Cal Football: What's Wrong With the Bears' Once-Stout Defense?

Juxtaposed against the optimism surrounding Cal’s offensive potential after Fernando Mendoza’s debut performance at quarterback is this stark counter-point:

Cal’s defense is the worst it’s been in seven seasons under coach Justin Wilcox.

Defense is Wilcox’s calling card. He was a coordinator on that side of the ball at Boise State, Tennessee, Washington, USC and Wisconsin before landing his first head coaching assignment at Cal in 2017.

Under Wilcox, the Bears quickly became one of the Pac-12’s most consistently effective defensive teams. Heck, they beat No. 12 Washington 12-10 in 2018 without scoring an offensive touchdown. Later that same season, they smothered USC 15-14 at the L.A. Coliseum for their first win over the Trojans after 14 years.

But the program’s defensive edge has gradually waned the past couple seasons. A year ago, the Bears up gave 42, 41 and 38 points in consecutive losses to Oregon, USC and Oregon State.

On Saturday night at home, the Bears lost 52-40 to No. 15 Oregon State, and that wasn’t even the most points Cal has allowed this season. Washington pinned 59 on the Bears, although that included a pick-6 and a punt return for scores.

“I’m at a bit of a loss why that one side of the ball played so poorly tonight,” Wilcox said Saturday. “We’ll have to do some digging — starts with me.”

The Bears rank eighth in the Pac-12 in total defense (381.5 yards), 10th in passing yards allowed (265.7) and 10th in scoring defense (30.7 points).

Cal hasn’t been this vulnerable on the defensive side since Sonny Dykes’ final season of 2016 when the Bears gave up 40 or more nine times and allowed an average of 51.3 points during a hideous six-game stretch,

Prominent among the current issues is the fact that — as Wilcox discusses in the video at the top of this story — the Cal defense has not made game-changing plays when it matters.

Against Washington and Oregon State:

— No sacks

— One fumble recovery

— One interception

— One pass breakup

— Two quarterback hurries

“Good God . . . I was trying to think of plays we made on defense . . . We didn’t do any of that,” Wilcox said. “Boy, that was . . . bad defense right there by us.”

Those are totals for two games and it’s not good enough, especially against good teams.

In their other four games, the Bears have racked up seven sacks, six fumble recoveries, six interceptions, 17 pass breakups and 11 QB hurries. Those are momentum-changing plays that create opportunities for the offense.

Partially as a result of the inability to generate those plays in the two big losses, the Huskies and Beavers combined to pass for 600 yards and 10 touchdowns.

Senior safety Craig Woodson made no excuses for the performance.

“We didn’t give our offense a chance, we didn’t give the team a chance,” he said. “We just didn’t do our jobs and it reflected.”

The Bears (3-3, 1-2) play Saturday at No. 16 Utah (4-1, 1-1), which was idle last weekend and still hoping star quarterback Cam Rising will return. He has missed the first five games while rehabbing an ACL tear from the Rose Bowl last season that he now has said was more complicated than that.

Without him, the Utes won their first four games, but their offense has missed its leader. Utah has scored just one offensive touchdown in each of its two Pac-12 games, averaging barely 208 yards in those contests.

Cal hasn’t won in Salt Lake City since 1963 and the Utes’ defense is good enough to keep them in most games.

“Utah’s a great team, they’re going to be physical,” Wilcox said. “What we’ve got to do is go to work and get better so we can line up and play winning football.

“I don’t care if it’s here at our stadium or away at Utah. We better take some ownership in doing our job and competing at a high level and winning some of those plays so we give ourselves a chance to win.

“Frankly, one side of the ball did it tonight and the other side didn’t.”

What does Woodson expect from his teammates?

“Urgency. Everybody locked in, just focused,” he said.

“What we showed tonight it not who we are,” he continued. “We have to put it on display the next game.”

Cover photo of Oregon State tight end Jack Velling scoring a touchdown by Kyle Terada, USA Today

Follow Jeff Faraudo of Cal Sports Report on Twitter: @jefffaraudo