Justin Wilcox Angered by Cal's Poor Offensive Showing in OT Loss
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After the 28-9 loss to Washington State, the general feeling was that things could not get any worse for the Cal offense.
Saturday's 20-13 overtime loss to Colorado in Boulder, Colorado, on Saturday demonstrated that was an incorrect assessment. Things got worse.
---Click here for a summary of the key plays and stats in the game---
Let's assess:
---Colorado was the only winless FBS team in country coming into Saturday's game, having lost all five games by at least 23 points and allowing every opponent to score at least 38 points. The Buffaloes ranked 130th of the nation's 131 FBS teams in scoring defense, allowing an average of 42.8 points per game. Cal scored just 13 points in regulation time and overtime and lost a game in which it was a 15-point favorite.
---Colorado, which was playing its first game for interim head coach Mike Sanford, entered the game ranked 129th of 131 FBS teams in total defense and was dead last in rushing defense by a wide margin, allowing 6.59 yards per run. Cal finished with 35 yards rushing and averaged 1.6 yards per rushing attempt. Two games ago, Cal rolled up 354 rushing yards and 49 points in a win over Arizona, and Jaydn Ott had 274 rushing yards in that game. He managed 47 yards and 2.9 yards per carry against Colorado.
Cal head coach Justin Wilcox had short answers in his postgame radio interview regarding his reaction to the game:
"Anger."
"Terrible loss."
"No excuse for the performance today."
"There's nothing good about the run game today."
"We played bad football today, especially on offense, and there's no excuse for that."
It was more of the same in Wilcox's postgame press conference, with Wilcox implying that the offensive line struggled again.
"The offense starts at the line of scrimmage," he said. "You can't run a run play or a pass play very effectively if you don't start up front. Generally speaking you have to block the people up front in the run and pass game and we we didn't do a good enough job of that today, and their front got after our front."
And other Wilcox comments:
"You don't win football games playing like we did today, no way."
"It should feel terrible. Should be outraged about how you played."
"I take responsibility for the performance of the team and that was not good enough."
Cal is now 3-3 overall at 1-2 in the Pac-12 with two straight losses coming immediately after its best performance in a 49-31 win over Arizona. Colorado is 1-5.
Despite its offensive struggles, Cal still had a chance to win the game, but a few things late in the fourth quarter and overtime ruined the Bears' chances.
Trailing 13-10, quarterback Jack Plummer led the Bears on a late drive that started at their own 25-yard line with 4:20 left. Cal got a first down at the Colorado 7-yard line with just under a minute left. But the Bears failed to score the go-ahead touchdown and Dario Longhetto kicked a 34-yard field goal on the final play to force overtime.
Colorado scored on its possession in overtime on a 22-yard touchdown pass from J.T. Shrout, who replaced Owen McCown midway through the second half, to Montana Lemonious-Craig. Originally ruled incomplete, the call was overturned on video review when it was determined that Lemonious-Craig got his right foot down in time.
Cal seemed to have the game tied up on its overtime possession when Plummer hit a wide open Mason Starling between the numbers in the end zone, but Colorado's Trevor Woods hit Starling and knocked the ball away for an incompletion. Starling was playing in his first game for Cal after missing the first five games with an injury, and he was in the game at this crucial time because Cal's top receiver, Jeremiah Hunter, had to leave the game with an injury suffered in the second half.
Plummer's fourth-down pass from the 11-yard line went incomplete, and the Colorado fans stormed the field.
The one highlight for Cal was J.Michael Sturdivant's ding catch of an 11-yard touchdown pass from Plummer that gave Cal a 7-3 lead in the third quarter.
Plummer finished 29-for-52 for 262 yards, one touchdown and one interceptions.
Colorado running back Deion Smith suffered what appeared to be a serious injury in the second half and had to be strapped to a board and taken off the field in a cart. A report on TV said Smith had movement and was undergoing further tests.
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Cover photo of interim head coach Mike Sanford celebrating the win in by Ron Chenoy, USA TODAY Sports
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