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Cal Football: Bears Expecting to See a Potent Nevada Offense in Saturday's Opener

The Wolf Pack has a star in Carson Strong at QB, surrounded by explosive playmakers

Cal defensive coordinator Peter Sirmon began watching tape of the Nevada offense last spring. But the Bears’ opener against the potent Wolf Pack is now just days away and Sirmon admits he’s reacting differently.

“I started getting the gray whiskers the last couple days,” he said recently. “They’re a hell of a team on offense.”

The Wolf Pack, which visits Berkeley on Saturday night, is high-scoring, explosive and experienced. Led by junior quarterback Carson Strong, projected among the top five quarterbacks in the 2022 NFL draft, Nevada averaged 319 passing yards and 30.8 points last season.

"The quarterback is very talented with his arm. He makes throws all over the field,” Sirmon said of Strong.

Elsewhere, the Wolf Pack has seniors all across its offense.

That starts with 6-foot-2, 200-pound wide receiver Romeo Doubs, who had 58 receptions for 1,002 yards (17.3 per catch) with nine touchdowns in nine games last fall. He scored three TDs each vs. Utah State & New Mexico, had 12 catches vs. Wyoming, and 219 receiving yards vs. UNLV.

“He can take the top off it,” Sirmon said of Doubs’ ability to go deep on defenses. ‘They get the ball on the perimeter to him and he can outrun players. A lot of times in press (coverage), it looks like the DB is standing in cement on some of his releases.”

Complementing Doubs is Elijah Cooks, a 6-4, 215-pound senior who was injured in Nevada’s 2020 opener and didn’t play again. A year earlier, Cooks had 76 catches for 926 yards and eight TDs,

The tight end is another senior, 6-6, 240-pound Cole Turner, who hauled in 49 catches for 605 and nine scores last year. He had two TDs apiece vs. Wyoming, Fresno State and Tulane.

On top of that, senior running backs Toa Taua (5-9, 210) and Devonte Lee (5-9, 235) combined for 1,102 rushing yards and 48 receptions for 310 more yards.

The Wolf Pack runs the Air Raid offense but with principles of the pistol in their run game, which creates difficult blocking angles, Sirmon explained.

There is skill and experience everywhere Sirmon looks.

“This is a very, very talented offensive team,” he said. “These are real dudes now.”

Cal’s defense has been among the best in the Pac-12 since Justin Wilcox arrived as coach in 2017, but the Wolf Pack handled itself well against other strong defenses a year ago.

They scored 26 points in a win over a San Diego State team that otherwise allowed just 16.7 points per game. And they put up 37 points in a win over a Wyoming squad that gave up just 17.8 points per outing the rest of its schedule.

Still, Norvell expects a serious test from the Bears.

“Very solid defensive team. Will really challenge us,” he said, specifically mentioning outside linebackers Cameron Goode and Kuony Deng. “I think they’ve very sound in the back end. They don’t get out of position and they don’t give up a lot of big plays. That’s always one of the qualities of a good defense.

“They tackle well, they play off blocks well. They just play good, solid defense. Justin’s been doing that for a long time. They force you to execute.”

Norvell believes his team’s experience will allow for a fast start to the season, just as the Wolf Pack experienced in 2020, when they won their first five games on the way to a 7-2 record.

“I don’t think we have any doubt about what we want to do on offense,” said Norvell, dismissing any concerns the team will need a break-in period after smoky air in Reno forced the squad to travel to Stanford for practice the past two weeks. “We expect to start fast. It’s going to be important that we start fast . . . we play good teams the first month of the season.”

After Cal, the Wolf Pack gets Idaho State at home before hitting the road again to face Kansas State of the Big 12 and Mountain West rival Boise State in Weeks 3 and 4.

Cover photo of Nevada wide receiver Romeo Doubs by Jason Bean, Imgn Content Services

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