How Does Heartbroken Cal Respond to a `Pivotal Moment?'

The Bears are 3-2 after their 39-38 loss to Miami, and now prepare to play on the road vs. unbeaten Pitt

Miami's defense pressures Fernando Mendoza / Darren Yamashita-Imagn Images

Cal fans on social media spent the hours after Cal’s crushing 39-38 loss to Miami late Saturday night trying to rank where this one fits among the worst collapses in program history.

There are plenty of legitimate candidates, but my vote goes to Cal’s 49-45 loss at Arizona in 2014 on a 47-yard Hail Mary pass on the game’s final play. Others may disagree, but the Bears led 28-6 at halftime in Tucson, then were outscored 36-14 in the fourth quarter.

They responded from the defeat by beating a terrible Colorado team 59-56 in two overtimes, then outlasting Washington State 60-59.

The Sonny Dykes era in a three-week nutshell.

That Cal team had Jared Goff but no real chance of sustained success because its defense was helpless. The Bears ended up 5-7.

This isn’t that. Or doesn’t have to be, anyway.

By forging a 35-10 lead in the third quarter against the nation’s No. 8 team, Cal showed big-play capability on both sides of the ball. 

“We have a next game and when we play good football, clean football, when we’re firing on all cylinders, we can do some good things,” coach Justin Wilcox said. 

“So it’ll be a challenge to everybody to respond and be ready to go on Monday. We don’t have the luxury of feeling bad for the next two days, three days, five days.”

Wilcox called it “a pivotal moment for the team,” a sentiment quarterback Fernando Mendoza echoed.

“We believe Miami was the best team we faced all year and it sucks,” Mendoza said. “This one really, really hurts. It’s all about our response.”

The Bears (3-2, 0-2 ACC) will make their third trip East this week to face Pitt (5-0, 1-0) on Saturday afternoon. The Panthers, now ranked No. 22 in the AP Top-25 poll, are an early 2.5-point favorite.

“Every team ahead of us is beatable,” Mendoza said.

Let’s consider that.

Pitt will be formidable, 5-0 for the first time since 1991, led by redshirt freshman quarterback Eli Holstein. The Alabama transfer passed for 381 yards and three touchdowns and ran for a fourth in Pitt’s 34-24 win at North Carolina.

The Pitt game will mark the halfway point of the Bears’ schedule.

What comes after that?

— Oct. 19 at home vs. North Carolina State: The Wolf Pack is 3-3 overall, 0-2 in the ACC, lost its only road game and comes off a 34-30 home defeat to Wake Forest. A game Cal should win.

— Oct. 26 at home vs. Oregon State: Cal’s old Pac-12 rival survived Colorado State 39-31 in double-overtime Saturday, improving to 4-1. The Beavers beat Cal the past two seasons. A toss-up.

— Nov. 8 at Wake Forest: The Demon Deacons had lost three in a row, allowing 112 points, before rallying past NC State 34-30 on Saturday to go to 2-3 overall, 1-1 in the ACC. A game Cal needs to win.

— Nov. 16 at home vs. Syracuse: The Orange is 4-1 overall, 1-1 in conference and comes off a 44-41 win over then-No. 25 UNLV. They have demonstrated they can travel. A toss-up.

— Nov. 23 at home vs. Stanford in the 127th Big Game: Troy Taylor is trying to rebuild the Cardinal but it’s gonna take some time. Stanford was good enough to win on the road vs. Syracuse but lost by a combined 71-21 the past two weeks against Clemson and Va Tech. Cal should win a fourth straight Big Game for the first time since winning five in a row from 2002 through ’06.

— Nov. 30 at SMU: The Mustangs have beaten TCU, Florida State and Louisville since a three-point loss to BYU. They’re 5-1, 2-0 in the ACC and avoid both Miami and Clemson this season. A big challenge here.

Cal could lose at Pitt and at SMU and still go 8-4 but that requires being on their game and winning the other five. 

It remains to be seen: How does Cal respond to this “pivotal moment?”