Weaver, Garbers are two reasons Cal will play in bowl game
Someday, Cal fans hope and dream, their football team once again will play in Pasadena on New Year’s Day. It has been 60 years since that happened.
For now, though, Old Blues will have to be satisfied with the Bears playing at the Rose Bowl today having already become eligible for a bowl, albeit not “The Granddaddy of Them All.”
Cal (6-5, 3-5 Pac-12), which closes its regular season against UCLA (47, 4-4), put an exclamation point on its postseason push with a 24-20 triumph over Stanford last Saturday, ending its nineyear drought in the Big Game.
Eligible for a bowl game in back-to-back seasons for the first time since 200809, coach Justin Wilcox’s team appears most likely to be headed to either the Dec. 21 Las Vegas Bowl or the Dec. 30 RedBox Bowl in Santa Clara.
UCLA whiffed on the postseason for the fourth straight season, and Stanford saw its impressive bowl run end at 10 years in a row. So how did Cal get to this point?
Here are five reasons the Bears are going bowling again this season: EVAN WEAVER >> The senior
linebacker is the face of this team and he earns that status every week. Weaver leads the nation with 164 tackles (26 more than the No. 2) and is the Bears’ emotional and vocal leader. He predicted a victory at Washington — who does that? — then delivered 18 tackles to make it happen. He has three other games with 21 or more tackles. By himself. He is a finalist for the Butkus Award and it’s hard to develop a reasoned argument why he wouldn’t win the honor.
CHASE GARBERS RISES >> Twice injured this season, the sophomore quarterback returned from the second ailment to start at Stanford and engineered a comeback that Cal fans will relive for years. On two fourth-quarter touchdown drives, covering a total of 159 yards, he was 6 for 7 passing for 125 yards with a touchdown, then scrambled 16 yards for the game-winning TD with 1:19 left. Cal was gruesome offensively for long stretches of this season, but the Bears are simply better when Garbers is up and healthy. The Bears are 11-2 over two seasons when he plays more than half the game, including 5-0 this fall.
TURNOVERS DISAPPEAR >> A year ago, Cal ranked last in the nation with 31 turnovers. The Bears threw 11 interceptions and gave away 20 fumbles. No matter how good their defense was — and it was very good — the Bears struggled to overcome their offensive generosity. This season, Cal has just 12 turnovers — 19 fewer — to rank in a tie for 20th nationally.
ROAD WARRIORS >> The Bears’ road schedule was daunting enough with games at Ole Miss, Washington, Oregon and Utah, that they were going to have to forge some success away from home to reach a bowl game. They went to SEC country and beat Ole Miss, fulfilled Weaver’s prediction with a win in Seattle, then got it done at Stanford. Cal is 3-2 on the road this year, 6-4 the past two seasons after going 1-10 the previous two years.
LEARNING TO WIN >> The Bears were hit hard by injuries at quarterback, receiver and offensive line and their defense, while stout much of the season, never generated the gamechanging plays it did a year ago when it scored five touchdowns. It wasn’t always pretty, but somehow the Bears survived. They played six games decided by eight points or fewer, and they won four of them.