Why Was Justin Wilcox Unsatisfied After Cal's 35-3 Victory?

The offense was stagnant for nearly the entire first half and the defense could have been much sharper, Cal's coach says

Cal guard Jordan Spasojevic-Moko (66) celebrates a Cal touchdown | Darren Yamashita-Imagn Images

Justin Wilcox wasn’t willing to throw this one back in the pond like some undersized fish. 

And he wasn’t being disrespectful to Texas Southern, Cal’s opponent in its home opener Saturday at Memorial Stadium. The Cal coach praised the Tigers’ effort and performance.

But despite a 35-3 victory that pushed his Bears to 2-0 on the season, Wilcox saw plenty of room for improvement. Plenty.

Cal scored just three points against the FCS team from the SWAC until barely a minute remained in the first half. The Bears got it together, peeling off three impressive scoring drives to boost their lead to 25-0 midway through the third quarter.

Wilcox stressed this won’t get it done going forward, starting next Saturday when Minnesota of the Big Ten Conference pays a visit. The Golden Gophers (2-0) crushed Northwestern State, another FCS team, by a 66-0 margin on Saturday. 

“To answer your question, why did it take so long to get going, I wish there was one reason,” Wilcox said. “But it was a matter of executing the plays. We didn’t really block, run, throw, catch very well in the first half. If we’re not doing that up to par, it’s going to be hard to move the ball.

“Some guys were pressing a little bit, excited to play but trying to do a little bit too much. We need to do a better job of focusing on the play right in front of us.”

He didn’t single out quarterback Jaron-Keawe Sagapolutele as one of the players who perhaps was pressing. The freshman from Hawaii took care of that himself.

“It all starts with me. I came out flat," Sagapolutele said. “I was missing passes that were wide open. I’ve got to be able to hit them. 

“I think I could have made it easier on myself by not trying to play hero ball. I’m just so glad my guys played through it and we started picking things up in the second quarter, the second half.”

A week after completing his first nine pass attempts and winding up with three touchdowns and no turnovers in his college debut against Oregon State, Sagapolutele misfired on his first four passes and was 7 for 15 before the possession late in the second quarter when the Bears drove to their first touchdown.

He threw his first career interception and was sacked for the first time.

“Jaron will learn a lot from this game,” Wilcox said. “He did some really good things, especially later in the game. We know he can really throw the ball.”

During the three TD drives that broke the game open, Sagapolutele was 12 for 12 for 142 yards. 

The only TD pass thrown in the game came from backup Devin Brown, the Ohio State transfer who came in midway through the fourth quarter. 

The Bears benefited from a running game that produced 181 yards, including a career-high 131 yards on 18 carries with a touchdown from North Carolina State transfer Kendrick Raphael.

“That’s what we were hoping for, absolutely,” Wilcox said. “I thought this was a step up today, over 100 yards, made some good, hard runs in there, made some great cuts. I’m really proud of him.”

Wilcox was less proud of the defense, even as it surrendered just three points and 192 total yards. Both of those are the fewest in four years. The Tigers converted just three of 14 third-down opportunities.

“When you keep the other team from scoring a touchdown, that’s really good,” Wilcox said. “However, the expectation of how we play there was just a lot of things that we’re going to need to improve upon: How we rush the quarterback, how we tackle at certain positions, our decisions at the end of the play. 

“To keep them from scoring is great, but we need to be competing against what we’re capable of.”

The Bears will play the first half next week without star linebacker Cade Uluave, who was ejected after a targeting penalty in the third quarter. 

Wilcox didn’t argue the call.

“You’ve got to hit them in the strike zone. If you don’t, you get a targeting call and they throw you out of the game,” Wilcox said. “It’s really unfortunate. I know Cade doesn’t want to be thrown out of the game. 

"He’s an aggressive player. He’s really fast. He’s very explosive when he hits people. It was a technique error.”

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