Cal Football's Quarterback Battle: A Royal Flush with no King
Surmising the process between choosing Sam Jackson V and Ben Finley
Five seasons ago, Cal Football had a quarterback battle on their hands between Chase Garbers and Brandon Mcilwain. After some non-committal dialogue in press conferences followed up by changes that came as often as drive to drive, Chase Garbers eventually won the job. But the process between that battle and the one today between Sam Jackson V and Ben Finley would make you think this was happening under two different regimes.
Press Conference Dialogue
In year two of the Justin Wilcox regime, he would point to the issues of Mcilwain’s turnovers as something to improve, as opposed to bringing up the young Garbers to throw him back in the fold. There was no explicit conversation about the back and forth between them, even as we saw the adjustments unfold in real time. It was never Chase or Brandon pitted “against” each other.
As opposed to the 2018 season, this season has had more public confusion about the quarterback battle than ever. Week 1, Sam Jackson V is injured vs North Texas and Ben Finley finishes the game. Week 2 vs Auburn, Finley starts but gives way to Jackson V during the second quarter. Justin Wilcox and Jake Spavital reiterate that “Sam is our guy”. There are no issues with that as Sam Jackson V starts and comes home with a win vs Idaho. That seems to be the end of the controversy, no? However, during the weekly press conference in the lead up to the game at Washington, both Wilcox and Spavital were curiously coy about the quarterback battle and committing to one.
https://twitter.com/WriteForCalLive/status/1704203750183948342
Fast forward to postgame after the Massacre on Montlake, and Justin Wilcox declares the quarterback battle open between Sam Jackson V and Ben Finley after starting Finley vs the Huskies. Finley’s final stat line of 17/32 for 207 yards, 2 touchdowns and 3 interceptions doesn’t tell the full story. The Bears were out of it by the end of the first quarter, and the quarterback play obviously wasn’t helping. Where did that narrative come from?
The Rationale
It’s widely known that during fall camp, Sam Jackson V and Ben Finley were in a tight battle that went down to the final week before the opener at North Texas. It’s clear that neither man has separated themselves even after four weeks of the season.
If you’ve got two QB’s, you have none- John Madden
This is different from the “ride the hot hand approach” that was employed in 2018. Today, neither man has separated himself, to the point where it’s a microcosm of their floors and ceilings. People will point to Sam Jackson V’s 4.6 yards per attempt vs Idaho as a reason he may not be the guy. Others will look at the futility of the offense at the beginning of the Auburn as a reason why Ben Finley can’t be the guy. Sometimes you just don’t have the talent in the room necessary to compete.
Unfortunately, Cal Football in 2023 doesn’t have the quarterback talent to compete in the Pac 12.
Despite a renewed focus into the transfer portal, there is no time to spare in a league with quarterbacks like Caleb Williams, Michael Penix Jr, Bo Nix, Cam Rising, Shedeur Sanders, and Cam Ward. The Bears don’t have the luxury to wait and see if things work with one guy versus the other.
You can look at the NIL efforts and say Cal should reap the rewards of that soon. On the other hand, you can look at the recruiting and talent development on the offensive side of the ball under the Wilcox regime and ask yourself where is the savior going to come from. Jeremiah Hunter is a homegrown talent that will play on Sundays, but in the seventh year of this administration, I can’t name many other Justin Wilcox recruits who have made their names felt on the offensive side of the ball. Take your side, take your lane, but the bottom line is that Cal needs to be better and be better now.
“I can’t tell you we have a starter right now” - Justin Wilcox postgame after the 59-32 loss to UW
Tough Results, but even Tougher Process?
It is one thing for Cal quarterback play to be inconsistent with one starter throughout a season (Jack Plummer 2022), as those things can happen any year. However, the back and forth between Sam Jackson V and Ben Finley this year has been nothing but befuddling. With little to no indication that Finley would start at Washington, the offense is in a cloud of mystery. The development of each player has been stunted, the messages have been mixed, and the results have been disenchanting.
Coaches have talked about the floor of Ben Finley and ceiling of Sam Jackson V over the course of the last few weeks. And yet the message is still that same inconsistent tomfoolery that has led us to this point. If you want to believe Sam Jackson V is the guy in the future, that’s great! You can point to his mobility and a desire to need to get experience as reasons to put him out there. On the contrary, if you want to believe that Ben Finley provides more stability as a starter and doesn’t have as much variance in his play, that’s great! You can point to his ability to take progressions, having won a few games as a power five starter as reasons to put him out there.
What you can’t have is this. A quarterback battle that is tumbling in quicksand, sinking like the Titanic. This monstrosity is just as troubling as it is to us as it is to this coaching staff. And they may never find the right answer in 2023.
So far the offense has performed better with Jackson than with Finley. If you remove the two interceptions against Auburn that are dinging Jackson's record but are not really impactful turnovers (both desperation heaves at the end of the half), then Jackson has been CLEARLY better. Not sure why there is even a debate right now.
Give Jackson all the snaps. Never really understood the Finley hype, played well against a terrible North Texas defense. It is clear the O-Line isn't good enough to protect Finley which will lead to him being scared and making terrible throws. With Jackson he at least has the athleticism to function better with the current O-Line. Also as has been said a lot if Jackson can develop and figure it out he will be much better than Finley could ever hope, so he should get ever snap you can possibly give him. Wilcox also needs to focus on defense only, after 7 seasons it is clear whatever involvement he has had on three different coordinators offenses the results are terrible. Give Spavital full control of the offense and see what happens.