Pass Protection an Issue for Cal Heading Into Saturday’s Pac-12 Opener

Bears have allowed 12 sacks, which ranks near the bottom among all FBS schools. Jack Plummer injured his wrist vs. Notre Dame

Cal has two concerns about its passing game heading into Saturday’s Pac-12 opener against Arizona.

One is pass protection; the other is quarterback Jack Plummer’s wrist, which he injured slightly during Saturday’s 24-17 loss to Notre Dame, although he never left the game.

The Bears (2-1) have allowed 12 sacks this season, the most in the Pac-12 and more than all but three of the 131 FBS schools. Six of those sacks came against Notre Dame, and Plummer needed some fancy footwork to avoid several others.

“We have to protect better, it’s obvious,” Cal head coach Justin Wilcox said.

“Substandard” was the one-word response offensive coordinator Bill Musgrave gave when asked to characterize the Bears’ pass protection.

The blame automatically falls on the offensive line, but Plummer says that’s not the whole story.

“Those guys are battling up there,” he said. “Some of those sacks you see, some of those are my fault. People don’t notice that. Everyone’s quick to blame the offensive line.”

A number of options are available for Cal:

---Change the offensive line personnel.

---Improve the pass-protection skills of the existing offensive line starters.

---Change the pass-protection blocking schemes.

---Keep more players in to pass protect, although that reduces the number of receivers downfield and limits Plummer’s options.

---Call quicker, safer pass plays, although a steady diet of that limits big gains and allows defenders to press their coverage.

---Alter Plummer’s launch point by getting him on the move.

It remains clear Cal needs to do something to keep Plummer upright on Saturday. Arizona (2-1) has just six sacks in its three games, but Notre Dame had only four sacks before collecting six against Cal.

And it’s obvious that Cal does not want Plummer scrambling as much as he did Saturday, even though he did so effectively. Plummer officially had 34 yards rushing, but if you ignore the 47 negative yards in sacks, he had 81 rushing yards, which would have led the team. Plummer chuckles at the surprise people have when he produces an impressive runs.

“I just kind of got labeled as a guys who’s not athletic,” Plummer said, “and every time I make a play it’s, ‘Oh, he’s got sneaky athleticism.’”

However, the Bears also want to keep Plummer healthy. He acknowledged that he injured his hand or wrist during Saturday’s game and that it did affect him.

“Yeah, it was an issue during the game, for a little bit, not being able to hold the ball and throw it like I wanted to,” he said Tuesday.

He does not expect it to be a factor against Arizona, but implied he is doing some things to minimize the problem.

“Not an issue right now,” he said. “During the game [against Arizona], hoping that it won’t be an issue again. We’re doing some things right now that we think will help for the game, but feels good right now.”

Cal certainly does not want Plummer getting hit as often as he did against the Irish. Plus additional time in the pocket will no doubt improve his accuracy. Plummer has completed 60.4% of his passes and ranks 11^th among Pac-12 starting quarterbacks in passer rating.

Just ahead of Plummer at No. 10 in that category is Arizona’s Jayden de Laura. And it will be de Laura, not Plummer’s younger brother, Will Plummer, who will be Arizona’s quarterback on Saturday. 

Will Plummer was Arizona quarterback when the Wildcats beat Cal 10-3 last year, but the chances of a brother-vs-brother matchup this Saturday are slim since Will Plummer is down the depth chart a ways this year.

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Cover photo of Jack Plummer getting sacked is by Michael Caterina, USA TODAY Network

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