Cal Puts Together Lifeless Performance in Disaster at San Diego State
A truly comprehensive beatdown in all facets of the game
Today’s recollection of whatever that was begins with the lasting memory of last week’s column against Minnesota:
If Cal was who they say they are, they would’ve taken care of business against a San Diego State team that is still rebuilding. I believe Sean Lewis is the right coach for that program but this is a Cal team that can and should have beat the Aztecs.
The problem? A complete lack of energy, focus, and will to win on every front. Not a single position group nor coach came prepared and San Diego State pounced on it right from the jump enroute to a well earned 34-0 victory at Snapdragon Stadium. This was the first time the Bears were shutout since 2019 at Utah and their record now has moved to 0-5 against SDSU in San Diego.
Cal’s Inability to Play Against Inferior Competition
Colorado 2022. Florida State 2024. San Diego State 2025.
Admittedly I don’t know how the Aztecs season will play out but what we do know is that Cal was favored to win by two touchdowns according to a lot of the major sportsbooks. What you make of that is one thing but a lot of people expected Cal to come in and impose its will on a SDSU team that is still building.
It’s another chapter in a long list of dumb lessons that the Bears keep learning against teams they are supposed to beat. The issue I keep running into when recollecting these performances is the burden of expectation.
What I mean by that is, if Cal had won 8-9 games on a consistent basis with the reputation for overcoming the odds in a solid amount of meaningful games, a game like this would stink but you could fall back on to a certain amount of evidence to move forward.
How many times have we sat here bemoaning the same song with a different verse? Cal Football loses everything at Colorado. Cal sinks itself in loss at Florida State. This is a program where they should be consistently looking to prove themselves because they’ve only had one 8 win season in eight tries. Instead, Cal completely phoned it in against a team they figured they had beat when they landed on Friday. Whether that’s due to a bad set of practices or they read their press clippings, its another damning defeat for Justin Wilcox in an already tired laundry list of them.
The offensive process and game plan was offensive
Through three games, Cal had leaned on the pass more than the run over the course of 60 minutes.
Against San Diego State, nothing ever connected both literally and metaphorically. From coaches plans to players execution, it was all disjointed from the moment the opening drive ended on the goal line.
Cal’s running backs didn’t hit the hole with intent, the offensive line was ran over by a forklift, and the passing concepts didn’t build on one another from play to play.
I understand that Cal is trying to get into the RPO game consistently but the midway point of abandoning the run (which in itself was lacking success) put the offense in an untenable position to succeed.
Throughout the course of the game, beyond the lack of winning position and leverage, the Bears didn’t come with the same bite to the ball that the Aztecs did. San Diego State won the turnover battle, didn’t force any action, and owned the line of scrimmage on both sides of the ball. That’s probably the most humbling part of the loss, Cal was never competitive where it all starts, especially in front of a noticeable road crowd that made the trip.
How does Cal recalibrate towards Boston College
The answer to this question fascinates me the most. In terms of circumstance, Cal just got stuffed into a locker as now heads on an east coast trip. Similarly, Boston College was just embarrassed by Stanford the week prior (BC was on a bye this week) and will have had over ten days to sit on that game.
It’s been documented how much those Cal mid season losses last year added up over the course of time, so my attention now turns toward Cal’s response. Do the Bears let it consume them and get the snowball rolling next week in Boston? Or is this actually a different team that can shake it off and come with the right mentality in its ACC opener.
As crazy as it sounds after this game, its all still right in front of Cal for the taking. After a game like this and its a stunning rhetorical question to have to offer, does Cal want it bad enough? The response as to whether this game is a blip on the 2025 radar or snowballs further solely lays in the hands of everyone suiting up in a jersey next week at Boston College.
That’s 1.5 games where the Bears have mailed it in and now have experienced a dose of humble medicine.
For as equally of a good win and good will that was built against Minnesota, Cal gave it all right back and more against San Diego State.
You can listen to my podcast thoughts here.
If my memory is correct, we had a decent 1st quarter. The wheels fell of on the 4th and 1 when we didn't score on a missed pass.. O-line played poorly, both in the run game and pass protection, but SDSU had a great defensive scheme. The lack of our run game hurt us the most.
All in all our defense had some weak play by the d-line in the 2nd quarter but seemed to bounce back after the half. Our D did not play poorly only giving up 20 points. Our offense was a disaster. Beyond putting no points on the board they gave up 14 for the Aztecs with a fumble returned for a TD and a 97 yard pick 6.
I think we lost this game for 3 reasons: 1. SDSU had a bye week and spent the time installing some offensive plays that we had not seen, 2. They had better schemes than us, 3. we gave up early, meaning our guys went through the motions but did not buckle down and focus. The latter worries me. This is where our team leaders need to step up, call out their teammates, get focused, get physical and go beat what should have been a lesser opponent.
Time will tell if our team has the intangible 'stuff' that winning teams have.
I have a slightly different perspective. Cal is one dimensional on offense. They can pass but can’t run (even against a theoretical “inferior” team). This is a problem and puts stress on JKS to be perfect. Even a 5th year senior is going to have problems. Was SDSU that inferior? Seems like their team speed was greater than Cal, especially their defense (at each level). Their defense had no issues with our OL and easily matched (beat) Cal’s RBs and WRs. It seemed we only had an advantage with our TEs. To my recollection, this is one of Cal’s slowest teams in quite some time.
Last Saturday night, SDSU was the better team…period. They earned the game. I don’t think it had anything to do with “energy”, “focus” or “will”. An added element of this loss is that this is what Wilcox teams do, it is our history. This game just magnified our weaknesses and SDSU had the players to execute. Simple as that really.
Doesn’t mean the season is over and I think Harsin/Rolo, specifically, can get the offense to a better place. Time will tell. The Dline has to get a lot better, IMO.
While hindsight is 20/20, I’m not sure it was necessary to try and score a TD on the first drive. A field goal would have been just fine. It seemed that that sequence allowed SDSU to gain confidence and play loose and aggressively. Even if SDSU loses the rest of their games, last Saturday they were the better team.
I think there are only a couple of nails left to be placed in Wilcox’s coffin (I’ve tired trying to support him).