Unbeaten Cal Heads to Florida State Still Learning How To Win

Coach Justin Wilcox happy the Bears are 3-0 but says there are issues they must sort out before their ACC opener

Jaivian Thomas tries to outrun the San Diego State defense / Darren Yamashita-Imagn Images

Unbeaten Cal will make its Atlantic Coast Conference debut next Saturday at winless Florida State as a 3.5-point underdog, according to FanDuel.

That may surprise some Cal fans, whose team is 3-0 after a 31-10 win over San Diego State. The Seminoles are 0-3 after a 20-12 home defeat to Memphis.

Influencing the betting line is the game’s location, in Tallahassee, and Cal’s long and unresolved injury list.

Just as significant is what coach Justin Wilcox points to as a simple but undeniable truth.

“We all got to learn how to win,” he said Saturday night. “The team has to learn how to win, the program’s got to learn how to win.”

The Bears are 3-0 for the first time in five years. FSU is 0-3 for just the second time since the fall of 1976, the end of Gerald Ford administration. As much of a mess as they are right now, the Seminoles were 13-0 in the regular season last year and won the ACC championship.

“I don’t think their record shows what kind of team they are,” Cal linebacker Cade Uluave said. “We’re excited to go down there and show what California can do in Florida. I think we’re ready.”

Perhaps, but Wilcox is sure to walk his players through a string of issues that must be resolved before Saturday at 4 p.m. PT.

Cal led just 7-3 at halftime against a San Diego State team that was without its starting quarterback and was shut out a week earlier by Oregon State.

The Bears were penalized 12 times for 113 yards, allowed six sacks, failed to convert three fourth-and-1 plays and missed two field goal attempts (although one of them was a prayer from 62 yards).

There was more good than bad, especially in the second half when Cal assembled time-consuming drives of 85 yards on eight plays and 90 yards on 13 plays to extend its lead to 21-3. Ryan Coe’s 48-yard field goal barely a minute into the fourth quarter pushed the margin to 21 points.

Sophomore running back Jaivan Thomas had a breakthrough performance in place of injured star Jaydn Ott. He had runs of 37 and 57 yards to set up touchdowns by others and finished with a career-best 169 rushing yards.

Even then, Wilcox was restrained in his praise.

“I thought the Jet did some good stuff. He’s been a guy we’ve counted on to make some plays and he made some more. He can run,” Wilcox said. “He can do some other things better, like in protection. We’ve got to get him dialed in on some of that stuff.”

The Bears finished with a season-best 473 yards of offense and quarterback Fernando Mendoza continued to show he’s the deserving full-time starter. He was 21 for 29 for 198 yards with touchdown passes of 20 yards to tight end Corey Dyches and 15 yards to redshirt freshman wide receiver Nyziah Hunter, who now has four TD catches in three games.

Wilcox was so locked in to his own team that it was clear he didn’t know FSU’s outcome from 11 hours earlier when he stepped onto the post-game podium after 11:30 p.m. Saturday.

“Florida State’s real talented . . . they didn’t (win) today, I take it? Well, they’re a good football team,” he said. “We know how finicky this game can be. We have to be better. 

“We’ve got to be on the rocket ship, not the rollercoaster. We’ve got a lot of things we can improve upon, and we’re going to need to.”

Returning to the theme of learning how to win, Wilcox said that includes everyone connected in any way to the program. He was smiling but winced a bit while remarking on two unsportsmanlike conduct penalties assessed on the Bears because fans threw objects onto the field.

The student section is located at midfield on the east side of the grandstands at Memorial Stadium, which for decades has been the Bears’ side of the field. But the team flipped to the west sideline this fall, partly to avoid hot, bright sun in their eyes.

“We love our students. Our students were out in force, man,” Wilcox said. “We swapped sidelines. It’s a different setup for us now. We love ‘em right there. We want them right there behind the opposing team’s sidelines because that can be a great advantage for us. 

“But we’ve got to make sure we don’t get penalties, because we got two of them.”

That won’t be an issue at Florida State, which began this season ranked No. 10 in the AP Top-25. 

“We respect our opponent a ton . . . FSU, the reigning ACC champs,” Mendoza said. “However, we want to make it known that we’re able to compete with good football teams and great football teams such as FSU.”