Cal Sputters, Recovers, and then Pulls Away in Win Over Texas Southern

The Bears are 2-0 and have a big game looming against Minnesota

Credit: Cal Athletics

After a lethargic first half at California Memorial Stadium, Cal screwed its bolts back in place and scooted away for a 35-3 win over Texas Southern. When looking at the big picture, the Bears got exactly what they wanted, an undefeated showdown against Minnesota next week at home. But it was not all smooth sailing for Cal in this one.

A very…..whelming game

Understandably, Cal was going more vanilla this week compared to last given its level of competition. However, a miserable opening half from the Bears did little to reignite the energy that was in the building at kickoff. For as sound as Cal was at Oregon State, they were equally as jittery against Texas Southern.

Offensively, nothing was mustered until the end of the half and defensively, mobile quarterback KJ Cooper caused some fits with his legs. The opening 30 minutes left a lot to be desired and while I project Cal to be more ready to go against Minnesota, it was not a continuation of what the team put together in Corvallis.

Cal was 2/7 in the first half on third down and generally had a tough time consistently putting plays together. In the second half, there was a lot more of a smoother operation but as a I mentioned earlier, it was far from a steady performance. Justin Wilcox stated postgame that guys were pressing too hard to do well while others echoed sentiments of being flat. Regardless, the Bears weren’t calibrated coming into the game and it showed in the first half.

A crucial and unnecessary ejection for Cade Uluave

You never want to put a rope on any of your players, let alone someone with the status of Cade Uluave. On the last play of the third quarter, Uluave decked KJ Cooper after he released the pass, resulting in a roughing the passer penalty. During the quarter intermission, the referees reviewed the play and upgraded the call to targeting.

Uluave was ejected and will miss the first half against Minnesota next week. As much as you want to see him run downhill, that was a situation where he didn’t have to put himself in harms way with the roughing penalty, let alone the targeting. We’ll have to wait and see on the effects of his absence next week but its puts Cal a step behind in their gameplan, communication, and execution.

A play like this is just as much of a situational football play as crucial third and fourth downs, so you’d like to see Uluave wrap up and finish smoothly. Instead it leaves a bit of a sour taste in Cal fans mouth coming out of the Texas Southern game.

Ryan McCulloch continues to motor on

Despite some containment gremlins across the board for Cal in this game, the upstart edge rusher Ryan McCulloch continued his great play from the beginning of last season.

The stats only give him one tackle (that being his sack on the day) but his disruption at the point of attack was consistent and welcomed. When you point to what Cal needs in a game like Minnesota next week, his contributions are near the top of the list. Additionally, fair or foul, he will be counted on to do more next week with the absence of Cade Uluave in the first half.

Generally, the defense did a solid job. There were some aforementioned problems with setting the edge and finishing tackles, but they held firm on third down themselves, holding the Tigers to 3-14 in those situations.

Conclusions

At the end of the day, Cal did pass the test and move to 2-0. However, the performance will need to be exponentially better if they want to beat Minnesota at home.

I expect them to be better. Kendrick Raphael notched a 100 yard rushing game, both field goal kickers made their kicks, and the Bears are healthy heading into its marquee non-conference matchup.

Furthermore, I expect the energy to turn up several notches in tandem with the execution. It was a feel good day entering California Memorial Stadium, and a win next week does a lot for the outlook of the Bears 2025 season.

Lastly, if Cal plays one HBCU school every few years I will not be mad at that. Texas Southern’s Ocean of Soul band made the trip and tore the house down at halftime. If you haven’t seen a band like that perform, I highly recommend going out of your way to view it.

Cal has a chance to put its best foot forward to date against Minnesota. If they get past the Golden Gophers and PJ Fleck, its sets up a tantalizing next few games for the Bears. We’ll see everyone back at California Memorial Stadium next weekend.