Cal comes up short at TCU, falls to 0-2 with loss
Cal’s offense improved, its defense regressed and its special teams ... well, they still cannot be called special.
The Bears lost 34-32 at TCU on Saturday, falling to 0-2 against non-conference opponents for the first time since 2001.
Quarterback Chase Garbers and the offense found the deep pass that has eluded them for two seasons, but the Bears could not stop a Horned Frogs attack that grew stronger as the afternoon grew longer and hotter in Fort Worth, Texas.
Ultimately, the Bears were betrayed by their kicking team. A unit that directly contributed to
two defeats a year ago in a pandemic-shortened 1-3 season, the placekicking team botched a PAT after Cal’s first touchdown that had the Bears, as coach Justin Wilcox put it, chasing that point the rest of the afternoon.
Cal had won six straight games played in the state of Texas dating back to 1970.
The Bears played well enough to win in some ways against a TCU team just outside the AP Top-25, but could not finish the job.
“I think the takeaway is it’s in the margins,” Wilcox said. “We’re a few plays away from playing pretty good football. Unfortunately, you don’t get do-overs.”
Here are a few more takeaways from this one:
IT’S A SNAP >> An off-target snap by the usually dependable Slater Zellers on the PAT following the Bears’ first touchdown left them with a 6-0 lead and began an unproductive cycle.
When the Bears scored again on safety Daniel Scott’s 9-yard pick-six return, they decided to pursue a two-point conversion. Sent five yards back by a delay of game penalty, they settled for the one point, which Dario Longhetto converted.
But TCU was flagged for offsides on the play so Cal tried the two-point PAT again. And failed.
With 4:09 left, after Damien Moore’s 12-yard touchdown run got the Bears within two points, they had little choice but go after two points. Moore ran up the middle, but his knee hit the ground before the ball squirted loose from his hand and he tried stretching to the goal line.
“You lose a PAT, the rest of the game, you’re chasing that point, somehow, some way. And it showed up all the way into the fourth quarter,” Wilcox said. “Really frustrating. Today it was a poor snap and we’ve got to find a way to get the ball on the ground and kick it through on a PAT.”
GO DEEP >> In their 22-17 loss to Nevada a week ago, the Bears had little success throwing the ball downfield against a defense that used a deep zone alignment. This was a different opportunity and Garbers had four completions of at least 40 yards on his way to passing for 309 yards and two touchdowns.
“We knew we’d have to be aggressive and take some shots down the field,” Wilcox said. “They play a style of defense where there’s a lot of guys within nine or 10 yards of the line of scrimmage.”
Garbers, making the 24th start of his collegiate career, posted just his third game of at least 300 passing yards. He threw a 54-yard touchdown to Trevon Clark, had a 68-yard completion to Clark, a 49-yarder to Kekoa Crawford, and a 42-yarder to Jeremiah Hunter.
“I think we took a lot of strides as an offense,” Garbers said.
RUN THROUGH >> Cal allowed Nevada just 61 rushing yards and limited TCU to 13 yards on eight attempts in the first quarter. As temperatures reached the mid90s at Amon Carter Stadium, the Horned Frogs piled up 264 rushing yards. Running back Zach Evans totaled 183 on 8.3 yards per attempt and quarterback Max Duggan contributed 71 rushing yards and a touchdown in addition to 234 passing yards and three TDs.
“We started to bleed on the inside run game,” said Wilcox, whose defense has been the team’s backbone the past few seasons. “They run some speed option, so they attack you with numbers once they involve the quarterback. When you start evening out the numbers in the run game, now you stress your (pass) coverage.”
Cal played the final three quarters without starting outside linebacker Kuony Deng, who left with an undisclosed injury. Wilcox had no word on whether Deng would be back next week. NEXT WEEK >> Cal is home next Saturday against Sacramento State, which was 9-4 and played in the FCS playoffs in 2019. The Hornets, coached by former Cal quarterback Troy Taylor, opted out of playing a 2020 spring season and took a 1-0 record into a Saturday night home game against Northern Iowa.