No One Saw This Cal Performance Coming

The Bears did little right in a 33-25 loss to Syracuse, which dominated the game more than the score indicates

Syracuse quarterback Kyle McCord / D. Ross Cameron-Imagn Images

A few minutes after Cal’s 33-25 loss to Syracuse on Saturday – a game that was far more one-sided than the score suggests – Bears head coach Justin Wilcox was asked whether he could point to anything Cal did well other than the two long runs.

Wilcox looked at the stat sheet for three seconds, grimaced for two more seconds, waved his left hand in consternation for another second, cocked his head for another two seconds and gave a slight sneer.

Then after about eight seconds of silence, Wilcox put the stat sheet down, looked up and said:

“No, I don’t.”

Cal (5-5, 1-5 ACC) did very little right in this game in a performance that no one saw coming. The 75-yard touchdown run by Jaivian Thomas in the first quarter and Jaydn Ott’s 53-yard scamper in the fourth quarter accounted for most of meaningful Cal accomplishments.

The Bears’ previous four losses were all games Cal could have won, perhaps should have won except for misplays or bad breaks in the final minutes of each game.

And Cal was a 10-point favorite in this game against the Orange (7-3, 4-3 ACC), largely because the Bears team and their quarterback, Fernando Mendoza, had played their best two games of the season in the two games preceding Saturday’s egg laying.

When the day began, a sixth win that would have made the Bears bowl-eligible seemed very possible.  Instead a fifth ACC loss guaranteed that Cal would finish with a losing conference record for the 15th consecutive season, the longest active streak in the country.

The fact that Cal still had a chance in Saturday’s game when it attempted an onside kick with a minute left skewed the perception of this game.  The Bears were never in this one, a late Cal touchdown making the final score look like the Bears had been competitive.

“We certainly were outplayed today, there’s no doubt about that,” Wilcox said. “Out-coached, our-rushed, out-caught, out-covered, out-sacked, out-everything.”

Syracuse scored points on its first six possessions, and it wasn’t until the fourth quarter that an Orange possession ended without points being scored.

But the game was decided by then. Things were pretty much decided in the first half when Syracuse took a 27-7 lead. It may even have been the first quarter that doomed Cal, because Mendoza threw interceptions on the Bears’ first two possessions of the game.  By the time Cal got the ball a third time, Cal trailed 13-0.

“My personal game? Miserable,” Mendoza said. “I lost the game. Can’t turn the ball over like that.”

It was perhaps his worst game of the season, but he wasn’t the only reason Syracuse dominated the Bears.

The Bears’ defense, which entered the game leading the ACC in scoring defense (19.3 points) and ranking second in total defense, simply could not stop the Syracuse offense in general and Orange quarterback Kyle McCord specifically.

Syracuse had four scoring drives of more than 65 yards in the first half.

The Orange went for it on fourth down four times, and converted all four into first downs.  Cal’s defense simply could not get off the field.  Plus, for the first time this season, the Bears defense failed to force a turnover. And also for the first time this season Cal committed more turnovers (2) than its opponent (0).

Cal had been surviving on the huge turnover margin it had built over the first nine games.  The Bears entered the game second in the nation in turnover margin at plus-16 (22 takeaways, 6 turnovers), but they were minus-2 on Saturday.

The teams that had success against Syracuse had done so by putting pressure on the passer.  But Cal sacked McCord just once, while Mendoza was sacked four times.

As Wilcox suggested, it was difficult to find something Cal did well. 

And next Cal faces Stanford, a game that two days ago seemed like an easy Cal victory.  But that was before Cal lost and Stanford beat 19th-ranked Louisville in a pair of games that ended at about the same time Saturday afternoon.

Outlooks can change in a hurry.