UCLA vs. Cal: 5 Questions With Cal Sports Reports' Jake Curtis
Coach Chip Kelly and his staff have spent the short week scouting the Golden Bears, but they aren't the only ones getting the inside scoop on what's been going on in Berkeley.
With No. 18 UCLA football's (8-3, 5-3 Pac-12) road game at California (4-7, 2-6 Pac-12) coming up on Friday, All Bruins publisher Sam Connon got answers to the most pressing questions surrounding the season-ending showdown, courtesy of Cal Sports Report publisher Jake Curtis.
Here is what Curtis had to say about Cal's season so far, the changes on their coaching staff and impact of UCLA's upcoming move to the Big Ten on their neighbors to the north:
Sam Connon: How hot is Justin Wilcox's seat now that Cal has officially posted three consecutive losing seasons?
Jake Curtis: His seat is only lukewarm, and there is little chance of him being fired after this season. He earned some equity with the people who count when he turned down the offer to be Oregon’s head coach last December. More importantly, on Jan. 1, 2022 Wilcox signed a contract extension that covers six years, lasting two more years than his contract at the time. The extension runs through the 2027 season, and if he were terminated now the school would still owe him in the neighborhood of $17 million. A school as financially strapped as Cal would have a hard time rationalizing that payout.
Furthermore, the fan ire was not directed at Wilcox as much as it was against offensive coordinator Bill Musgrave, because Cal’s offense has been horrible with him in charge. Wilcox may have solved that public-relations concern by firing Musgrave last week. It was the first time Wilcox fired an assistant coach, and there is the feeling, though unconfirmed, that some folks higher up the command chain may have pressured Wilcox to fire Musgrave.
SC: With so many negatives dominating the conversation around Cal's offense this season, how much of a bright spot has Jadyn Ott's breakout been?
JC: When Ott rushed for 274 yards against Arizona in the fourth game of the season, Cal people were abuzz with this remarkable freshman. They thought they had the next Barry Sanders. But when he failed to rush for more than 70 yards in any of the next six games, the hoopla faded. Much of his recent struggles have been due to poor offensive-line play, and folks like me are wondering whether that deficiency up front may cause Ott to think about transferring.
SC: What has the transition from Chase Garbers to Jack Plummer been like this year, and how has the offense changed without a quarterback who is capable of running the ball?
JC: Certainly Plummer is not as mobile as Garbers, who set a school record for career rushing yards by a quarterback. That removes several elements from the playbook, although Plummer has gained some yardage on planned quarterback runs.
However, Plummer is, in my opinion, a better passer than Garbers, especially on his deep balls. He is more decisive in the pocket that Garbers, who would wait and wait. But the mobility is a factor, part of the reason Plummer has been sacked 31 times. That’s not dramatically more than last year, when Cal allowed 25 sacks. With better offensive-line play Plummer could be an elite quarterback. Of course, you could say that about a lot of quarterbacks.
The question around here is whether he will return in 2023 because he has another year of college eligibility. He admitted that Wilcox’s choice of the next offensive coordinator could affect his decision.
SC: Where do Cal fans stand on the stakes of this year's rivalry game with UCLA, given the Bruins' impending move to the Big Ten?
JC: The UCLA or USC game (whichever is in Berkeley) is always the second-biggest game on the Cal schedule from a fan-interest standpoint (behind the Stanford game). I would imagine Cal fans are discussing the Bruins’ move to the Big Ten and the direct impact it might have on Cal, and hoping that the Bruins can somehow be kept in the Pac-12.
There is some annoyance at the UCLA move, because the perception is that UCLA left while leaving its Pac-12 UC brother behind. But I expect that the Bruins will be booed only slightly more than usual when they take the field Friday.
Cal fans will simply miss not having UCLA on the schedule anymore in both football and basketball. This is not a rivalry game for Cal like Cal-Stanford is for the Bears or USC-UCLA is for the Bruins. Even with the Bruins’ anticipated departure, it will not be a rivalry in the “Big Game” sense.
SC: Can the firings of Bill Musgrave and Angus McClure provide a spark for this Cal offense down the stretch or was that purely a move for the future?
JC: There was hope it would light a late-season fire, and a change in play-calling was noticeable when the Bears called passes on their first 14 plays against Stanford, even though the Cardinal may have the worst run defense in the country.
However, the offense scored just 20 points, and seven of those came on a 9-yard drive following an interception. There is the belief that Cal’s offense will be more aggressive against UCLA than it had been under Bill Musgrave, but I don’t believe there is any expectation that the Bears will be scoring 40 points.
The next offensive coordinator hire is critical for Wilcox’s future. He has swung and missed with his first two hires, Beau Baldwin and Musgrave. When Musgrave was hired the assumption was that, with all his NFL experience, Cal’s offense would come alive. It never happened, and some wonder whether the Bears can ever have a strong offense with the players it is recruiting. The key, of course, is landing an elite quarterback.
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