Cal Pulls Away from Weber State, 33-20, Postgame Takeaways
It started off with a bang.
Demetris Robertson took a reverse to the house from 34 yards out, and it looked like the Bears were off to the races, keeping the momentum going from a big win in the opener against UNC.
That wasn't meant to stay.
Weber State played a very tough game, tough inside running while taking advantage of defensive breakdowns on the backend, taking a 10-7 lead behind a few deep passes and some option work from quarterback. Cal forced a fumble, tied it up with a field goal, and broke down yet again deep, allowing a big TD to Rashid Shaheed
The injury bug hit, taking out starting running back Tre Watson, and taking out RT Jake Curhan for a bit. When it was all said and done there was one man who stood apart for the Bears, and that was Patrick Laird.
Laird busted another 50+ yard play, this one a run, juking defenders on his way to a score. Laird scored the touchdown that broke the tie. Laird, the former walk-on, had his first 100 yard rushing performance of his collegiate career. Laird broke it open with a 73 yarder. Beau Baldwin had told his running backs that the longest run they had seen last week was 12 yards. Laird made sure that wasn't the case.
A 16-0 fourth quarter propelled the Bears to their second victory of the year. One, from the post-game pressers, that they won't savor.
Watch: Postgame Video, Wilcox | Postgame Video, Bowers, Laird, Rubenzer, Drayden, Downs, and Davison | Next Day Takeaways
There's plenty for the Bears to correct though as this game was in doubt before Laird took it to the house on his TD scamper to seal the victory. The list is relatively long:
- Over 400 yards passing allowed to an FCS opponent
- Only 10 points off the three forced turnovers
- Breakdowns in the secondary on 3rd downs
- Offensive line struggles
- Bowers holding the ball long
- No one running well except for Laird, as Vic Enwere struggled
- Not being able to get off the field on defense, especially against crossing routes and QB scrambles
That said, a win is a win, even if this one tempers expectations by a ton. It makes Ole Miss a daunting a matchup soon to come.
Takeaways:
- With the offensive line blocking sets that Steve Greatwood has put in place, a back with a one cut and go mentality is the kind that's needed. Laird did that, making his one cut and going, with a big couple gains, he may have earned a starting job if Tre Watson ends up out for an extended period of time. Laird was pretty quiet about his big game, saying that he hadn't seen the stats, but noted that once Ooms made the pindown block on his 73 yard TD, he didn't expect to see so much green grass, and did it from there
- Forcing fumbles has never really been a strong suit for a Cal defense, but they forced four fumbles and recovered three of them, with Ray Davison forcing two of them, punching them out. The punch technique that they used seems to be working, as the fumble that didn't count, forced by Devante Downs, popped way up in the air.
- 9-17 on 3rd down conversions for Weber State, as they converted multiple times to keep Cal's defense on the field for over 35 minutes.
- Cal's offensive line struggles were punctuated by allowing three sacks and ten tackles for loss to the Weber State defense. A week after keeping Ross Bowers relatively clean, the offensive line struggled, with a forced fumble sack that led to a Weber State field goal to end the first half that gave them the lead
- Despite the heavy yards given up, the Bears held the Wildcats to no points in the second half. That happened with stopping a fake field goal, something that Wilcox noted that they'd seen four of in the past year from Weber, recovering an onside kick, and holding strong in the red zone.
- Yards per play numbers, 7.0 for Cal and 6.9 for Weber State. That was helped by Laird's big runs and Robertson's reverse TD at the beginning.
- Bowers and Robertson have not completely gelled early though Robertson had a big slant that he took for 33 yards to help set up a field goal that tied the game in the fourth quarter
- Great play by Luke Rubenzer and Josh Drayden in the final quarter. Rubenzer made a couple big deflections while playing centerfield, while Drayden had a couple of nice pressures off nickel blitzes, as well as some solid coverage at the end.
- Gavin Reinwald had his first two career catches, both plays with high levels of difficulty.
- 3.7 yards per rush for Weber State, which is a step in the right direction for the Bears defense on that end. The breakdowns in the secondary are not. 431 yards allowed through the air is not a good look, especially against a QB that had only thrown 17 passes, 14 of those coming against an NAIA opponent a week ago.
- Cal made 69 tackles. 65 of those were solo tackles. Gang tackling will be an emphasis this week.
- Explosive Plays, Cal gave up 3 plays of 20 yards or more a week ago, they gave up 8 passes of 20+ today, none on the ground today.
It's a growing process for Justin Wilcox and staff, as they will need to grow quick to face Ole Miss next week in a primetime showdown.