Cal heads up to Pullman tomorrow for a December matchup with Washington State. It's the latest ever matchup in the calendar year between the two schools, with the latest prior being the Coca-Cola Classic, held in Tokyo, Japan on November 28th, 1987 (it resulted in a 17-17 tie).

Now Cal (1-3) takes on Washington State (1-2) with both teams coming off drastically different results. The Bears took down a ranked Oregon team a week ago for their first win, cleaning up mistakes that cost them against Oregon State and Stanford. Washington State, coming off a three week layoff due to COVID-19 cases, struggled in a 38-13 loss to USC, one where the Cougars were down 28-0 after the first quarter.

The Cal coaches don't believe that result is what Washington State is under first-year head coach Nick Rolovich. Rolovich, a Bay Area native (who attended Marin Catholic in Kentfield and City College of San Francisco), has moved the Cougars into his 'run and shoot' offense, one that actually runs the ball, unlike what Mike Leach did at the school in the past. Rolovich was helped by the fact that his true freshman quarterback, Jayden de Laura, ran the offense in some form at St Louis HS in Hawaii.

Cal comes in needing to win this game and whatever crossover game they get next week in order to be eligible for a bowl berth.

Who: Washington State

Where: Martin Stadium, Pullman, WA

When: Saturday December 12th, 2020, 1 PM

TV/Radio: Fox/KGO 810 (Alex Faust and Petros Papadakis on the Fox call, Joe Starkey, Mike Pawlawski, and Todd McKim on the Cal Radio call)

Cal Game Notes | Washington State Game Notes

Uniform Combination: Blue helmets, white jerseys, yellow pants

Injury Notes:

Cal

- Cal will have OL Valentino Daltoso and DL Stanley McKenzie traveling with the team. Whether either of them will play is a gametime decision

- Justin Wilcox announced that WR Trevon Clark left the team for 'personal reasons,' as Clark did not play against Oregon and was removed from the depth chart this week.

Washington State

- The Cougs have not had Max Borghi back all year, and this could be the week the all-Pac 12 running back returns. In his absence, Deon McIntosh has averaged over 100 yards per game. Borghi is questionable to return for this contest

Without Chase Garbers, Cal snapped a four-game losing streak against Washington State in 2019 with a 33-20 win over the Cougars. Devon Modster threw for three touchdowns, running for a fourth in a win that saw the Bears get a handful of explosive plays and limit the Air Raid as a whole.

Notably, Makai Polk broke the game open with his first career touchdown reception, a 52 yard catch and run on a screen that gave the Bears a 26-14 lead in the fourth quarter. Modster would eventually add on with a 4th and 6 rushing touchdown from 13 yards out.

Cal started the game strong, with Jaylinn Hawkins intercepting Anthony Gordon's first pass, which set up a Chris Brown Jr. touchdown run from 27 yards out. Cal would have the extra point blocked and returned for a two-point conversion, making for a strange 6-2 score for most of the quarter.

The win over Washington State marked one of the best performances of defensive back Josh Drayden's Cal career. Drayden, who played in only four games in 2019 to preserve a year of eligibility, finished the game with six tackles, two for loss, as he made a number of tackles on Washington State swings to stop them before they started.

This game marked three straight years of the Cal defense holding Washington State to 20 points or less.

Over the Top

Washington State has given up over 300 yards passing in every game they've played so far. They've had multiple players out in their secondary due to injury or otherwise, and it's something that Cal will have to go after. The Bears are capable of this, as Chase Garbers threw for over 300 yards in the Oregon State game, but his yards per attempt are as low as they've been since his redshirt freshman season.

Cal did get Nikko Remigio going against Oregon, but they'll continue to need contributions from their bigger receivers in Kekoa Crawford and Makai Polk. With Trevon Clark gone from the team, it might be time for Monroe Young or one of the true freshman wideouts to step up as well.

Tackling in Space

Cal's defensive success against Oregon came through tackling well in space, playing with good fundamentals, and the second man in punching the ball loose. Washington State's calling card this year has been their ability to make plays in space. Two of their top targets, Renard Bell and Travell Harris, are guys who can make defenders miss in a phone booth. Jayden de Laura can scramble and make plays with his feet.

There's a lot of discipline needed to play well against a run and shoot scheme married to some Chris Ault pistol offense. The Cal defense showed they can play well against some pistol schemes against Oregon. Now they'll have to do it again.

Keep it Clean

This mainly comes in the special teams game, but it's applicable to the whole of Cal's operations. The game was moved to earlier, and while the forecast doesn't call for rain, there's still a high of 32 degrees listed. It will be chilly in the Palouse and Cal has to account for that.

Cal limited their special teams errors to one questionable holding penalty on a punt return, and have been close to breaking a return on a couple of occasions. While Washington State has arguably the top punter in the conference in Oscar Draguicevich III, the Bears have a chance in the return game, so long as they don't shoot themselves in the foot.