Cal Sports Report

Huskies’ Michael Penix Begins Parade of Star Transfer QBs Facing Cal

Oregon’s Bo Nix, USC’s Caleb Williams are the next transfer quarterbacks in line against the Bears in the wave that's transformed the Pac-12

Jake Curtis

The next three weeks Cal faces three of the best quarterbacks in the Pac-12, if not the country, and all three played for a different college last year.

It starts with Washington’s Michael Penix Jr., a transfer from Indiana who will challenge the Bears’ defense Saturday night in Berkeley. The following week, Oregon and Bo Nix, a transfer from Auburn, come to Cal. The week after that USC hosts Cal with Oklahoma transfer Caleb Williams leading the Trojans’ potent attack.

Have they made a difference?

---Washington finished 4-8 last year while averaging 27.8 points. The Huskies have already surpassed last year’s win total and are 5-2 this season and averaging 42.1 points, eighth best in the country. The chief reason is Penix, who leads the nation in passing yards per game and set school records for passing yards in a game (516, breaking Cody Pickett’s record of 455 set in 2001) and total offense (529, breaking Marcus Tuiasosopo's record of 509 yards set in 1999) last week against Arizona.

---Oregon finished last season ranked No. 22 when it averaged 31.4 points. This season the Ducks are 5-1, ranked No. 10 and averaging 42.0 points heading into Saturday’s big game against UCLA. Nix has been the catalyst, giving the Ducks much better quarterback play than they had last season and moving him to darkhorse status in the Heisman Trophy race after helping Oregon score more than 40 points in each of its last five games.

---USC went 4-8 last year and averaged 28.7 points. The Trojans are 6-1, ranked No. 12 in the country and averaging 40.4 points, thanks in large part to Williams, who has 19 touchdown passes with one interception. He currently ranks third in most Heisman Trophy polls and betting sites (behind only Ohio State QB C.J. Stroud and Tennessee QB Hendon Hooker).

Cal ranks 11th in the Pac-12 in passing defense, allowing 258.7 yards per game, so the Bears face a major challenge starting with Penix, whose 365.7 passing yards per game are the best in the country and whose 20th touchdown passes rank fifth nationally.

“The quarterback makes it go,” Cal head coach Justin Wilcox said of Penix. “Very good rhythm, very accurate and decisive on where he’s going with the ball. If it’s not there on time, he can also, he stays calm and will extend the play and make plays that are off schedule.”

“Unbelievable arm talent, the ability to deliver the ball, ” Cal defensive coordinator Peter Sirmon said regarding Penix. “Talk about a talented young man. The additions of the transfer quarterbacks might be the biggest plight of Pac-12 defensive coordinators in the past six months. Seems like everybody we face has a quarterback . . . I don’t know where all these quarterbacks come from, but they seem to find a home in our conference.”

In fact, the starting quarterbacks at seven Pac-12 teams this season transferred in during the offseason. And that does not include Utah quarterback Cameron Rising, who transferred from Texas following the 2018 season. It’s not an overstatement to claim that the transfer quarterbacks have brought the Pac-12 back to prominence nationally. The Pac-12 has four teams ranked in the top 15 this week, matching the SEC for the most teams in the top 15.

Cal has a transfer quarterback itself in Jack Plummer, who played at Purdue last year. Plummer has had his moments but his impact has been limited by inadequate play by the Bears offensive line. The Bears have allowed 18 sacks and only one Pac-12 team has given up more. Washington has given up just five sacks, and Oregon has yielded only one sack.

So far, Cal is 1-1 against teams with a transfer quarterback, beating Arizona and Washington State transfer Jayden de Laura and losing to Washington State and Incarnate Word transfer Cameron Ward. But both quarterbacks passed for more than 340 yards and threw two touchdown passes apiece against the Bears.

The Bears' bigger challenge begins this weekend and lasts three weeks.

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---Cal LB Jackson Sirmon faces the team he played for last year

---Cal adds former offensive line coach Steve Greatwood to help struggling offense

---Pac-12 bowl projections

---Pac-12 power rankings

---Justin Wilcox angered by poor offensive showing against Colorado

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.Cover photo of Michael Penix Jr. by Joe Nicholson, USA TODAY Sports

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Jake Curtis
JAKE CURTIS

Jake Curtis worked in the San Francisco Chronicle sports department for 27 years, covering virtually every sport, including numerous Final Fours, several college football national championship games, an NBA Finals, world championship boxing matches and a World Cup. He was a Cal beat writer for many of those years, and won awards for his feature stories.

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