Rating the Bears: Cal at Wake Forest Football
First ACC win!
It’s November and the Bears finally have their first ACC win. After four consecutive excruciating losses, the Bears have bounced back with a two-game winning streak to move within one game of bowl eligibility. And the streak has largely been led by the offense, as the Bears have scored over forty points in consecutive games for the first time since Justin Wilcox took the helm.
After all the missed field goals against FSU, Pitt, and NC State, it is absolutely mind-blowing to see such a high special teams rating (and huge shout out to Coe for nailing two 54-yard field goals). Nando and the pass offense earned the second-highest ratings of the week, followed by Overall in third overall. Both defensive categories earned strong ratings despite earning two of the lowest scores of the week. That’s less a criticism of a defense than it is an acknowledgement of how well rounded this performance was. The only outlier was another struggle for the ground game. Fortunately Syracuse brings a pretty bad run defense to Berkeley on Saturday, so maybe the run game will finally break through. Speaking of ‘Cuse, our predictions of a win over Syracuse are unchanged from our preseason predictions.
Ratings Comparison
Compared to the rest of the Wilcox Era, these ratings mostly fared quite well.
Run offense was around the 25th percentile, the worst rating of the bunch, but the rest of the categories were in their respective top halves. Coaching and Overall were near their 75th percentiles while Special Teams set a new record high and Pass Offense nearly set a new record high.
Awards
As always, we have three categories of awards to hand out: highest, lowest, and closest to the hivemind.
Sunshine Pumpers
First, the highest ratings of the week. The number in parentheses notes the number of previous awards in that category.
Old Blues
Next, the lowest scores of the week.
Even the worst score is still a passing grade—success!
The Voice of Reason
Finally, we have those whose ratings were closest to the group average.
With several top-five finishes Calboy76 is making a strong claim as this season’s most reasonable rater.
Comments
Now, onto the comments. Today’s topics include run game frustration and special teams jubilation.
Any comments on the gameday experience?
TKE Prytanis 79: I have to say that the ACC Network is really growing on me…I thought the announcers were fair and really engaged, in contrast to some others in the past…half time show is a step up from the old PAC 12 Network as well…this all is good!
Goldenone: Didn't appear to be too many folks in the stands which kept the opposing crowd advantage to a minimum.
KJ1980: Sonny Dykes came back to coach the Bears tonight? It was a shoot out at the Oak Corral and the Bears won. Hurrah! We have a gunslinger at QB with the swagger.
The Ghost of Joe Roth: The ACC Network's broadcast seemed to have a few tech issues, but over all it was fine. I've been to Winston-Salem before. I led a youth conference there years ago. Nice town. Great folks.
Calboy76: I liked WF stadium grassy hillside at the end of the stadium
fuzzywuzzy: Watched with fellow alums, nothing particularly exciting, although did deal with traffic for this weekly event - Friday night.
sacalum: So glad we took an early lead that kept me watching throughout the game, instead of having to periodically turn it off while dealing with my angst.
sacman701: I like Wake's uniforms. The camera people frequently got lost and followed guys who didn't have the ball.
VermontBear: With the size of the stadium our YY row seats were good. Sizable contingent of Cal fans. We had a good scrum of fans behind the Cal bench after the game for a few rounds of, "You know the story...". The stadium food had great variety with many different food trucks and before the game there was a free food truck outside the stadium (pulled pork and burgers) with quite a few Cal fans taking advantage. I heard Will McDonald's family had a great tailgate party. The strong end by Cal after the tough mid 2nd half performance, capped off a fun night. Cal Football is 2-0 in North Carolina when I attend the game with at least one daughter.
What are your thoughts on Cal's passing game?
GlueAndBold: Really struggled to adjust to the blitz in the second half after a phenomenal first half.
