Cal Football Video: Justin Wilcox Admires Bears' Resiliency
Cal had lost four in row heading into Saturday's game against Washington State, and the Bears came away with a 33-20 victory, which says something about the Bears' character.
"The resiliency of the group, it's always been that way," Wilcox said. "It's easier to talk about resiliency when you have some success. But they are; they're a resilient group."
Suddenly Cal is 5-4 overall and just one win from becoming bowl-eligible with games against USC, Stanford and UCLA remaining. Each of those games looks like a 50-50 shot for a Cal victory, so the final three games will tell us a lot about the Bears' season. An 8-4 record followed by a bowl berth sounds a lot better than 5-7 and staying home.
But this has become a trend for Wilcox's Cal teams: good starts to the season, a lull in the middle and a bounce-back game.
In 2017, Cal won its first three games, lost its next three, then rebounded with its best performance of the season, a 37-3 victory over No. 8 Washington State.
Last year, Cal won its first three games before losing its next three contests. The Bears then clobbered Oregon State 49-7 and followed that with an upset of 15th-ranked Washington.
Whether Cal can continue this year's resurgence started by the Washington State games remains to be seen.
A bowl game is still a possibility, but it is by no means a lock. Cal is still hoping to finish with a winning record for a second straight season for the first time since 2008 and 2009.
