Cal Falls to No. 15 Virginia, 21-31
Early struggles on defense and late struggles on offense take their toll
Virginia (8-1, 5-0 ACC) took an early lead on the Bears (5-4, 2-3 ACC), who were slow to get their footing in all three phases of the game. UVA Tailback J’Mari Taylor had a standout game with 105 yards and two touchdowns. The UVA passing game was more balanced, with their four leading receivers taking down four or five catches apiece. Third down conversions were a strong point for Virginia as well, converting 10 of 19.
Jaron Keawe Sagapolutele had a tough but not impossible first half, going 10-for-13 with 88 yards, taking several impactful sacks along the way. Virginia came out firing, patiently matriculating the ball downfield and maintaining an advantage in time of possession, taking 80 plays on offense to Cal’s 57.
The bright spot of the first half for the California Golden Bears was in large part due to another strong performance from Kendrick Raphael, who scored a touchdown in his fifth straight game, getting three on the day. Team captain and key linebacker Cade Uluave left early in the first quarter and remained out for the rest of the game, appearing on the sideline in street clothes after halftime.
After a strong showing from Cal’s defense to start the second half, a trick play found Cal within three points after JKS found tight end Mason Mini in the backfield, a high school quarterback himself, who launched a bomb to Kendrick Raphael for Cal’s second touchdown.
In the end, Cal could not get out of their own way. Sagapolutele threw a tight-window pass to Jacob De Jesus, which was picked off by Virginia corner Corey Costner. As Cal’s defense began to win on tough third downs, their offense began to falter, finally throwing a pick-six down three points with less than a minute in regulation that brought Virginia’s lead back to two scores and functionally ended the game.
More of the same. Start slow, get down early and try to claw your way back into the game. Defense can't get 3rd down stops and can't put pressure on the qb. Open receivers far too often. JKS pressured all day by their D line. This is not a well coached team and they seem to get worse with each passing game. They will be lucky to be 6-6 this year. Time to find a new head coach, staff D line and O line. Tall orders. I hope RR is up to it.
Sorry but RR has already failed his first test in my mind for not firing Wilcox by now. People say you should see how the season plays out and that it doesn’t look good for a mid-season firing, but you already have 8.5 years of evidence that’s pretty damn clear. RR won’t be able to fix Wilcox.