Willis Chong: Mendoza with the short game, seems awesome. Had a bad read which resulted in the interception. Spread the ball out and the game likely would have been out of reach if our receivers didn't have the dropsies on one or two drives
GoldenBear88: Mendoza is really starting to establish himself as an elite college quarterback.
AKBear: Bears are passing a lot because they can’t run block. Nice to have their WR room finally healthy.
Rose Bowl Oski: Fernando continues to impress. 11 different receivers caught a pass, and he took off running when he needed to Tough to defend.
1988goldenbear: Mendoza had himself a game! Great to make a bunch of quick hitting passes vs a secondary like this one, but the o-line still couldn’t give him a lot of time for deep routes.
The Ghost of Joe Roth: Fernando was on fire, obviously. It has been enjoyable to watch him progress. The short and intermediate passes were there all night and he was able dominate (most of the time).
Old Bear 71: Wonderful on the short to medium passes. Too bad Mendoza didn’t have time/pas pro to lob a few more long ones.
sacalum: At times, our up tempo passing game looked unstoppable. Fernando has turned into an excellent quarterback and there is a lot of talent in our wide receiver corps.
sacman701: This is mostly where we won the game. The protection still leaves a lot to be desired, but we dinked and dunked and scrambled effectively. Three sacks and one pick aren't awful considering that we had 56 pass attempts. Nine different guys caught at least two passes!
What are your thoughts on Cal's running game?
GlueAndBold: Failure to produce consistent yardage nearly stalled several drives. Ott's crazy talented but he's still injured and this O-Line does him no favors.
Willis Chong: Please rest Ott for the rest of the year. He seems broken and slow. Jet gives us a better chance to win. Also, we are not winning when we are running up the gut because our O-line gets no push. Why did it take Bloesch the almost the entire game to figure that out and let our faster RBs run outside with some misdirection?
Also, not sure if I like Nando's rolling to down himself. I guess you get more yards out of it and protects him better than blocking tacklers with his chest
TKE Prytanis 79: I still feel that Jaydyn hasn’t gotten his first step back yet.
Ron: STOP RUNNING OTT UP THE MIDDLE! Our (pathetic) OL is totally incapable of opening up any holes for him regardless who the opponent is!
Rose Bowl Oski: Except for one play, Ott had no room to run. Fernando's designed runs and scrambles were the best we had to offer tonight.
1988goldenbear: Mendoza was pretty much the run offense too. Nice to see Jet score the back-breaker.
KJ1980: Nonexistent. Wish we had an explanation. Ott just is not producing. The poor I line is part of it. But the complete breakdown of the run game is just plain disappointing.
The Ghost of Joe Roth: Is there a possible fix coming soon for the O-line? Wilcox said "we've got to run the ball," and of course he's right but with that hodge podge group up front it seems almost impossible to get the run game going.
Old Bear 71: Jet has it going on the outside runs, Fernando’s dive/slide (whatever it was) short of the goal line was a head scratcher for me.
Does anyone have an answer to Cal’s utter lack of an offensive line’s ability to open a hole for a two or three yard gain up the middle?
Ott is not the same player he was last year.
fuzzywuzzy: Meh, still can't run it. Credit the coaches for getting creative with Mendo when needed, but ideally, he shouldn't be the leading rusher...not sure he's really built for that.
sacalum: Except for Fernando's run, the running game looked pretty anemic. The OL didn't seem to open up many holes for the RBs.
sacman701: Again the line struggled to get much push. The backs had 56 yards on 19 carries, and 35 of those came on just two chunk plays.
What are your thoughts on Cal's pass defense?
GlueAndBold: Interceptions more than make up for repeated 4th down conversions but maybe we could cut down on the latter anyway.
