarterback.”

“Last week, we attempted to make some changes,” Wilcox said regarding offensive line personnel. “Unfortunately we lost a guy during the week. There could be more [changes] this week.”

Presumably the player who was lost during the week was Lamar Robinson, the second-string center who was not available against Virginia. A transfer from Georgia State, where he was a starting offensive guard, Robinson might be moved into the starting center position this week if he is healthy, replacing Tyson Ruffins, who was a guard at Nevada last season.

Consistently accurate snaps to Sagapolutele in shotgun might solve one elementary but critical aspect. At this point, Sagapolutele’s pre-snap thoughts might be centered on getting the snap cleanly rather than what he will do once he gets it. Eliminating that concern from the quarterback’s mind is important.

Of course, it will take more than accurate snaps for the Bears (5-4, 2-3 ACC) to get past 14th-ranked Louisville (7-1, 4-1 ACC) in Saturday’s road game against the Cardinals.

Even though Louisville will be without all-conference running back Isaac Brown, the Cardinals are 20.5-point favorites against Cal. The Bears had not been more than 6.5-point underdogs in any game this season, and now they are three-touchdown underdogs.

Wilcox talks about the fundamental things Cal must do to have a chance against Louisville in the video below.

Fundamental problems such as bad snaps doom chances for major upsets.

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