Bears’ matchup vs. Bruins ‘like a playoff game’
For most of the college football world, the postseason doesn’t officially start until next week’s schedule, which includes several conferencechampionship games. Cal can’t wait that long. The Bears are approaching Friday’s game at UCLA as a playoff game to get into the postseason, because a win for Cal (5-6) will make it bowl eligible for just the second time in six seasons.
“It’s like a playoff game,” Cal head coach Justin Wilcox said of the team’s regular-season finale. “Getting into the postseason is a goal of ours. It’d be huge for our seniors and for our program. It’s a great opportunity for us.”
The current seniors were 18-19 the previous three seasons and little was expected of them in 2017. But the team, which was given an over-under win total of 3½ by many Las Vegas oddsmakers, is one win from earning a bowl berth.
“I thought if we continued to get better in the spring and fall and throughout the season, we would have chances to win games,” Wilcox said. “We haven’t finished games as well as we could have, and that’s where we need to learn and grow. I appreciate the guys’ work ethic and competitiveness, but the next step is finishing those games. That’s the toughest margin to close, so we’ve got to learn from each of those experiences. …
“Looking back, we expected to come out and compete weekin and week-out. That’s the only thing we can ask them to do, and they’ve gotten us in this position for a shot at the postseason.”
The Bears lost by 10 points to then-No. 5 USC, dropped a one-point, double-overtime game to Arizona and were outlasted by then-No. 20 Stanford in Saturday’s Big Game. With those opportunities gone, Cal has moved into the surviveand-advance portion of its season.
“This week, it’s win or go home, so this is really the first week of playoff football for us. That’s where we’re at right now,” junior receiver Vic Wharton III said. “… It’s going to be a big game, with UCLA having the same type of mindset as us. We came into practice thinking: ‘This is playoff football.’ …
“We thought from Day 1 that we were going to go to a bowl game. I would be upset with anyone on my team who did think differently.”
Like Cal, UCLA is one of 18 teams one win from bowl eligibility. Four pairs of those teams play each other this week, and only six of the 18 are favored to win.
Because 70 of the nation’s 78 bowl berths have been clinched, there’s still an outside possibility that the Bears’ 978 Academic Progress Rate could earn them a bowl bid at 5-7, but Cal doesn’t have any intention of just sneaking into the bowl season.
“There’s a big opportunity for us to send our seniors out the right way,” junior defensive lineman Chris Palmer said. “That’s what we want to do. We want to get that done for them. …
“We’ve bought into what we’ve got going on. We have a good culture, good coaches and good players. We’re all coming together as a family and doing what we need to do.”