Cal Football: Bears' No. 1 Question - Generating Enough Explosive Pass Plays
There is a lot to like about the 2020 Cal football team, according to Pac-12 Networks analyst Yogi Roth.
Roth calls Christopher Brown Jr. “one of the most talented running backs in this conference when he’s healthy. He’s a big back, he can get downhill.”
On senior linebacker Kuony Deng, Roth says he’s “got a chance to be the player of the year, defensively, in this conference.”
Having watched quarterback Chase Garbers lead the Bears to big road wins over Washington and Stanford, Roth says, “Now he’s a dude. And he’s got to wear that. He’s got to walk around campus with his shoulders out a little bit more. And he’s got to make decisions and play confident, and I think he will.”
And he loves the hire of Bill Musgrave as offensive coordinator. “I think he’s going to take that offense to the phase where they should be,” Roth suggests.
But Roth sees one significant unanswered question, one make-or-break challenge.
“I’m excited for them. Their question mark is big thing that we all know, which is can they score? Can they score explosively?”
The missing link, Roth says, is someone emerging from the Bears’ receiving corps to force opposing defenses to play them honestly.
We explored the topic in depth a couple weeks ago, noting that while Oregon produced 30 plays covering at least 30 yards last season and national champion LSU had 55, the Bears managed just 21 plays that went 30 yards or more.
Roth calls is “unquestionably” Cal’s biggest unresolved issue.
Here’s how he outlines the issue:
I’m an optimistic guy as you know. But I still have to be convinced that there’s somebody (at wide receiver) that’s going to force a defense to say, `Two guys need to be paying attention to you.’ And I don’t see that in the offensive skill based on tape from last year yet. That’s the thing with this team.
I don’t think you have to have a first-round draft pick at receiver, but can you have somebody that can threaten the secondary? That can force teams to have to drop defenders into zone coverage?
Because if (opposing defenses) can line up and play man coverage, you’ve got no chance in this league to win a divisional title, in my opinion. And right now I think teams can say that about Cal: Stack the box, stop the run, let’s match up outside where we can, and Cal’s going to have to prove themselves in that regard and play really well and make plays from the explosive positions.
So that's the challenge for the Bears, as Roth sees it. Stretch the defense.
“Defensively, they’re loaded. But you’ve got to score,” Roth says. “You’re not going to win in this conference every week 21-17. I just don’t think it’s possible.”
