Five Thoughts from Cal's Second Bye Week

The second bye week has come and gone, and with it, we've got some thoughts, stats, and other notes on the weekend without Cal football, the upcoming week with football taking on Washington State, men's basketball having their season opener against Pepperdine Tuesday, and women's basketball starting their season on the east coast with road trips to Harvard and UConn (Friday and Sunday respectively)

With Cal having a much more relaxed week in terms of practice, there's a couple PFF numbers that stood out during the bye.

Top Graded on Offense and Defense

Among regular players, there's a surprise at who stands atop the defensive grades on Pro Football Focus. It's not Evan Weaver. It's not Ashtyn Davis. It's the highest rated defensive recruit Cal has brought in over the first two full classes for Justin Wilcox, defensive lineman Brett Johnson (not by much, him and Cam Bynum are separated by .7, 74.4 to 73.7).

While Johnson has had about half the reps of the likes of Weaver, Bynum, and Ashtyn Davis (293 to 596, 574, and 536 respectively), the true freshman has held up in unenviable circumstances. He was going to play one way or another this year, but it's at a position he could use maybe 10-15 more pounds at. PFF credits Johnson with 8 defensive stops, no missed tackles, and four QB pressures in those reps (167 versus the run, 126 as a pass rusher). Johnson is graded eighth among Pac-12 interior defenders (with more than 200 reps)

Offensively, the highest graded regular is right tackle Jake Curhan, narrowly grading above Christopher Brown Jr. Curhan is the Bears' highest graded pass blocker (80.9) and the second highest graded run blocker (74.4, right behind Mike Saffell's 74.8). Cal runs for their most yards per carry behind the redshirt junior, with 5.4 yards per attempt off right tackle. Curhan has allowed 11 QB pressures over 319 pass blocking reps, and he's sixth in the Pac-12 in pass blocking grade, seventh in run blocking (among tackles). In a year where Cal's offensive line has been ravaged by injury, Curhan has been a constant for the group.

Brown Elusiveness Rating, Avoided Tackles, Yards after Contact, Lack of Fumbles

Brown's contributions, despite the Cal offense sputtering over the last month, are still impressive on a national scale. He hasn't fumbled this year, he's one of 18 FBS running backs to do so. He's ranked 14th in PFFs 'Elusiveness Rating' (2nd in the Pac-12, only behind Zach Moss). He's 17th in 'avoided tackles,' 4th among Pac-12 running backs (behind Moss, Cameron Scarlett, and Eno Benjamin), with 39.

Brown's going to need more help going forward, but he's finally started to look completely healthy again, after struggling with an injury suffered in the North Texas game.

If there's one thing the Pac-12 has proven this year, is that aside from Oregon and Utah, who control their destinies as they move toward a Pac-12 title clash, it's that no one is ever really gone, and a lot of it has to do with health. Oregon State and UCLA, thought to be out of it early in the season, are on winning streaks, with their offenses healthy and effective (Jake Luton and Joshua Kelley in particular). Stanford looks like a different team with a healthy KJ Costello, and both Oregon and Utah have been on the upswing injury-wise (aside from a knee issue that Tyler Huntley has battled through and played like one of the top QBs in the country).

Cal hasn't been the same since they started getting injured. Chase Garbers' long term injury started it, and injuries to Mike Saffell and Valentino Daltoso compounded it. They aren't likely to get Garbers back this week, but Saffell coming back gives them a little more continuity on the line. The best running performance by the group came against Washington when they had the configuration of Bazakas, Cindric, Saffell, Mettauer, and Curhan. They'll likely have that group, with Saffell in for Bazakas, against Washington State. With Washington State giving up 180 yards per game on the ground this year (with 5.1 yards per carry), it's a much needed time that could kickstart Cal's run game.

Washington State, like Cal, sits at 4-4. They've done it with the same Mike Leach formula on offense, and a handful more struggles on defense.

