Cal Football Ignites Boston Bear Party in Clutch Victory at BC

Somehow, someway, the Bears stay undefeated in league play

Credit: Cal Athletics

In one of the biggest roller coaster rides of the Justin Wilcox era, Cal stood tall at the goal line to move to 4-1 on the season and undefeated in ACC play. After some missed opportunities in short yardage throughout the afternoon in Chestnut Hill, both the offense and defense rallied together one last time to give Cal a 28-24 victory on the east coast.

Staying Opportunistic Against Time

The more Cal struggled to finish drives, the easier it would have been to put up the surrender cobras and chalk it as another game that the Bears had in it hands. However, the youngsters would not be denied.

With 4:49 remaining, Jaron-Keawe Sagapolutele stepped on to the field needing at least a field goal to extend the game in Boston. On 4th down and long, JKS had to chuck one up to chance knowing the game was on the line, and the Bears benefitted from a pass interference call on the Eagles.

A lifeline. One that Cal wouldn’t let slip. As the clock ticked under two minutes remaining, Sagapolutele rolled left and somehow dotted the pass over a lot of crossing traffic to find Mason Mini rolling down the sideline enroute to the game winning touchdown.

That’s a legacy drive right there and an early one at that in Sagapolutele’s Cal career.

On the other side, the Cal defense wasn’t having one of its banner days. Boston College RB Turbo Richard doubled his season yards count and was running through several Golden Bear defenders during the game. But, much like the Cal offense, the defense made the winning play with its backs against the wall. Luke Ferrelli sat underneath on the goal line, read the eyes of QB Dylan Lonergan, and picked him off to seal the game for Cal.

A gutsy sequence of events when it was absolutely required.

The offensive line responds well after a rough game

I thought the offensive line mostly took care of what they needed to against Boston College. Yes, there were some 4th and shorts that required better leverage and would have assuredly resulted in more points for Cal.

On the other hand, after a shocking effort against San Diego State, the Bears didn’t let up a single sack to Jaron-Keawe Sagapolutele. Additionally, the fellas up front paved the way for Kendrick Raphael to log his second 100+ rushing yard game as a Golden Bear, two net positives for Famika Anae’s group.

There’s still lots to clean up and Justin Wilcox was adamant about it, especially the penalties but he acknowledged that the group is capable and working tirelessly to get the job done.

Turnaround at this position doesn’t come instantaneously and while there has been inconsistency at times, this group patched itself together and passed its test in Boston. It’s another step in the right direction for a group under intense scrutiny internally and externally.

Meeting the ball at the summit

Much has been made about some of the drops the wide receiver group has had over the first third of the season. Not many receivers have been immune and its thrown Cal off schedule numerous times during some crucial in-game moments.

Against Boston College, the pass catchers did their job and then some. Trond Grizzell continues to elevate on the outside and come down with tough, contested catches. He development from year to year should be the barometer for every freshman that walks on to campus. Grizzell filled space, played within himself, and put together a consistent game that greatly benefitted the Bears.

Another former walk on, Jordan King has slowly but surely earned more reps over the course of the first five games. In the first half against the Eagles, King hauled in a smooth back shoulder throw as he perfectly rotated his body around.

While there wasn’t a laundry list of guys in the box score, all wide receivers and tight ends in the box meaningfully contributed and helped seal the last piece of what was a solid offensive puzzle in Boston.

Conclusions

Everything that Cal wants is right in front of them.

A lot of winnable games are coming up on the schedule with quite a few of them at home. Lets be clear that there’s still a lot to improve on. Pre snap penalties, run defense, and short yardage situations.

Nevertheless, as Justin Wilcox continues to hammer, its better to learn lessons in wins than losses. Cal has outlasted its opponents in two close games this year with different elements in each. Against Minnesota, they kept throwing jabs until the Gophers made a big mistake. In the ACC opener, Cal was on the ropes at times, and had slim margins to come out the other side with a win, but they did.

The tide now turns towards a month that has not been kind to the Bears under this coaching staff. Cal is 6-20 under Justin Wilcox in the month of October.

This was a gritty win against Boston College. If Cal is the team that the program projects itself to be, they’ll need to find a gear that’s been hard to come by when a very capable Duke team rolls into town next weekend after dark.