Cal Football: Justin Wilcox on the Keys to Creating A Better Pass-Rush

Bears only had two sacks vs. UC Davis but there weren't enough pass-rush situations.

Cal had two sacks on Saturday against UC Davis. Yes, an improvement over last year when the Bears had none in a win over another FCS opponent, Sacramento State.

Even so, when asked what he thought about his team’s pressure on the quarterback in Week 1, coach Justin Wilcox shrugged and said, “Uh, it was OK.

“I thought we had a couple good rushes,” he added. "We didn’t rush the quarterback well enough.”

Myles Jernigan, left, and Xavier Carlton team up on a sack

Photo by Nancy Paiva, KLC fotos

Of greater concern to Wilcox and the defensive coaching staff was the Bears’ play on first and second downs. Too often, they said, Davis managed enough yards on first or second down that third down never became an opportunity to rush the passer.

Wilcox says there are two things the defense can do to change the equation:

“You can get them into obvious passing situations. Third-and-3, third-and-2, fourth-and-1 . . . those aren’t great pass-rushing downs,” he said. “Let’s do a better job on first-and-10, second down, so we can get a better third down so we can rush ‘em.”

The Aggies ran 28 first-down plays Saturday, and the Bears held them to 1 yard or fewer (including one turnover) on 13 of those snaps. Nearly half of them.

On 10 more, Davis managed anywhere from 3 to 7 yards, but the remaining five first-down plays were created gains of 15, 15, 16, 25 and 60 yards for the Aggies.

Defensive coordinator Peter Sirmon echoes Wilcox’s evaluation in the video above.

“A lot of people want to talk about third down, but so much of that is predicated on how you’re playing on first and second downs,” he said. “First-and-10, second-and-6, third-and-2 is not the rhythm of being able to have opportunities to rush the quarterback.”

Sirmon said the Bears use the phrase “value the yard” to emphasize the importance of pushing the ball carrier backward rather than allowing him to fall forward and pick up additional real estate.

“There’s a significant difference between second-and-9 and second-and-7,” he said.

Also playing into the equation is where the opposing team is on the field. Inside the Cal 40, and they’re probably in four-down territory.

“The other thing you can do is get them on their side of the field so third-and-6 isn’t treated like second-and-6,” Wilcox said.

Utah transfer Xavier Carlton was credited with 1.5 of the Bears two sacks against the Aggies. Junior Myles Jernigan teamed up with Carlton once.

Sirmon shares his evaluation of how those two played in the video below:

Cover photo of Xavier Carlton by Kelley L. Cox, KLC fotos

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