Three Takeaways From Cal's 21-18 Victory at Syracuse

A former two-time NFL coach of the year, Ron Rivera understood the moment. So in a jubilant Cal locker room on Saturday, the Bears’ football athletic director and GM presented the game ball to Tosh Lupoi after his first career victory as a head coach.

Lupoi said he was flattered. But in the wake of Cal’s 21-18 triumph at Syracuse, he added, “I took that ball and spun it right to the guys because we did this together.”

One week after a disappointing 45-24 loss to UCLA, in their opener the Bears (1-1, 1-0) made Lupoi the first Cal coach to win his conference debut since Steve Mariucci’s 1996 team topped Oregon State 48-42.

The Bears won despite trailing 12-0 on the road and despite totaling just 249 yards of offense. They hadn’t produced a victory with such meager offensive output since a 33-21 verdict over Colorado in 2018, when they managed only 211 yards.

Cal returns to action next Saturday at home vs. FCS-level Wagner (1-2), which doesn’t appear to be a serious threat after losing 87-3 to James Madison this week.

Here are three takeaways from Saturday’s game:

Kingston Lopa runs into the end zone to complete his 24-yard pick-6 | IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect

Hutchings releases the hounds

Defensive coordinator Michael Hutchings, convinced he was too conservative in his play-calling against UCLA, went hard after Syracuse quarterback Steve Angeli.

The Bears sacked him three times and were credited for three more QB hurries, although the pressure seemed much greater than that. The Syracuse Post-Standard reported that, according to PFF, Cal blitzed on 56.1 percent of Syracuse's pass plays and got pressure on 26.8 percent of those plays.

“Coach Hutch did an awesome job calling this game and mixed it up enough that it felt like they struggled to answer, Lupoi said. “There was no doubt that QB was mentally and physically assaulted today.

“Aggressive play-calling by coach Hutch and then our players feeding off that.”

Safety Kingston Lopa was the beneficiary of that pressure, picking off Angeli three times — once to set up a touchdown, another he returned 24 yards for the go-ahead TD and the last that clinched the outcome in the final minute.

Consider this: Angeli entered the game having thrown just three career interceptions in parts of five seasons with Notre Dame and Syracuse.

Cal has collected six takeaways through two games and its offense declined to turn the ball over at Syracuse after doing so three times vs. UCLA.

Kingston Lopa, left, and Nate Burrell (98) combine to tackle Syracuse running back Ju'juan Johnson | IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect

Run defense takes a step

A week after allowing UCLA to rush for 277 yards at 8.7 yards per attempt, the Bears gave up a 55-yard dash to Tylik Hill on the game’s second play from scrimmage.

The Orange managed just 63 more yards on the ground all afternoon at a 1.8 clip.

How did it happen?

“One thing that was evident was that was an improved tackling team. That was a huge commitment,” Lupoi said.

Adam Mohammed has carried the workload for Cal's run game | IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect

Rushing attack a concern

Adam Mohammed has rushed for 194 yards in two games, but Cal’s other backs have totaled 22 yards. We don’t know if/when projected No. 2 Carter Vargas will return from the injury he suffered against UCLA and no one else has shown he’s ready.

The Bears averaged just 3.4 yards on designed running plays against Syracuse, which won’t fly two weeks from now when Clemson visits.

Center Bastian Swinney returned after being dinged up vs. UCLA and the Bears made a lineup change to start the second half Saturday at right tackle, replacing Jimothy Lewis Jr. with redshirt freshman Michael Klisiewicz.

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