Cal to get cold welcome at WSU
Cal might have avoided playing in the snow Saturday after its kickoff time at Washington State was moved from 7:30 p.m. to 1 p.m. to fill a TV time slot vacated when the OregonWashington game was canceled because of COVID-19 issues.
The weather forecast in Pullman, Washington, calls for a 5% chance of precipitation. The temperature at kickoff still is expected to be 32 degrees, but no snow is anticipated until the evening.
The game will be shown on FOX, which was supposed to broadcast the Pac12 North showdown between Oregon and Washington before the Huskies announced Thursday they don’t have enough healthy players. The game was declared a no-contest, giving the Huskies (3-1) the North title.
Cal coach Justin Wilcox, who grew up in Oregon and once coached in Wisconsin, never was concerned about weather conditions in Pullman.
“We’re not talking minus 10,” he said. “Mid30s would be beautiful. Maybe we’ll bring some long sleeves, maybe an extra pair of socks. It’ll be great.”
The Bears (1-3) hope to build on the momentum of their 21-17 upset of Oregon last weekend. Washington State (1-2) lost 3813 at USC on Sunday in its first game in three weeks.
Here are a few things to watch — besides the weather — when Cal meets WSU in the Palouse:
ERRATIC CAL RUN GAME >>
The Bears muscled up and ran for 241 yards against Stanford two weeks ago. Against Oregon, they rushed for 88 yards and 1.9 yards per clip.
Now they face a Cougars defense that had no answer for USC quarterback Kedon Slovis (five touchdown passes) but held the Trojans to five yards on the ground. WSU ranks third in the Pac-12 in rushing defense.
“Oregon has a really talented front and they gave us some unique looks,” Wilcox said. “At times, we didn’t quite finish those plays like we thought we could have. Our players did a great job coming in and learning from those plays. Took that to the practice field this week so we could improve.”
It’s still not clear whether top running back Christopher Brown Jr. is fully healthy after missing the Oregon State game. Brown had four carries against Stanford then rushed for only 14 yards against Oregon, averaging 1.6 yards per carry.
WSU’S BORGHI AN UNKNOWN >> The Cougars have operated all season without junior Max Borghi, the Pac-12’s most versatile running back. Borghi, who gained more than 2,000 yards running and catching the ball and scored 28 touchdowns his first two seasons, has yet to play because of a back injury.
First-year WSU coach Nick Rolovich isn’t sharing much intel on Borghi’s status. The Bears are prepared for him but also have respect for backup Deon McIntosh.
McIntosh, who began his career at Notre Dame, rushed for 147 yards in the Cougars’ season-opening victory over Oregon State. That was the most yardage by a WSU running back in 13 years.
“I obviously wish Max was with us,” Rolovich said after the OSU game, “but Deon has shown — I think we knew it — that he can be very productive in our offense. I think he showed everybody tonight.”