Cal is heading into its bye week after its first loss of the season. The Bears came out on the losing end of a difficult 14-9 matchup against previously winless Florida State. Now, the Bears will get a few extra days to regroup before taking on current-No. 7 Miami in Week 6.
Justin Wilcox addressed reporters after the loss, and here is a rundown of everything he said in the postgame press conference in Tallahassee.
What do you tell the team after such a tough, emotional loss?
Well, gotta identify why we lost. Count the number of opportunities that we had to turn that game and find a way to win it, and we didn't do it. So you tip your hat to them, they're very talented team, there's no doubt about it. Offensively, we have to start the play without getting penalized. That's bad football. It's on coaches, players, everybody. We have to be able to start the play without getting penalized. We gotta find ways to put the ball in the end zone.
FSU's winning touchdown, it looked like they isolated your safety — Woodson. Were you able to tell how they were able to do that?
It was Ja'ir, yeah? It was the nickel. Big box fade. Outside leverage man. He played with poor technique. Eyes were on the ball. Gotta run to your man. Poor technique. We also gave up a third-and-20 on that drive. We had to win the game on defense, and that was the drive. Unfortunately, we weren't able to capitalize on the rest of the day, other than the first early drive, the defense played pretty good, got the ball back and battled. We did not tackle very well. Obviously, they're talented athletes. We had a hard time getting the quarterback on the ground at times. They got more going in the run game, and that led to some third-down conversion. They were ahead of the chains more. So we didn't tackle great, and then the third downs were really the issue we had on defense today. But, battled a lot of the day. Got the offensive ball back, and we gotta score points. Gotta make field goals. Got so many chances.
What was the difference overall from your perspective?
A few points. I mean, it's a few points, and that's what kind of game it was going to be. We have to find ways to move the ball and put the ball in the end zone on offense. We can't jump offside. We gotta get the play started on offense. Defensively, it was going to be a battle. And guys battled, like I said, most of the day, and we missed a couple field goals that he has the ability to make, and we didn't make them. That's the difference.
When Cal got the field goal to go up on Florida State, how can you maintain that momentum?
Get a stop and then score again. Move the ball and score. Don't go backwards.
The noise level?
With the pre-snap issues, we've practiced it. We use crowd noise. The neighbors hate it. We use crowd noise, and obviously the message is not getting across. We're not coaching it well enough, and we're not executing it well enough. Once we used some silent, and we had a guy clap and we snapped the ball. Just bad. It's bad. It's unacceptable. It ultimately is my responsibility. That is bad football. We can't do that. So that'll be addressed again, until we get it right, because we're going to play in other hostile environments.
What happened to Sioape, and do you have any early reports?
He is being evaluated at local hospital, and he's got movement in his extremities, which is good news, but that's all I know right now.
What will your approach to the week off be? Will you give the guys a day or two off?
We'll be back in Monday. We'll go Monday through Friday.
do you think players are ready to get out there and fix what's wrong?
Well, I'd sure hope so. All of us are. Coaches, players, everybody.
You've talked about the margins in tight games, and this is yet another one that didn't quite turn out. What do you guys discuss in that regard over the next week or so before you get ready for Miami?
Identify the things that are going to make the difference in the game. Again, tackling on defense, third-down defense. Offensively, we have to be able to snap the ball on time, and we have to put the ball in the end zone, and then we gotta make field goals. Those are the things. Big picture, that was it. That's the difference in the game. And you're playing a team like Florida State with that much talent, you're not going to make those types of mistakes and win. So, we had plenty of opportunities. We did not capitalize on it. They did, and so they deserve the credit for that.
The kicking game is obviously a big part of trying to win close. With Ryan Coe now being 5 for 11 on kicks this season, do you open up the competition heading into the bye?
I think we'll discuss every position and who's doing what. He's got a lot of talent, and he sure has been impressive, but we gotta do it in the games. He's been impressive in practice, and he hit the 52 yarder like it was nothing. Then we missed the two 38s, unfortunately. So, yeah, we have to find ways to score points. Nine's not enough. Nine's not enough points. I don't care who you're playing, especially Florida State, you gotta score more than nine.
On the last sack, the fourth-down play, the guy came off the edge pretty much untouched. Is there a thought about leaving a running back in to protect Fernando?
The back was in. It's zero. Plus one. We gotta throw the ball, we can't eat the sack. They're in zero across the board, plus one. Gotta throw the ball up. It's not gonna get better than one on one. So, we have to give our guys a chance to make a play, and we did not do that.
