Cal roars to bowl eligibility behind defense
The Cal football team’s revolution from becoming a soft-around-the-edges, pass-happy program to a defensive heavyweight is happening rapidly.
Under the guidance of second-year head coach Justin Wilcox, the Golden Bears have earned bowl eligibility with two regular season games to go. Cal held USC to less than 3 yards per carry, forced two turnovers and shut out the Trojans in the second half in a 15-14 win at the Coliseum in Los Angeles.
Cal (6-4, 3-4 Pac-12) can head to a bowl game for the first time since 2015 — when Jared Goff was quarterback and Sonny Dykes was in his penultimate season as head coach.
So, some of the pressure is off, and the optimism is sky-high, as Cal heads into the “Big Game” against Stanford at 4:30 p.m. PT Saturday at Memorial Stadium in Berkeley.
“I’m so happy for all of our guys,” fifth-year senior tailback Patrick Laird said. “The first goal of our team was to get six wins to make it to a bowl game. It means so much more to do it here, too.”
Of course, here is the Coliseum, where the Golden Bears had not won since 2000.
Cal sacked Trojans quarterback JT Daniels four times, intercepted him once and recovered a fumble. On the other side, Laird took 19 carries for 71 yards and took a pivotal fourth-and-1 carry in the fourth quarter into USC territory to clinch the win.
The Golden Bears mustered little offensively with 207 total yards (93 passing, 114 rushing). Redshirt freshman quarterback Chase Garbers had 93 yards passing, but no interceptions. Garbers hit Vic Wharton III with a TD pass and had a running score of his own.
“The streak and all that, we don’t really talk about it,” said Wilcox, formerly USC’s defensive coordinator. “I didn’t even know about it until somebody brought it up this week. We’re not playing the streak. These guys are competing and playing for each other.”
Stanford (6-4, 4-3) awaits in the 121st Big Game, fresh off pounding Oregon State 48-17. That was a cathartic win for the Cardinal, which had lost four of five (including to Notre Dame, Oregon, Washington State and Washington).
One of the nation’s most talented tailbacks is lurking in Bryce Love, who has slowly but steadily returned from an ankle injury. Love managed 11 carries for 90 yards and a touchdown against the Beavers (averaging more than 8 yards per carry).
