The Cal program, under Justin Wilcox has been built on fundamentals, starting from the defense. The offense has been largely unsuccessful, aside from a handful of contests where Chase Garbers made the leap in 2019 and to begin this year. Special teams have been up and down, with down being the predominant level over the past two seasons, but hadn't been making this many key mistakes through Wilcox's first three seasons.

The Bears fell at home, on Homecoming, 21-6 against a Washington State team they were favored to beat. Games aren't played on paper, but a lack of fundamental play doomed the Bears, from the third botched PAT snap of the year, to number of missed tackles throughout the game, to three drives inside the 40, including two into the red-zone, without any points. The Cal offensive line struggled more than they have all season, allowing four sacks and seven tackles for loss, as everything added up to a loss that may mark a crossroads for this iteration of the Golden Bears.

"We tried to put our players in a position to succeed today. I failed," Wilcox said in the aftermath of the loss.

Washington State would score on their first drive from scrimmage, with a Deon McIntosh 20 yard run setting up the Cougars in Cal territory, prior to a screen play to Calvin Jackson Jr. getting into the endzone nearly untouched.

Cal had 12 total drives on the afternoon, scoring on only the first thanks to a 44 yard shot play to Kekoa Crawford, then an 11 yard touchdown run by Christopher Brooks. Those came after Damien Moore fumbled on the first play from scrimmage for the Bears, a retrospective harbinger of things to come. Cal would again have a low snap on a PAT, with Jamieson Sheahan being unable to bring it in, leading to the third botch snap/hold of the year. That made it 7-6, the closest Cal would get to a comeback on the afternoon.

Washington State went three and out to start their next drive, or would have, with one of the strangest sequences you'll see. Nick Alftin would come in to block the rugby style punt by Nick Haberer, but Ron Stone Jr picked it up and ran for a first down. They would put together 11 more plays on the drive, with Calvin Jackson Jr. making a spectacular one-handed catch to make it 14-6.

Cal and Washington State traded punts on three possessions, with Washington State getting the ball back. It was the first possession for Nate Rutchena, a true freshman who earned playing time, per Justin Wilcox. Rutchena would reward that trust with an interception on his third play, jumping a quick RPO and giving Cal great field position, but the Bears would go backward while starting at Washington State's 30, with a sack by Brennan Jackson and an interception on a 4th and 14 try.

Daniel Scott gave the Bears another interception, his third of the year, but the Bears couldn't capitalize, thanks to more short gains, a miss to Crawford from Chase Garbers which was compounded by a holding call, leading to a three and out.

Cal would hold Washington State down for two more possessions, but couldn't make anything happen in between, thanks to another holding call on Valentino Daltoso. The second half brought more of the same, with Garbers getting sacked by Jackson on the first snap of the half. De Laura would throw his third touchdown pass after the Cougars ran the ball, including a 3rd and 5 scramble by de Laura for 15 yards, with De'Zhaun Stribling bringing in an open 8 yard slant for the score.

Chris Street saw his first action, and ended up leading Cal in rushing with 8 carries for 51 yards all in the second half, but a drive inside the Washington State 40 would stall out, with Garbers missing Kekoa Crawford on a 4th and 3, after Damien Moore lost yards on 3rd and 1.

Cal would force another stop, with another drive inside the Washington State redzone, thanks to two chunk passes to Trevon Clark, but a Chris Street run was stuffed in the backfield thanks to a Washington State line stunt, with Garbers throwing too low for Street on 4th and 6 from the Wazzu 7.

Cal would mount one more trip inside the Wazzu 40, thanks to a key 16 yard scramble by Garbers on 3rd and 15, but another sack, along with an illegal forward pass by the Cal QB marked the end of yet another promising drive. Cal would get the ball back one more time, but Brayden Rohme, in for the injured Will Craig, would commit a false start penalty, the Bears wouldn't get a single first down, and the game ended with a painful loss in a game Cal could've won.

The fundamentals have been what wins Cal football games in the Wilcox era. The little things, from the first game against North Carolina where the Bears held North Carolina receivers at the end of the game with a two-score lead, preserving the lead while running down time. It came in running down the clock in a 2018 win over Washington and running efficient two-minute drills against UW and Stanford in 2019. It came in winning the USC game in 2018 with 14 yards on 4th and 1, with four former walk-ons in the game. They tackled well and while they had their struggles on offense, Cal would be in nearly every game.

That wasn't the case today. The fundamental plays weren't made, there were struggles that weren't there in the past four games, let alone in past years. The defense, while they didn't tackle particularly well, held Washington State to 4.7 yards per play (before kneeldowns), which will win games. Averaging 4.3 yards will not, unless you play exceptionally great on defense and make plays on special teams. Cal did not. Washington State did run some good scheme up front, with line stunts and pressures, but a fundamental team handles the unexpected. Cal did not.

What's next is a much needed bye, as the Bears will need to recover to face Oregon in Eugene on Friday October 15th. They'll face a team also coming off a bye, and one that will be without Kayvon Thibodeaux for the first half, due to a targeting suspension stemming from the 31-24 loss to Stanford. It will be a week for the Bears to have a reckoning, to be introspective, to figure out what works and what doesn't, because what they've done this year hasn't worked.

Notes:

- First career action for Rutchena, first start for Trey Paster in place of Evan Tattersall, who did not play. First action for Akili Calhoun as well

- For the second time this year, Cal won the turnover battle and lost the game, with two interceptions forced and one given up

- Cal went 3-15 on 3rd down, with an average of 8.3 yards to go. They only converted 1-4 in 3rd and short situations, and came into the Washington State game converting over 47% of their third downs.