CAL Bears will have hands full with No. 10 Cougars
When Cal reviews video of the previous week’s game, the coaching staff usually splices highlights and lowlights.
This week, the Bears watched every second of an entire offensive series.
Nursing a 12-10 lead with 4:51 remaining Saturday, Cal was able to grind out two first downs and run out the clock against then-No. 15 Washington for an upset that the players say is proof of the program’s transformation.
“It speaks to them, what they’re about and what our team is about,” head coach Justin Wilcox said. “That was a hard-fought, gritty, grimy game. Guys competed extremely hard. It took everybody. …
“They know that what they’re doing on and off the field has paid off for them. Now, we’ve got to go build on it, because it doesn’t really mean a whole lot if we don’t continue to build on what we’ve done.”
And, with that, the Bears moved onto this week’s challenge — a trip to No. 10 Washington State, which leads the nation in passing (405.4 yards per game) and is scoring 40.8 points per game.
“We’ve got to step up our games, because this is a totally different challenge,” Wilcox said.
The team seemed to get Wilcox’s message.
Even in the aftermath of limiting Washington to 128 yards and six first downs in the final three quarters, four members of the Cal secondary stayed after practice for more than an hour Monday night.
They could have been basking in the glow of Camryn Bynum’s toe-tapping interception or bragging about prompting Washington to bench quarterback Jake Browning, one of the most productive players in Pac-12 history. Instead, they were going over the nuances of this week’s game plan — drilling each other on splits, leverage and releases.
“We’ve got some good players back there, for sure. I think they’re playing confidently,” Wilcox said. “… They want to be good, they study and put in a lot of time off the field. In order to be good, that’s what it takes. Relying on just your ability, it’s tough to sustain success. …
“The guys are really into that. They want to learn.”
Bynum and inside linebacker Evan Weaver were named to the Pro Football Focus national team of the week, grading out among the top 11 defensive players in the country. Weaver, who had 11 tackles and returned an interception 37 yards for the game-winning touchdown, also was named Pac-12 Defensive Player of the Week.
But the MVP for Cal might have been punter Steven Coutts, who twice pinned Washington inside its 11-yard line during a game that was a slog of field position. The graduate transfer from LouisianaLafayette has a conferenceleading 22 punts inside the 20 this season.
“Steven Coutts, in that game, was huge,” Wilcox said. “… It was a total field-position game, and you could feel it. … He’s a big-time punter, and he’s punting it really well right now.”
Late in the third quarter, Wilcox decided against going for it on a 4th-and-3 situation from the Washington 36. He consulted Coutts about where he’d be comfortable punting.
Cal purposely took a delayof-game penalty, and Coutts rewarded his coach with a booming punt that was fair caught at the 11. Five plays later, Washington backup quarterback Jake Haener threw the interception that Weaver returned for the Bears’ only touchdown of the game. Injury update: Jordan Duncan isn’t expected to return this week from a hand injury, but Wilcox said he expects the junior receiver to play again this season. Even after missing the past three games, Duncan is tied for the team lead with three touchdown catches. Schedule update: Cal knows it will play at USC on Nov. 10, but the Bears still don’t know the time of the kickoff. The conference’s broadcast partners may wait until six days before the game to decide whether it’ll be at 12:30, 4 or 7:45 p.m. on ABC/ESPN or at 2:30 p.m. on Pac-12 Networks.