Willis Chong: Interceptions when it counted, but clearly gassed by the end of the game. Same old same old
1988goldenbear: On the good side, pressure, sacks, and 3 picks! But we gave up some more long 3rd downs and let them convert all three 4th downs, plus had a couple costly penalties.
fuzzywuzzy: Great first half, scary 2nd half...is this a conditioning thing? However, 3 INTs is great - but there were too many blown coverages, and one TD came from that aggressiveness. Barth did well in filling in for Ulave.
sacman: Mostly shut them down in the first half except when we got got on that trick play. The second half was a lot shakier but we got those picks when we needed them. Pressure was good all day with 7 sacks, although we let them scramble for first downs a few times. Overall, mixed. We got torched a lot, but Wake ended up with barely 5 yards per attempt (counting sacks) and three picks which is basically a win for the defense.
BearsWillEndMyLife: Every drive was one extreme or the other. This doesn't bode well for Syracuse. With a slow mesh, you're asking your DBs to plaster for a long time. Our linebackers have excellent depth and they saved us tonight.
What are your thoughts on Cal's run defense?
GlueAndBold: Wake really wanted to run and we largely said no.
Willis Chong: I know we held the other team to only 112 yards on the ground, but it seemed we couldn't stop the Bachmeier on his draws/scrambles or Claiborne when his O-line was functional. We were clearly losing the battle for the LOS on several key drives. Credit where its due--
GoldenBear88: Pretty solid except that Claiborne was beginning to break through in the second half. However, he was also pretty worn out in the fourth quarter so I guess that the defense was doing a good job of not letting him bust through for any more big plays.
1988goldenbear: Stout, just a few leaks and missed tackles but their RB is pretty good.
The Ghost of Joe Roth: Claiborne is a stud but for the most part there were no huge, backbreaking runs.
Old Bear 71: As advertised. Tops in ACC!
BrooklynBear: #1 is an excellent back as Christopher pointed out in the offensive preview, but TACKLING will be very low in this week's box and cluster!
wiata78: For several games, the defense looked gassed late in the game, and we all said it was because our offense couldn't stay on the field long enough. Tonight the offense had good TOP, but still the defense looked gassed. What is it? Conditioning? Pacing?
sacman701: Claiborne is relatively hard to tackle, but we should have done a better job of it.
What are your thoughts on Cal’s special teams?
GlueAndBold: What more could you ask for?
Willis Chong: 100% on FGs? Forced fumbles?
GoldenBear88: Who are those guys? They have managed a complete 180 degree turn and are not the same unit that was out there during our four game losing streak. Let's hope that they keep it up because they were a big reason we won tonight.
Ron: 4/4 field goals is awesome -- finally! We would not have won without these. Excellent punting and kick-offs, as always!
Rose Bowl Oski: 4/4 on FGs? Yes, please! Two 54 yarders? Of course! Strip, scoop and score on a kickoff? Why not! Blocked FG? Thank you very much!
Goldenone: A 90% grade - 4 for 4 on field goals including two 54 yard conversions and a fumble recovery run in for a TD means special teams was responsible for 22 points on its own!
KJ1980: Amazing amazing amazing. What a bonanza TWO 54 yard field goals.
The Ghost of Joe Roth: Dare I say the special teams were the difference in the game? Two gigantic field goals from 54 by Coe. Two more field goals from Morris. Solid punting by Lachlan, a strip, scoop and score on a kick, and a blocked field goal, all led to a dominant perforce by the special teamers.
Calboy76: Best game in years. The strip and TD at the start of the game was a game changer
Old Bear 71: Superlatives are inadequate. Fumble recover scoop n score on kick off, blocked fg attempt, TWO 54 yd fg’s!! Are you kidding?! WOWZA!! Where were you during the first ACC games? Just sayin’.
Bowelsman80: *tears of pride, joy, and secretly suppressed astonishment. Wilson continues to be field position playmaker. Gunners are aggressive and on target. And Coe and Morris make a lethal kick combination (we can look past Coe's first kick, though successful, nick the upright). STs have gone from crap shoot to a best bet. Well done.
fuzzywuzzy: They earned an A+ from me this week by finally figuring out how to move and/or bend the goalposts accordingly without anyone noticing. Additionally, blocked FG...sorely needed, too... all ST phases were very good.
azulviejo: Good day for special teams. Nice to see poor Coe make his 50+ try's.
sacman701: This is the other place where we won the game. 4/4 on field goals including two from outside 50, and a scoop and score on a kickoff.