It starts with Anthony Gordon, as the Air Raid is still strong in Pullman. Gordon has thrown for 3387 yards and 32 touchdowns to 9 interceptions through eight games, as the CCSF transfer has a handful of targets to throw to. Easop Winston, who the Bears struggled to cover late last year, is Gordon's top target. Brandon Arconado had a massive game against Oregon a week ago. Max Borghi averages over 7 yards a rush (when Wazzu does rush), and there's a handful of other wideouts who can find the open spaces in a defense and make plays (Dezmon Patmon, Renard Bell, Travell Harris, and Davontavean Martin in particular).

Defensively is where the issues have been for the Cougars. Safety Jalen Thompson lost his final year of eligibility before the year, getting selected by the Arizona Cardinals in the Supplemental Draft after an issue with an over-the-counter supplement. With that, the Cougars have missed tackles, with 135 total (Cal has 67, as a point of comparison. There are three players with over 10 missed tackles, safeties Skyler Thomas and Bryce Beekman, cornerback Marcus Strong, and linebackers Jahad Woods and Justus Rodgers. All five players are starters on Washington State's defense.

The Bears are going to have their hands full either way, as they have to figure out something on offense while slowing the Air Raid. They've held the Cougs to low outputs over the past couple of years (22 points in two games), but the defense has to figure out how to force turnovers (nine through eight games).

Cal basketball has their opener against Pepperdine on Tuesday night, and unless you were one of the 1200 in attendance last Wednesday or the however many who found the online-only Pac-12 Network stream of the exhibition, you haven't seen Cal basketball play this year. The Bears won an exhibition against D2 school St. Martin's 98-75. Some of the problems that plagued the Bears over the past two years showed up, with a handful of open threes and straight line drives allowed on defense. Offensively, the Bears passed the ball, worked the offense against a St. Martin's zone, and took what was given to them.

Now they have an opener in Pepperdine, a team that Cal is 2-0 against in the regular season, 0-1 in postseason tournaments (a 1986 NIT loss). They welcome in a familiar coach in Lorenzo Romar, who's in his second stint at the helm of Pepperdine. They boast a team picked to finish fourth in the WCC, with sophomore forwards Kameron and Kessler Edwards forming a formidable double act. Guard Colbey Ross (recruited to the Waves by Current Cal assistant Marty Wilson), is one of the best passers in the conference.

They also have Majok Deng, a true freshman who had a handful of high major offers, who has a chance to crack the starting lineup.

For the Bears, it's the first opportunity to show more people (assuming the Pac-12 Network audience, or people illegally streaming the Pac-12 Network are actually watching) that they're not what Jon Rothstein calls the 'epitome of brutality.' They got some pieces who can produce, with Matt Bradley and Kareem South gearing up to be the main producers on offense, Grant Anticevich showing he can keep people honest with a free thrown line jumper, and both Paris Austin and Lars Thiemann having some distribution skills.

It's going to take time to get people alienated by the last couple years to re-invest in Cal basketball, and a single win over a WCC team won't do it. It's a part of getting back to normal, where the Bears take care of business against the so-called 'mid-major' teams.

This may be one of the plays of the year by a Cal commit, as Chaparral wideout Tommy Christakos plucked a late first half pass out of the air with one hand. While Christakos will likely see use more as an outside receiver, it's not hard to imagine him playing a similar role to what Stephen Anderson did in 2014-15, becoming one of the most effective flex TE/slot types, using superior size against smaller defenders and being one of Jared Goff's most reliable targets.

- Both Damien Moore and Chris Street went down with injuries during their games over the weekend. Street reportedly had to be carted out of his game. Our best wishes go out to the two of them.

- Looking through Cal MBB's record book, the Bears are a combined 1-4 all-time against St. Mary's Pre-Flight and Navy Pre-Flight. They are 1-2 all-time against Stewart Chevrolet and 2-1 against Universal Motors (these are all pre-1952). The most interesting entries in the Cal record book? A 1-0 record versus Berkeley High School and a 2-0 record versus the Fresno YMCA.