Pride 

Proud 

Very proud 

These are some emotions Cal fans share after beating Minnesota on Saturday night. 

The Bears proved they are big and strong enough to win games in the Big Ten.

This Minnesota team is no joke. Last year they beat Illinois, USC and Wisconsin. They lost to Michigan and Penn State by a combined 4 points. 

The game felt evenly matched from the get go. Cal’s offensive line was impressive in pass protection, but failed to get the run game going in the first half. JKS bounced back from a rocky week two, looking as calm and poised as he did against Oregon State. He made most easy passes along with a several extraordinary ones. 

In the middle of the third quarter it seemed the game would come down to the wire, but Cal pulled away to win by a comfortable 13 points. 

In the end, it came down to two things….

HEART and DISCIPLINE. 

Defensive Heart: 

Defense got off to a strong start. Cal won the line of scrimmage battle in the first quarter, struggled in the middle of the game, then dominated the last 10 minutes. I feel confident that our front seven is elite. Not fraudulent. 

There was a terrifying moment in the second quarter when Minnesota put together a 16 play, 6:30 minute touchdown drive. Though they were forced to convert three third and longs, they looked to march down the field with ease. Our defense appeared exhausted. Had we lost the stamina battle? Would Minnesota run us into the ground in the second half? 

Luckily, reinforcements were on the way. 

 #0 Cade Uluave, coming off his half-game targeting suspension, gave the defense a burst of energy in the second half. 

Minnesota continued to control possession and move the ball well, but Cal stepped up and made plays. Most notably, Zeke Masses’ interception on 3rd and 10. His third of the season. 

The fourth quarter was a thing of beauty. 

Though Cal lost the time-of-possession battle terribly (33min to 27min), Uluave and the boys dug deep and made back-to-back four down stops to close out the game. This speaks to the depth of our roster, to the quality of the new strength and conditioning staff, and the heart this team has. 

Offensive Heart: 

JKS:

We have already come to expect excellence from our young QB. OC Bryan Harsin took to the air in the first half against Minnesota’s talented D-Line. Thanks to solid pass protection, JKS looked like the JKS from Oregon State. The receivers and tight ends were getting open and making plays.

(I still worry about his ability to read defenses. It looks like he predetermines where the ball is going each play. Luckily, our offensive coaching staff is so advanced he is getting away with it.)

End of Half Field Goal: 

After the scary 6:30 minute drive in the second quarter, Wilcox showed faith in the offense by using timeouts to get the ball back with 40 seconds left in the half. The Bears picked up a few chunk plays then doinked in a 49 yard field goal.

This type of clock management has Ron Rivera written all over it. Great work.

RUNNING THE FOOTBALL. 

When Minnesota scored in the third quarter to take the lead 14-10… Cal was losing the possession battle 26:00 minutes to 13:00 minutes. The defense was exhausted. We needed to score, but we also needed to kill clock to give the defense a breather.

A tall order considering we had about 10 rushing yards in the whole first half… But the Big Boys stepped up and created openings for Brandon High who bit off a 13-yarder and 18-yarder alongside a few short ones. This opened up the passing game and led to an easy TD that killed 4:15 of clock. 

Fast forward…. Cal is up 24-14 with 5:35 left. 

No mystery as to what the Bears need to do here. 

Put your hat on. Do your job.

The Big Boys step up again. 

We ran the ball NINE PLAYS IN A ROW picking up three first downs leading to a field goal to put us up 13 points.

That is depth. That is strength and conditioning. That is HEART. 

DISCIPLINE: 

We are familiar with the feeling of losing football games due to special teams mistakes. How nice to be on the other side of the table. 

There was an early sign that Minnesota may be sloppy when their punt returner made the worst fair catch of all time inside the three yard-line.

They were doing dumb stuff all night. This failed trick play for example.

They missed a field goal.

And of course…….. The muffed punt. I will say I feel bad for this returner (who was 2nd team all conference last year) because that bounce was lethal. With 8 minutes left in the 4th quarter this is extra inexcusable.

It begs the question… Minnesota is a traditionally well coached team. Would they have made these mistakes had the game not started at 9:30pm Central Time? When that punt was muffed it was 1:00am in Minnesota. Pac-12 after dark may end up being a great thing for us. 

Coaching: 

My first article this season was an overview of the coaching changes. Through three weeks, the difference is clear. Creative offensive game plans. TIGHT SPECIAL TEAMS. Good clock management. 

All in all, a great win in Berkeley.

I genuinely think Minnesota is the best football team we will face until the final week of the season against SMU.

San Diego State

SDSU is coming off a bye week which we hate.

Their defense returns 10 starters. Expect them to stack the box and blitz often. Last week, JKS struggled with short accuracy against the blitz. They will test him.

Regardless of their strategy, we should be able to over-power physically. I hope to see the offensive line dominate scrimmage from the get go. If we can establish the run early, especially against a stacked box, it should be fun to watch JKS sling the ball around all night.

They have a decent QB and a few good offensive players, but this team is far less skilled at every position than Minnesota. I expect our defense to dominate.

So long as we can avoid turnovers and play solid on special teams, I think we cover 12.5 comfortably.

Keep rolling, Bears.