What are your thoughts on the coaching staff’s performance?
GlueAndBold: Wake made a lot of halftime adjustments that we really struggled to account for. Credit for playing to win though.
BTown85: Coaching move of the game, putting Ryan Coe in for two long FGs! Well done Justin!
GoldenBear88: It was good to see that Bloesch continues to move Mendoza around and not just sit back in the pocket and get hammered (although he was sacked a few time).
AKBear: Someone needs to tell Coach that just because the cheat sheet says to go for two, you are not obligated to do so. You should not go for two unless it’s late in the game.
Rose Bowl Oski: Going for 2 in the first half was more than questionable, as were some of the empty set plays, but overall play calling on both sides of the ball was really good. The team was well prepared for tonight.
Goldenone: Bloesch was in the booth upstairs calling the shots which helped with the play calling. Running plays called in the middle of the line were mostly ineffectual.
The Ghost of Joe Roth: I want Wilcox to win. I have great admiration for him. This game had the potential for another blowout win by CAL but it just seems the Bears rarely get there (OSU was an exception of course but the Beavs were pretty beaten up when they came tp Berkeley.)
Calboy76: 2 games of almost perfection. WF gave it their all but CAL had the answers to the exam.
Old Bear 71: Good game plan, but who is in charge of the Oline run blocking? Clearly Bloesch is not helping them even little bit. Sure we have some freshmen, converted tight ends, blah, blah… but come on!
fuzzywuzzy: Got creative enough for the win, and getting the final stops when needed, especially using QB runs...Defense needs to be better in the 2nd half.
sacalum: Pleasantly surprised that Bloesch recognized something in Wake Forest's defense that allowed us to go to town with an up-tempo passing game.
sacman701: The offensive game plan was mostly sound, using quick passes as the base play. The designed QB run to ice the game was a good call.
What are your thoughts on the Cal’s overall performance?
GlueAndBold: Mid-season swoon is over and we're ready to Roll On to a bowl game!
GoldenBear88: Pretty good. Yes, it was fantastic that we won but it was also inspiring to see the Golden Bears not fold in the fourth quarter when everyone started to get that "here we go again" feeling. The Bears need to keep developing that killer instinct for a win and stop letting inferior teams get back in a game.
jakewebs: A bit sloppy on defense and with penalties at times, but overall a good performance and a game that (aside from about 2 plays near the end) felt like a relatively stable Cal win. Feeling good about the team heading into two games Cal must win before a tough one to end the season.
fuzzywuzzy: I actually don't mind these barn-burning close ones, however, I'm never confident we'll pull them out - but I'm obviously glad they came through, albeit against WF. It's nice we're closing in on a bowl game, one of those "you're not the worst in the conference, but kinda stink" games for the confernece bottom feeders. If they don't get better in the 2nd half, they'll only be able to beat Furd (we all hope) in the remaining games this year...
sacman701: I've always said that you never have to apologize for winning on the road. This was a somewhat shaky performance against a shaky opponent but ultimately it was good enough for a 10 point win that was closer than the score indicated. The offense is making good use of its limited resources (line) now. The defense didn't do as badly as the 36 points allowed suggests, as Wake had 14 possessions.
BearsWillEndMyLife: Well, at least we didn't blow this one. Again, we MUST take a four-game winning streak into SMU and get extra practice for the O line before a bowl game.
Thanks to all who participated! Check back Saturday afternoon for our ratings form for the Syracuse game.
Go Bears! We eon. But my cardiologist has warned me to not stress my heart with Cal sports.
Good reading. Positive stuff