Cal 2021 Football Preview -- Part 2: Five Questions That Need Answers

Is the offense ready to blossom? Will special teams function? Can Cal avoid hiccups?

Cal enters the 2021 season with plenty of reasons to feel confident. It starts with experience boosted by eight sixth-year players. One of them is beginning his seventh college football season.

But, as always, there are questions looming over the season. If Cal provides the right answers, it can assemble a successful campaign. Right now, all we have are the questions.

---Click here for Part 1 of the Cal preview: Strengths and Weaknesses---

In Part 2 of our four-part series previewing the Bears' season, here are five significant questions: 

1. Can the offense blossom in Year 2 under Bill Musgrave?

There is no larger question looming over this program than whether the Cal offense can finally begin to pull it own weight.

The Bears have been among the Pac-12’s best defensive teams since coach Justin Wilcox arrived on campus in 2017. But the Cal offense often has been barely functional.

They were 11th in the conference in scoring a year ago at 20.3 points, and last in the Pac-12 the two seasons before that, averaging 21.2 and 21.5 points. This is not the 1970s, and even good defensive programs must score more than this to compete with the best teams.

Bill Musgrave brought in his multiple, pro-style offense last season but COVID-19 derailed any chance for a traditional 2020 offseason or training camp. So while the Bears were stalled last year, they have gotten full opportunity to prepare for this season, have a senior quarterback in Chase Garbers and greater depth everywhere else on offense.

They also have no more excuses for not becoming a capable offense.

2. Have the Bears repaired their special teams?

Cal was 1-3 a year ago but without much imagination could have been 3-1. The difference was malfunctions on special teams in narrow defeats to Oregon State and Stanford.

The Bears have a solid placekicker (Dario Longhetto) and punter (Jamieson Sheahan) but they cannot afford breakdowns in protection that lead to blocked kicks or costly penalties on returns.

3. Can Cal gets its usual production at inside linebacker?

In 2018, Evan Weaver had 159 tackles and Jordan Kunaszyk made 148. No tandem in the country matched the production of Cal’s two inside linebackers.

A year later, Weaver collected a school-record 182 tackles and his new ILB partner, Kuony Deng, contributed 119.

Deng has been moved full-time to the outside, where he joins Cameron Goode to give the Bears a nice 1-2 punch of super seniors at the position. But how good will the Bears be inside, where traffic is heavy and need to excel is paramount?

The assignment falls to sophomore Mo Iosefa and junior Evan Tattersall, who each started twice last season while combining for 26 tackles. The coaching staff is optimistic but the jury is out.

4. Will quarterback Chase Garbers stay healthy and do the Bears have a capable backup in the event he can’t play?

As good Garbers was in 2019, he was injured twice, creating the perception that he has trouble staying healthy. Last fall, during the Bears’ four-game schedule, Garbers demonstrated that he understands how to avoid unnecessary contact and, in particular, the need to slide while scrambling to stay in one piece.

The offensive line is responsible for keep its quarterback safe, but the QB has a hand in this, too. If Garbers stays smart, only bad luck will take him down.

Graduate transfer Ryan Glover was named the No. 2 quarterback on Tuesday, and while he has never played at the FBS level he brings experience as a starter at both Western Carolina and Penn. Waiting behind him are sophomore Zach Johnson and freshman Kai Millner.

5. Can the Bears avoid hiccups against teams they should beat?

There are five games on the schedule Cal should win: Sacramento State, Washington State, Colorado and Oregon State at home, and Arizona on the road. It's difficult to avoid tripping up somewhere along the schedule, but if the Bears are up to snuff those matchups should produce five victories.

Road games against TCU, Washington and Oregon will be challenging, as will a home date vs. USC. Maybe the Bears win one or two of them, maybe not.

That leaves three games that will dictate the arc of Cal’s season: at home vs. Nevada in the Saturday opener, and season-ending road games vs. Stanford and UCLA. Win two of them and a seven-win season — or better — is reasonable to envision.

Cover photo of Stanford blocking a Cal PAT try in the 2020 Big Game by Kyle Terada, USA Today