Cal Football: Will Bears Be Ready for Opener Against Washington?

Preparation time is limited this season and logistics are more complicated, so it will be a challenge for Cal to be at peak efficiency on Nov. 7

Will Cal be ready?

That this is the overriding question in a season where preparation time is limited and myriad new issues must be addressed.

The Bears play their first game in 11 days -- a Nov. 7 night home game against Washington -- and coaches and players must be more efficient than ever in getting ready to play a game.

This preseason camp is not like typical preseason sessions. In past seasons, players spent virtually the entire day practicing during preseason camp in the summer. This year, players can practice only 20 hours a week because school is in session. 

Adding to the deficit is that the offseason conditioning sessions were limited, and Cal was forced to start workouts later than some other Pac-12 schools because of local health restrictions. Plus there is the added responsibility of COVID-19 testing and the measures required to minimize the risk of contracting and spreading the virus.

Cal coach Justin Wilcox said Tuesday he thinks the team has been efficient in its work.

"The unique nature of our summer and early fall and the guys returning to pick up practice relatively quickly, I thought they've done a really good job -- coaches, players, everybody -- being really efficient with the time," Wilcox said. "It's not like a traditional camp where you're here all day with the players because they have classes, so we're essentially in a 20-hour [regulated period] where we get 20 hours a week with them, so you have to be really efficient with your time, and what we're doing in that time, and how we're practicing. I just really thought everyone's doing a great job to get to this point.

"You never feel like you're quite there. We're a work in progress, but we've made a lot of progress to this point. . . We've got some work to do before that first game but we've come a long way."

But coaches cannot rush things too much, because players did not have the conditioning time they usually do.

"We're walking that tightrope of preparing them, knowing that the summer was a little different than it has been in the past -- or a lot different," Wilcox said.

It was important for Cal to get some 11-on-11 action in game situations on Saturday.

"It's been really valuable time," said Wilcox, who explained further on the video below.  "Those are really productive periods, because you truly see where you're at."

Cal is installing a completely new offense, so those 11-on-11 sessions are crucial in evaluating and perfecting the Bears' NFL-style attack.

Finally a lot of the logistical aspects of a game -- substitutions, communication between players and coaches, dealing with the play clock, etc. -- can be assessed in those game-situation periods.

"I think it's been pretty dang clean considering," Wilcox said. "I think we could do better."

Ultimately it's a matter of whether Cal is as prepared as its opponents, because those teams face many of the same preparation issues. Washington is still sorting out its quarterback situation and has a new head coach (Jimmy Lake) and a new offensive coordinator (John Donovan).

The team that is more efficient in its preseason practice will have a distinct advantage this season, especially early in the season.

Cal has won its first three games in each of Wilcox's first three seasons as head coach, and was nationally ranked early in each of the past two seasons. Last year the Bears started 4-0, including road wins over Washington and Mississippi, and were ranked No. 15. That suggests his teams are prepared to play from the start.

The proof, of course, is in the pudding -- or in this case the proof is in game-day performance against Washington.

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Follow Jake Curtis of Cal Sports Report on Twitter: @jakecurtis53

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