Cal Football: Evan Weaver Is Feeling Good Again After Bears Roll
Cal linebacker Evan Weaver starts his postgame interview with some sarcasm, then rocks back in his chair, folds his arms in front of him and expounds on how good it feels to win a game after losing four in row.
"It feels pretty good to sit up here not all cranky and angry," he said. "October's obviously not our month the last two years so let's make November."
The Bears are 2-5 in October in 2018 and 2019, and 10-5 in the other months. And the latter includes Cal's 33-20 victory over Washington State (4-5, 1-5).
And it seems Washington State has been the perfect tonic for Cal's ills. The Cougars have been one of the best offensive teams in the nation the past three years, but the Bears have found a way to handle it.
In the three games Cal has faced Washington State since Justin Wilcox became coach, the Bears have yielded just 36 points to the Cougars. Total. (a 37-3 win in 2017, a 19-13 loss last season, and Saturday's 37-20 victory.)
WSU had scored more than 30 points against seven of its previous eight opponents this season and in 16 of its past 21 games the past two years, not including Cal. Yet, the Cougars barely exceeded that in three games combined against the Bears. OK, so we didn't include that last meaningless touchdown WSU scored with five seconds left Saturday, so the total points scored against Cal in three years is 42, but point is clear: Wilcox or Cal's defensive coaches know how to deal with WSU's passing attack.
How is that possible after Utah stomped on the Bears 35-0 in a rout that could easily have been more lopsided than it was.
Simple: Utah is a physical team. WSU is a finesse team. Cal's defensive schemes work nicely against finesse teams.
Is it really that simple, or is something else at work? Evan Weaver doesn;t care at this moment.
