Since its offensive outburst in the win over Arizona last month, Cal's football season has taken a sharp turn in the other direction with three straight losses now.

The Bears shook off a scoreless first half Saturday night to scored three touchdowns after halftime, but they couldn't catch Washington while losing 28-21 at Cal Memorial Stadium.

Here was coach Justin Wilcox's postgame press conference as well as a complete transcript of his comments.

What do you take from the defense holding Washington to a season-low but the offense struggling again?

"I thought our players gave us everything they had, and in the first half we didn't quite get enough going on offense. In the second half, we needed one more stop somewhere. And we didn't get it done. They're a good team. So that's the bottom line."

Did you see progress tonight?

"I thought our guys competed really hard. I thought we made some plays offensively in the second half -- big catches, catch and runs. Jack stood in there under some pressure and delivered the ball. The story is going to be the missed opportunities on each side of the ball. In the first half, a couple missed opportunities on offense to get down in scoring position and make something happen. And a couple in the second half. And defensively, especially in the second half, there was some opportunities to create some longer down and distances, knock a ball down where we were just short, and in a game like that against a team like that those are the plays you've got to make. There were probably five or six that turn the tide for you, and we didn't get it done."

What was the difference offensively in the second half?

"Rhythm, going forward, getting first downs, making contested plays, breaking a tackle, so a little bit of everything."

Could you tell some of that improvement come from Steve Greatwood?

"I think it takes everybody, staff and players. There's shared responsibility there to improve. That's what we have to focus on. It's a bottom-line business, but in order to get the outcome we want we have to perform better and there's some plays in there where we can perform better and that's on everybody, starting with me."

What is the update on Matthew Cindric, Lu-Magia Hearns, Jeremiah Hunter and Mason Starling?

"Matt Cindric unfortunately will be out for the remainder of the season. And Lu Hearns, we will hope to have back next week as we will Jeremiah Hunter. Mason Starling competed well in the first half, made a couple nice catches for us in the first half before he went down and we'll visit with the trainers here shortly."

Can you give us any more detail on Cindric's situation?

"Yeah, he'll be out for the rest of the season unfortunately. He's an extremely tough guy. He got injured early in the game last week and really didn't mention it and just played the entire game, and unfortunately it's an injury that needs to be repaired and will miss the rest of the year, but he is a warrior of a person."

How would you evaluate the offensive line adjustments to playing without him?

"There's some good and some things we need to improve upon. We need to protect the quarterback, there's a couple more runs in there where we probably could have caught some creases. I thought they competed hard, but you know again, effort and toughness and competitiveness is a requirement, pre-requisite to perform well, but we didn't perform consistently enough. We've got to continue to make strides, so we'll work with them again starting Monday."

Did you see what Oregon did against UCLA and do you have any quick observations about the Ducks?

"I did not. ... Two really good teams going at it. They're a very talented team."

Have you looked at Oregon at all yet?

"Not really. We focus on the team we're playing that week. We'll start that tonight and tomorrow."

There was a lot of talk about Jackson Sirmon going against his former team. How do you think he played tonight?

"I think Jack's an extremely mature individual, and I think he played like he always plays -- tough, smart, plays really hard. I'm sure there's a few plays he could play better, but he's a very good player and I think he probably played exactly like he always does."