A blocked punt was the first highlight of Cal's 2020 opener against UCLA. It ended up being one of the only bright spots of a thrown together opener, one that saw Cal show all the issues of not playing 11 on 11 for two weeks prior to playing a game. Cal couldn't tackle, couldn't rush the passer, couldn't run or pass particularly well as the Bears dropped a 34-10 game to UCLA in the Rose Bowl.

Cal had an early win with the blocked punt, with Craig Woodson blocking the first punt for the Bears since 2015. The Bears couldn't do anything with the good field position, and Dario Longhetto knocked through his first field goal attempt. Cal got an interception on the next drive, a tip drill from Daniel Scott to Cam Bynum, but from there, the Bears tackling ability disappeared. UCLA found guys in open space, Cal struggled to bring them down, and the Cal offense as a whole was shuttered at the line.

A lot of the fears of playing a game on short notice came to fruition:

Tackling - Two plays on UCLA's first touchdown drive come to mind. A 24 yard swing to Kaz Allen and an 8 yard Dorian Thompson-Robinson run. Both plays could've been tackles for loss.

Defensive Line in Quarantine - After the early excitement wore off, Cal struggled to get a push on the line, allowing 244 yards on the ground with three total tackles for loss

Offensive Line - Cal's offensive line couldn't get going in the run game, allowed five sacks in the contest. They did not adjust well to UCLA's blitzing throughout the game.

In addition, Garbers had his roughest outing since the North Texas game a year ago, finishing 18-33 for 122 yards and an interception. He had a handful of underthrows, a handful of overthrows, and outside of one touchdown run, didn't look as comfortable as he had been throughout the end of the 2019 season.

Cal struggled in a handful of other areas, as the Bears couldn't run, couldn't stop the run, had issues stopping UCLA TE Greg Dulcich, and couldn't get a consistent pass rush.

"We haven't played anyone besides ourselves in a year," Garbers said, "but we didn't play the way we needed to on both sides of the ball."

UCLA put up 20 points in the second quarter thanks to a Garbers interception, along with a couple of longer plays to Dulcich and tackling not being where it needed to be. The second half saw the Bears hold UCLA to one late touchdown on a 31 yard Brittain Brown run.

In all, Cal wasn't there on their first game. Their issues in game one were laid bare. The offense was slow developing. The defense couldn't tackle. The team as a whole didn't perform to the standard they set for themselves, even with having less than 48 hours to prepare. It's something the Bears have to fix before next Saturday against Oregon State.