Cal Football: Bears' Season Takes a Sharp Turn in the Wrong Direction
Where does this Cal season go from here?
You may be afraid to ask.
Because, unless things change dramatically, probably not to an eventual bowl game.
The Bears lost an opponent that has been an automatic victory for everyone else this season, falling 20-13 in overtime at Colorado, which was clearly the worst team in the Pac-12 this season.
At least until Saturday.
The Bears are now 3-3 overall, 1-2 in the conference and must win three of their final six games to become bowl eligible.
No one was more unhappy with the outcome than Cal coach Justin Wilcox, who talks about how the Bears must respond in the video below:
The good news: Four of those six games, including the next two and the last two, will be played at Berkeley’s Memorial Stadium.
The bad news: The lineup of opponents is daunting. One of them is rival Stanford, which scuffled much of this season before knocking off Notre Dame 16-14 on Saturday.
The other five — Washington, Oregon, USC, Oregon State and UCLA — entered play Saturday with a combined record of 25-5. USC, UCLA and Oregon all are ranked among the top-12 in the latest AP Top-25.
And even if the Bears win the Big Game, they’ll need to knock off two of those five just to get a 13th game.
Linebacker Jackson Sirmon, talking in the video at the top of this story, expects his team to have the appropriate mindset going forward.
“I think people are upset, and rightly so. I would be concerned if people weren’t upset,” he said. “Being upset at something like that shows that you care. We’ll try to use it to our advantage and right the ship next week.
“There’s no sense of give-up, no sense of feeling sorry for yourself, no sense of not caring. Obviously, that’s not the outcome we expected but the response is what it should be.”
The team’s attitude and want-to, by all accounts, is not the issue.
They just didn’t play well enough. Again. Just like two weeks ago in a 28-9 loss at Washington State. That’s two touchdowns in two games, and the Bears’ road woes are extended — 1 win in their past 11 games away from home.
Maybe they’re just not good enough. We see flashes — 274 rushing yards by freshman Jaydn Ott against Arizona three weeks ago. A generally stout, if flawed, performance by the defense in this one.
A gutsy performance by quarterback Jack Plummer, who keeps taking hits and keeps trying to make plays. He completed six of his first seven passes on the final drive of regulation, leading to Dario Longhetto’s game-tying field goal as time expired in the fourth quarter.
Punter Jamieson Sheahan continues to make a case for postseason honors, kicking four times for a 47.5-yard average. He is now at 46.6 yards per attempt for the season, with 13 kicks of 50 yards or more and 11 downed inside the opponent’s 20-yard line.
But there continue to be too many inefficiencies, too many mistakes.
Against Colorado, owner of perhaps the worst defense in FBS, the shortcomings were everywhere, starting with the offensive line, which allowed the Bears to rush for only 35 yards. The Buffs were allowing 294 rushing yards per game, for crying out loud.
Tight end Keleki Latu lost possession after making a catch for a first down late in the fourth quarter, the Bears’ first lost fumble of the season. The secondary allowed CU completions of 41 and 37 yards, setting the stage for 10 points. Longhetto made two field goals, but missed two others, albeit from 54 and 48 yards.
“We’ve got to block, we’ve got to throw and catch, we’ve got to hold onto the football, we’ve got to play smart,” Wilcox said. “It’s anything and everything.”
Wide receiver J.Michael Sturdivant, who scored the Bears' only touchdown on a nice over-the-shoulder diving catch, echoed Sirmon’s remarks about the team moving forward.
“There’s no trust lost, no love lost. We’re still close,” he says in the video above. “This is a tough one, but it’s not the last game of the season. We’ve got to keep pushing forward. We’ve got lots of football to play with each other.”
It won’t matter, Wilcox stressed, unless things change.
“You eat the loss and internalize it and it should feel terrible. You should be outraged about how you played,” he said. “Then you’ve got to come back and go to work.”
Cover photo of Jackson Sirmon intercepting a pass by Ron Chenoy, USA Today
Follow Jeff Faraudo of Cal Sports Report on Twitter: @jefffaraudo
