Cal Football: What the Heck Happened to Bears' Defense Against Utah?

The Cal defense had been something the Bears could count on while they were working through their offensive shortcomings. But Cal had its worst defensive performance in two years in the 35-0 loss to Utah. And it could have been worse.

The stats tell part of the story. In the first half alone, Utah piled up 351 yards of offense and scored touchdowns on drives of 99, 90, 72 and 76 yards. Starting quarterback Tyler Huntley played only the first half, and Zack Moss sat out most of the second half as well.

But the bigger issue was that Cal’s defense was dominated physically.

Cal defensive coordinator Tim DeRuyter said Wednesday that it’s a good time to have a bye for the players to deal with midterm exams and also to heal both physically and mentally from the Utah game.

“Our guys competed on Saturday; we didn’t execute very well, we didn’t tackle very well,” DeRuyter said. “That’s on me. I’ve got to get these guys to tackle better.”

He called Moss “as good a running back as we’ve faced in three years here.

“But we got outphysicaled at the point of attack, and as a football player, as a competitor that’s hard to swallow.”

Utah has set the bar for the level Cal has to achieve to be a title contender. “And we’ve got to get there in a hurry,” DeRuyter said.

“It’s kind of a look-in-the-mirror day for us, and sometimes you don’t like what you see.”

Cal will face a much different kind of offense following its bye when Washington State and Mike Leach’s passing attack come to Berkeley for a game on Nov. 9.