Cal preps for Big Game in wake of firings
Stanford enters Saturday's 125th Big Game with a 3-7 record and a three-game losing streak, and it has failed to score more than 16 points in any of its past five games.
Cal, which hosts Saturday's game, also has a 3-7 record and a six-game losing streak, and it failed to score an offensive touchdown in last Saturday's 38-10 loss at Oregon State.
Not exactly classic resumes for a milestone matchup.
On Sunday, Justin Wilcox fired offensive coordinator Bill Musgrave and offensive line coach Angus McClure, each of whom was in his third year working for the Bears. In his Zoom news conference Tuesday, Wilcox addressed the departures of Musgrave and McClure.
“A lot of times, people in this situation say it's not personal, but it feels that way,” Wilcox said. “I have great amount of respect — as do all of our players and coaches — for Angus and Bill. They're good people and good coaches.
“It is very, very difficult but at the end of the day, my job is to make those decisions void of any emotion or relationship, and that's what I did.”
Wilcox said the game planning and play calling for the Big Game will be “a collaborative effort in every way.” Wilcox mentioned tight ends coach Geep Chryst — who has three years of NFL experience as an offensive coordinator, including with the 2015 49ers — running backs coach Aristotle Thompson, wide receivers coach Burl Toler III and consultant/former offensive line coach Steve Greatwood as being part of that collaboration.
In his Zoom news conference, Stanford head coach David Shaw said the Bears' coaching changes do cause some uncertainty for the Cardinal, and believes those changes might alter his defense's approach this week.
“You have to focus on yourselves,” Shaw said. “You have to focus on your rules and your calls and making sure that you're sound against whatever you see.”
Cal is assured of a third straight losing season. Stanford will have consecutive losing seasons for the first time since 2007. Injuries have plagued the Cardinal, but they only partially explain how Stanford has been outscored 132-34 over the past three games.
Shaw owns a 96-52 career record in 12 seasons as Stanford's head coach. A reporter on the Zoom suggested that Shaw is on the hot seat, and the reporter asked Shaw, “Does that affect you or the team, and do you still feel confident that you're the right person for the job at Stanford?”
Responded Shaw: “So as I said, our focus is on the 125th Big Game, and that's what our focus is. Thanks.”
Briefly: Cal announced that it will unveil a statue of Kevin Moen outside of Memorial Stadium near Piedmont Avenue at 3 p.m. Friday. This marks the 40th anniversary of Moen scoring the winning touchdown at the end of The Play, the Bears' five-lateral kickoff return that gave them a 25-20 stunner in the 1982 Big Game. … Shaw announced that tackle Myles Hinton will miss Saturday's game because of an injury. Barrett Miller will replace Hinton.