In the wake of Cal's loss to Washington and hearing Justin Wilcox talk about any of 30 or so plays that could've changed the outcome, I thought about the movie Major League 2. No, not the first one, in which a rag-tag group assembled to fail wins the pennant in spite of a vindictive owner, but the second one. That group, having won a bit, loses what made them successful, in a movie that has 5% rating on Rotten Tomatoes.

That comes to a head with the manager Lou Brown (played by the late James Gammon), yells at his team that it's always something, whether it's 'a leg thing, a spiritual thing, or a psychological thing.' (That scene can be seen here)

That's how it has been this year. Cal has lost what made them successful (a consistent defensive edge and execution at the right time), and there are a handful of different reasons why the Bears sit at 1-3, with those three losses coming by a grand total of 14 points. They haven't played a complete game, just a collection of solid drives and halves that limited Cal's margin of error.

The Defense

Against Washington, Cal's defense was a tale of two halves. The first saw the Bears give up chunk plays to tight end Devin Culp, who was injured, came back in in the second half. Dylan Morris was 11-14 throwing the ball in the first half, 6-16 throwing the ball in the second half, throwing the ball away five times as Cal's pressure started to get home.

That first half, where Morris completed ten straight passes and the Huskies averaged 7.3 yards per play, built the initial hole.

The Special Teams

There's only one big special teams error from this game, a dropped snap that led to a lack of a field goal attempt, which eventually could've led to a win in regulation. It is the second time a botched snap or hold has affected a kick this season, and led to a double-digit halftime deficit.

Offense

Chase Garbers has been at his best over the last three games, and is leading the Pac-12 in total offense, but made a mistake on drive one to put the Bears in a hole early. For the second consecutive week, Garbers underthrew a sideline comeback route, while Kyler Gordon jumped to give the Huskies the ball at Cal's 36 yard line. That led to the first touchdown of the game, and while Garbers other interception didn't lead to anything, the Cal QB has already thrown more interceptions this year than he did in either 2019 or 2020. Cal wouldn't have been in the game without Garbers though, so that may be a bit of a moot point.

The Bears did have a drive down to the UW 7, which saw Garbers get sacks, Damien Moore get stopped for a loss, then McKade Mettauer got called for unsportsmanlike conduct after a Garbers run back down to the 5. That led to the botched field goal attempt, but any of those three plays could've turned to something positive, which could have affected the final result.

The final play of the game, a toss to Damien Moore where Moore, who has been very good at taking on contact, fumbled after a big hit from Jackson Sirmon and Cameron Williams, wasn't something to blame one way or another. Moore has been the team's best runner, and you expect him to get positive yardage in those situations.

Penalties

Looking at Cal's cummulative stats on the year, and the Bears have averaged about 67 penalty yards a game, up from 35 yards per game last year and 42 in 2019. These have come at the wrong time, with Josh Drayden's holding taking away a third down stop on goal to go situation. A Ben Coleman face mask (yes, an offensive facemask, one that was replicated in the Sunday Night Football game with the Packers and 49ers) set the Bears back, to the point where they took time off the clock before hitting a couple big passes to Kekoa Crawford and Jeremiah Hunter to set up a missed 55 yard field goal try. Cal's opponents in 2021 already have 12 first downs due to penalty, after having 15 throughout all of 2019.

At the end of the day, it's all complementary football. Mistake bleed into each other, as do successes, and while this Cal team started to get back to their identity in the second half against Washington, a blown play can still be the difference between winning and losing.

Injuries and What's Next

A handful of Cal players went down during the game, with TE Jake Tonges, WR Nikko Remigio, DL Stanley McKenzie and RB Damien Moore all leaving the game at various points with injuries. We'll be better updated on their status by Wednesday evening, but their positions can't be easily filled. Remigio, the season captain, would be a big blow for the Bears, who played Justin Baker in his place. Tonges has been excellent as a blocker and a pass-catcher in the intermediate range. McKenzie is getting more and more playing time, while Moore has been arguably the most consistent player on offense. Each has a clear backup or backups(Baker for Remigio, Jermaine Terry/Nick Alftin/Keleki Latu for Tonges, Jaedon Roberts/Ricky Correia for McKenzie, and Chris/DeCarlos Brooks/Marcel Dancy for Moore), but there's a reason why all four are listed as starters.

They'll need them back for the Washington State game, a winnable game against a Cougar team that has had injuries at the quarterback position, has the same record as Cal, and has media attention on their head coach because of his stance against getting vaccinated against COVID-19. Cal doesn't have to play perfect to win a game going forward, they just have to play better. If they can get a win, maybe they can get another on top of it, and another after that for what Lou Brown called 'a winning streak.' It has happened before.