Cal is coming off of a bye week that, fortunately, gave it a little time to lick some wounds (both metaphorical and physical) after a 28-9 loss to Washington State.

The schedule also provides further opportunity for potential healing this week as the Golden Bears visit the Colorado Buffaloes, who are by almost every metric one of the worst teams in the FBS this year despite being one of the better teams in the Pac-12 not too long ago.

Cal will get a chance to get the season back on track and advance to 4-2 if it can win in back-to-back seasons vs. the Buffs, something it has not done since the 2010 and 2011 seasons (though there have been just five total competitions since then). Last year, the Bears drubbed Colorado 26-3 in a game that was not even as close as the score suggested; the last time Cal took the trip to Boulder in 2017 resulted in a 28-44 loss for the Bears.

Justin Wilcox and Co. will surely look to exorcize a few demons on that field come Saturday afternoon.

Let's take a closer look at the matchup ...

Coach: Mike Sanford (Interim, 0-0; 9-16 career)

Scoring Offense: 13.4 PPG (129th nationally)

Scoring Defense: 43.2 PPG (130th)

Total Offense: 277.0 YPG (127th)

Total Defense: 507.6 YPG (129th)

What the Buffs do well: What’s the polite way to say “nothing"?

Well, I suppose that’s not all the way fair. Colorado does do some pretty interesting things on the offensive side of the ball with misdirection and motions that lead the defense’s eyes away from where the play is actually going. They’ve done some neat screens and throwbacks off of this style of play and have really had some nice stuff scripted for their first 15 or so plays.

But .... yeah. The stats above tell the story. This is a team that has lost every game by 23 or more points, that has gone through three starting quarterbacks before settling on true freshman Owen McCown, that has given up more yards in each game than the one prior, peaking (for now) at 667 against Arizona two weekends ago. Simply put, this is the worst Power 5 football team in the country.

What the Buffs don't do well:

The defense is seriously vulnerable to both the run and the pass. More to the point, it is susceptible to getting torched in the air and gashed in the run game. We're talking opponent rushing totals of 275, 435, 334, 249 and 178, and 489 yards and 6 TDs passing allowed to Arizona. Colorado, in fairness, was hit pretty hard in the transfer portal a year ago. Christian Gonzalez and Mehki Blackmon were both highly talented cornerbacks that transferred out to Oregon and USC respectively, while safety Mark Perry transferred out to TCU (not to mention star running back Jarek Broussard to Michigan State). That leaves a pretty serious void on the back end of the Buffs’ defense and a lot of potential space to operate for Cal's playmakers.