Cal Football Gameday Notes: Bill Musgrave and Peter Sirmon Talk About Nevada Opener

Offensive and defensive coordinators dish on the Bears and visiting Wolf Pack

We talk each week with Cal offensive coordinator Bill Musgrave and defensive coordinator Peter Sirmon.

Here's some of what they had to say in advance of the Bears' season opener against Nevada tonight at Memorial Stadium. Kickoff is 7:30 p.m. and the game will be shown on FS1.

Here's our comprehensive game preview.

In the video below, Musgrave talks about Nevada's defense, which doesn't get nearly the publicity of the Wolf Pack offense but definitely has the Bears' attention: 

Sirmon was asked about the Bears' defensive line, which will play this season without junior Brett Johnson, regarded as the team's best player up front. Defensive end Luc Bequette returned from a year at Boston College and will play his seventh (7th!) college football season, providing invaluable experience on an otherwise generally youthful group: 

Musgrave talks in the two videos below about Cal's running backs. He discusses the group as a whole in the first segment, then he answers a question about how sophomore Damien Moore earned the starting assignment over senior Christopher Brooks:

And this from Musgrave, specific to Moore and Brooks:

Below, Sirmon talks about how opposing defenses managed to slow down Nevada's prolific WR Romeo Doubs in the latter portions of last season. Doubts caught 9 touchdowns in the Wolf Pack's first 5 games but none over the final 4. Sirmon explains how quarterback Carson Strong adjusted to that level of defensive attention to his favorite target:

Musgrave says he has been very pleased with junior Matthew Cindric, who won the starting center position that opened up when senior Michael Saffell was forced to retire this summer because of medical reasons: 

Here's Sirmon talking about Nevada tight end Cole Turner, a 6-foot-6, 240-pound senior who caught caught 49 passes a year ago, including 9 touchdowns: 

Cover photo of Memorial Stadium

Follow Jeff Faraudo of Cal Sports Report on Twitter: @jefffaraudo