The Cal Offense We Saw Last Week -- Poof -- Disappeared Saturday

Bears coach Justin Wilcox terribly disappointed in Cal's offensive showing in the 28-9 loss at Washington State

Cal tricked us.

We were led to believe Cal had solved its offensive issues last week with a strong running game and good pass protection in a 49-31 win over Arizona -- matching the most points by the Bears since Justin Wilcox became Cal's head coach.

However, the Bears pulled a now-you-see-it-now-you-don't disappearing act on the offensive side on Saturday, failing to reach double figures in scoring in a 28-9 loss to Washington State on Saturday in Pullman, Washington.

"Overall, we got to score more than that; everybody knows that," said Wilcox

Not only did the Bears (3-2, 1-1 Pac-12) score 40 fewer points than they did last week, but the statistics were far less impressive than seven days earlier as well.

Freshman Jaydn Ott, who rushed for 274 yards and three touchdowns on 19 carries last week, was limited to 69 yards on 16 carries and one touchdown on a 2-yard run on Saturday.  It makes sense that WSU focused on stopping Ott after what he did last week, but Cal was unable to produce any running threat.

After rushing for 354 yards last week, the Bears had just 31 yards rushing on Saturday.

---Click here for a summary of the game's key plays and important stats---

"Thirty yards rushing, which is just not going to cut it," Wilcox said.

Even if you discard the 32 yards lost on the four WSU sacks, it would still be just 63 yards on the ground.

"Thirty yards," Wilcox said. "You don't give yourself a chance when you do that.

"You wouldn't think you would run the ball that effectively last week and come in and do this today. Not that we expected to run for 350 yards every week, but we expected to be better [than what we did today]."

Quarterback Jack Plummer was 23-for-33 for 273 yards, no touchdowns and no interceptions, but he was sacked four times, after not being sacked at all last week. He was harried often and left the game in the closing minutes with what appeared to be a leg injury. It's unclear whether it is serious.

Cal did not commit any turnovers, which is one positive, and the Bears intercepted two Cameron Ward passes -- one by Daniel Scott and one by Craig Woodson -- to halt two WSU scoring threats. 

But the Bears punted nine times. And aside from consecutive completions of 30 and 49 yards to Jeremiah Hunter in the fourth quarter, which led to Cal's only touchdown, the Bears did not threaten.  That was the only time Cal got into the red zone all day.

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@Jackplummer13 🤝 @Jdhunter_3

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— Cal Football (@CalFootball) October 2, 2022

"No rhythm throughout the day," Wilcox said

Washington State's defense is better than Arizona's, as evidenced by the fact that WSU was tied with Cal for third in the Pac-12 in scoring defense, allowing 20.5 points per game before Saturday. But the Cougars gave up 44 points to Oregon last week in a 44-41 loss, and they entered the weekend ranked eighth in the Pac-12 in total defense and 11th in passing defense.  

"I didn't think physically we were overmatched necessarily," Cal guard Mathrew Cindric said.

Wilcox always takes losses hard, and his postgame comments were a litany of disappointment quotes.

For example:

"Not good enough by any stretch."

"Really disappointing. I thought we would come in and play better than that."

"Really poor day."

"We expected to play much better than that, and that's very, very disappointing -- I mean, just all the way around."

"It's just really disappointing that we played this way. No excuse, and we have to play better football than that."

Despite Wilcox's disappointment, Cal was very much in the game in the fourth quarter.

The Bears' touchdown got them within 14-9 with 13:28 left in the game, and they put WSU into a third-and-4 situation from the Cougars' 31-yard line on the ensuing possession.  It was the next play that ruined Cal's chances, according to Wilcox.

"The key to the whole thing -- we get to 14-9 in the fourth quarter, we get them to third-and-4, they throw a tunnel screen and we couldn't make a play on the tunnel," said Wilcox. "And the next play, they throw a fade, and that's where the momentum that we had just stopped."

The tunnel screen went for 32 yards, and the next pass went for 37 yards and a touchdown, and Cal was down 21-9.

WSU improved to 4-1, 1-1 in the Pac-12, while Cal (3-2, 1-1) heads into a bye, hoping to correct its problems before it faces Colorado on Oct. 15 in Boulder, Colorado.

Maybe the Golden Bears can regain their offensive footing against Colorado, which is 0-5 and is yielding an average of 43.2 points per game. The Buffaloes' defense gave up 673 yards in a 43-20 loss to Arizona on Saturday night.

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Cover photo of Justin Wilcox by James Snook, USA TODAY Sports

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