Cal Football wobbles its way to 1-0 against UC Davis

The Bears technically did what they had to do, but at what cost?

Nyziah Hunter via Rob Hwang

How many times has it been a “tale of two halves” game when a Justin Wilcox team plays against the FCS. As Avinash and Nick noted, it was another run of the mill, confusing, and sometimes maddening opener from the California Golden Bears.

All that considered, they are still 1-0 after scooting away with a 31-13 victory over UC Davis. But in some cases, it sure left fans with more questions than answers and less than a week until one of the biggest non-conference games under this coaching regime.

Injuries

There’s no other way to put it, Cal is being belted by the injury bug. Wide Receivers Tobias Merriweather and Kyion Grayes didn’t suit up along with OG Sioape Vatikani, WR Cole Boscia, and C Will McDonald. Four starters down and a backup receiver down against a FCS opponent doesn’t raise the alarm bells, but when heaps of players behind them battle their own ailments, there are all of a sudden a lot of new faces like Nyziah Hunter in new places. These players were injured in some capacity during the game:

• RB Jaydn Ott

• RB Kadarius Calloway

• OLB David Reese (returned)

• LT Nick Morrow (returned)

• C Matthew Wykoff (returned)

• WR Jonathan Brady

Now you’ve somehow piled injuries up with your franchise player, his backup, several starting linemen and a backup, several receivers along with their backups and its only week one. It goes without saying, the ceiling of this team collapses on its foundation if Jaydn Ott is out for an extended period of time. How many of these players suit up for Cal changes all sorts of calculus, from calibrating expectations, to game planning, along with the execution and timing.

Cal needs to get healthy and quick if they want go into Jordan-Hare Stadium and upset Auburn. I’m just not so sure after everything I’ve seen that the Bears will have nearly enough at their disposal.

The Defense takes jabs but fights back

The first half for the Cal defense was not pretty. While they only gave up 6 points on that side of the ball, UC Davis virtually got everything they wanted. The Aggies outgained Cal 234-109, ran 48 plays compared to the Bears 21, and netted 16 first downs to Cal’s 4. Receivers were running free, Lan Larison was breaking tackles, and Miles Hastings was in a rhythm.

Then the defense settled down. Whether it be shaking off the rust or acclimating to playing someone that is not your own team, or even a combination of both, the second half is what Cal fans come to expect from this defense. UC Davis was shut out in the second half, picked off three times, and held to 70 yards of total offense. Tons of new faces made their presence felt, with Teddye Buchanan racking up 9 tackles, TJ Bollers tipping several passes at the line of scrimmage, and Marcus Harris recording his first interception as a Golden Bear. In the second half, everyone played a part, and the defense needs that effort and then some next week.

Special teams specializes in emotional whirlwind

It would be fair to say that kicking away from Jaydn Ott would increase your chances of winning. Additionally, you could reasonably assume you are putting a unit that hasn’t had success throughout this staff’s coaching tenure right to the test. The first exam? Good thing this wasn’t the final. Cal’s upbacks couldn’t time up the return on a short kick by the Aggies and promptly fell over themselves and muffed the kick around. Fortunately, the ball rolled out of bounds for the Bears but my immediate thoughts went to “here we go again.”

Enter Nohl Williams stage left.

UC Davis went back to the well and this time the veteran made them pay. Williams fielded it on the far sideline, navigated through a few Aggies and was off to the races. That play itself woke up California Memorial Stadium and the team, when it looked like everything was sputtering in neutral. A unit that has rightfully drawn ire in the past made their presence felt in a big way, even if it took a major roadblock to get there. Ryan Coe made all of his kicks on the afternoon, another cushion that Cal needs when they get into one score games. Special teams may have aged some fans Saturday but there was a spark and that’s a start.

A pile of humanity

Mike Bloesch’s offensive line made significant strides last season compared to 2022. Their first output was uninspiring this year. Understandably, life becomes more difficult when you don’t have your center and right guard, and your backup center and starting left tackle get nicked up over the course of the game. But as Nick mentioned, the rushing stats were not great. Credit to UC Davis for forcing Cal to re-think some of their game plan, but the Bears longest run of the day was on a Byron Cardwell 10 yard carry with the game out of reach.

In some cases, the Aggies were sending 7-8 players in the box. The numbers simply don’t win there. But no matter how you slice that, Jaydn Ott having 6 carries for 11 yards after the first half was puzzling. There was nowhere for anyone to go, it felt like rush hour traffic between the A and B gaps. UC Davis played the math equation and the Cal offensive line could not win fast enough in the run game. This offense cannot turn one dimensional, especially with the rash of injuries.

What we learned

Fernando Mendoza earned the right to start the Auburn game next week. Justin Wilcox mentioned that he wished Chandler Rogers would have had more opportunities to get into a rhythm, but was stifled by a collapsing pocket, quick reads, and drops. Mendoza doubled the yards per play and under center and was more poised when opportunity presented itself against UC Davis.

Last season, Fernando played in two tough road environments, at Utah and at Oregon. Against the Utes, Mendoza showcased flashes in a game that no one expected anything. When the Bears rolled into Eugene, there were questions about just how much Mendoza had developed over the year and would be put to the test by the Ducks. Oregon promptly ransacked Cal, overwhelming all sides of the ball. Fernando Mendoza will now head into his third tough road environment looking to put a full game together and he’ll need to.

On the coaching side, its clear that cards were kept close to the chest in creativity. Cal kept it vanilla on offense and only showed so much blitzing on defense. What Mike Bloesch can even turn to with all of the injuries remains to be seen, but there will be more at Cal’s disposal when the play sheet focuses towards Auburn.

Cal is 1-0, but there are still major questions. The Bears now have an opportunity to get the nation to talk about them when they descend on to the Plains next Saturday.

As Michael Jordan said this past weekend, “Everybody wants something. But something doesn’t come for free. If you want more, its going to cost more.”