Cal Football: Justin Wilcox Gets All Icky Describing the Pain of UCLA Loss

Bears' coach says it's important for players to digest what happened and move on

Photo by Jayne Kamin-Oncea

For the second time in two seasons, coach Justin Wilcox has gone to the “throw up” card to describe the disappointment of Cal losing a football game.

The first time was last Oct 26 after the under-manned Bears lost 35-0 at No. 12 Utah.

“This is crushing. There’s nothing worse," he said at the time. "You want to throw up, the way you feel after games like this. And they feel (his players) the same. It’s extremely disappointing.”

Wilcox conjured the same image on Tuesday, two days after Cals 34-10 season-opening loss at UCLA.

Asked if there was any emotional hangover from the game, Wilcox said, “Everybody hates losing. It makes you want to throw up. I guess that’s an emotion.”

The difference is Wilcox stressed those reactions must be in the Bears’ rear-view mirror now. They play Saturday at Oregon State, which is itching for a turnaround after an 0-2 start.

Wilcox said a review of game video showed pretty much what he saw at the time. Now it’s time to make repairs and move on.

“Once we get to the day after the game, you got to wash it. We don’t get to wallow around and feel sorry for ourselves,” he explained. “We go watch the video. We look at what we did well, what we didn’t do well. Then we move on and work on those things, so we can play better next time.”

No one expected the kind of performance the Bears delivered against UCLA. Cal was favored in the game, even given all of the disruptive circumstances created by the COVID-19 pandemic.

The Bears were badly outplayed by UCLA and Wilcox said re-watching the game showing nothing different.

“A lot of what we thought during the game was confirmed on the video,” he said.

Defensively, the issue was poor tackling. He said the Bruins’ gains after contact amounted to 150 yards.

Wilcox talks about the problems Cal had on the field vs. UCLA: 

“You’ve got to give them credit. They’ve got one some really skilled athletes and sometimes that makes them tougher to tackle,” he said, no doubt alluding to quarterback Dorian Thompson-Robinson, whose escapability allowed him to pass or run for four first-half touchdowns, and running back Demetric Felton, who had 135 yards on runs and pass receptions.

“But we had opportunities to create some negative plays and put them in some longer down and distances. We expected to tackle better. We didn’t, and that made it really hard to get off the field on defense.”

Offensively, Wilcox said everyone shares the blame. There were pre-snap mistakes, rhythm issues and problems with execution.

“But we know we can get better in all those areas at every position,” he said. “It starts with the head coach and all the coaches, making sure we’re preparing the best we can with the information we have.”

Wilcox said his read on his team is that they are eager to turn things around.

“Disappointed that we didn’t perform better,” he said. “I don’ think anyone is discouraged. They’re a competitive bunch. They have pride — we all do. No one wants to go out and not play well. We have to own the result.”

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

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