Cal Football Regular Season Ends with 6-38 Blowout Loss to SMU
The California Golden Bears (6-6, 2-6 ACC) could not stop the No. 9 Southern Methodist Mustangs (11-1, 8-0 ACC), as the "Pony Express" rolled to an easy 38-6 win Saturday afternoon.
California's offense failed to score a single touchdown in Dallas. The Golden Bears came to Dallas missing four key players, including starting quarterback Fernando Mendoza, leading rusher Jaivian Thomas and two offensive linemen.
Mendoza, who missed the game due to illness, gave Chandler Rogers his first start for California. Rogers was eight-for-15, throwing for 84 yards and adding 12 rushing yards through three quarters of play. The senior signal-caller left the game with 9:05 remaining in the third quarter after getting hit by Mustang safety Isaiah Nwokobia, who forced a fumble after Rodgers rushed down the middle for seven yards.
CJ Harris, the Golden Bears' third-string quarterback, played the remainder of the game, completing six out of 11 passes attempted for 75 passing yards and one interception thrown. Harris was the team's second-leading rusher, with 26 yards carrying the rock.
California was helpless against Southern Methodist. The Mustangs put up 202 yards against the Golden Bears in the first quarter alone, starting the game with a commanding 14-0 lead before running up the score to 21-0 at halftime. SMU quarterback Kevin Jennings completed 20 out of 30 passes attempted and threw 225 passing yards and two touchdowns before leaving the game in the middle of the fourth quarter.
Southern Methodist out-gained California 415 yards to 254 despite the two teams running a similar number of plays. The Golden Bears' offense could not take advantage of the Mustangs' 17 penalties and 137 yards, nor its slight advantage in total time of possession.
California ends its regular season with a 6-6 record and will have a chance to claim a winning record in its upcoming post-season bowl game. Southern Methodist, who last met California 67 years ago, extends its record against the Golden Bears to 2-0.
Out of all the criticisms I could level on Wilcox (and I have an extensive list), how the hell was there still a qb competition that lasted into week 1 this season. What are these master talent evaluators watching in practice? This season would have been an absolute disaster without Nando.
A fitting end to another mediocre season. It's ridiculous, utterly absurd, that a school like SMU, not to mention the countless others, can go from mediocre to the national playoffs in a couple years and after 8 years Wilcox has yet to even get us a winning conference record. With all the fan support, alumni money and appeal of Cal, it is just beyond time we get a coach that can build a winning team done properly. I'm so done and it bums me out and has nothing do with our players, no matter their deficiencies. I will not be traveling to a bowl game, for the first time since neanderthals.