Cal Football Defensive Film Review: Wildcat Troubles

What went wrong against the Utes when they went to the direct snap to seal the game?

Utah bled Cal to death on Saturday with a consistent diet of short gains in the run game. Out of Utah’s 53 rushing attempts, only two gained more than 11 yards. But only one pre-garbage time Utah run was stopped for a loss, and only 5 were stopped for no gain. The majority picked up 4-11 yards and kept the chains moving for the Utes.

The schematic ‘why’ for Cal’s failure to control the Utah run game is pretty simple - Cal was beaten at the point of attack. The front 4 wasn’t able to hold up against Utah’s offensive line.

But Cal doesn’t give up big plays easily, so what happened on the biggest back-breaker play of the game?