Should Cal Have Gone for Two at the End Against USC?
Did Cal head coach Justin Wilcox make the right decision by opting to go for a two-point conversion after the Bears had scored a touchdown with 58 seconds left to pull within a point of 24th-ranked USC?
Or should he have tied the game with an extra-point kick and tried his luck in overtime?
This was a no-brainer. Of course, the Bears had to go for two at that point. It just failed, as we see here:
Let's assume for a moment that Cal had kicked the extra point and tied the game 50-50. And in overtime Caleb Williams, the 2022 Heisman Trophy winner, had -- as expected -- played a little better than Cal's redshirt freshman Fernando Mendoza in the overtime and directed USC to victory. Everyone would be asking Wilcox, "Why in the world didn't you go for two when you had a chance to win the game?"
And if Cal had converted that two-point play, the Bears would be in line for their first win over a ranked team since 2020. Assuming, of course, that Williams didn't then drive the team for a game-winning field goal.
Wilcox said he had decided when Cal started its final drive from its own 21-yard line with 3:28 remaining that he would go for two if Cal scored a touchdown. So when Cal scored on Mendoza's 13-yard pass to Jaivian Thomas, the decision had already been made.
Cal was without Jaydn Ott, who had been injured earlier in the second half, and his backup Isaiah Ifanse didn't play at all in the closing moments. Cal's running back group was down to Thomas, a true freshman, and Justin Williams-Thomas, a transfer from Tennessee who was making his 2023 debut after a long rehabilitation from a leg injury. Mendoza had demonstrated throughout the game and with that late drive that he was capable of making a big play under pressure.
Cal had the momentum after the touchdown, and the odds of winning the game in overtime were not good because USC was going through Cal's defense like water in the closing minutes and had Williams on its side.
Wilcox said he had no second thoughts about going for two, admitting that the injury situation played a role in the choice.
"Yes, that absolutely played into it," Wilcox said. "You got to know who's available. Who you're playing with on offense. Who you're playing with on defense. Ball's on the 3-yard line, under a minute to go. They had already had 18 drives. There's just a lot to consider. I considered all that and took all that in.
"It took a matter of seconds, at the beginning of the drive. . . . It became pretty clear to me."
However, ultimately the two-point try failed, as Mendoza's pass fell incomplete, with tight end Jack Endries and wide receiver Brian Hightower being the closest Cal receiver.
Mendoza described the play.
"Crossing routes, hoping they were in man coverage," he said. "Hoping someone's going to pop open. We have four options on that route. At the end of the day I believe I could have created more time and thrown a better ball.
"My honest opinion -- and I'm not going to make excuses -- but I could have made a better ball out there, maybe Jack and Hightower were getting held a little bit, but at the end of the day it doesn't matter.
"I was getting sacked, so I was trying to throw it to Jack and Hightower, kind of hope maybe one of them gets it; couldn't throw a super-accurate ball there.
"When you're going to get sacked, just put the ball in play, throw it up, hope one of your guys makes a play -- either Jack jumps up and catches it, it gets tipped or something. That was kind of my thought process in the heat of the moment."
USC defended the play well, Mendoza was under pressure, and ultimately his fluttering pass was knocked down by USC safety Jaylin Smith. Cal trailed by one. The game did not go to overtime. Cal lost 50-49.
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