Cal football: Bears must win out to become bowl eligible after high-scoring loss to No. 9 USC
“Two out of the last three against very talented teams that we had chances to win and we didn’t get it done. That’s the bottom line. We will not accept losing." Wilcox said.
Some fascinating trivia emerged from Cal’s 41-35 loss at No. 9 USC at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum.
For instance, the Bears’ point total on Saturday night was their second-highest against the Trojans in the past 101 years, topped only by a 52-30 win over USC in 1990.
Coach Justin Wilcox wouldn’t have been in the mood to hear about it.
“I love our players. Our players play hard and compete. We need to play better football so we can win these games,” he said. “Two out of the last three against very talented teams that we had chances to win and we didn’t get it done. That’s the bottom line. We will not accept losing.”
The bottom line is Cal (3-6 1-5 Pac-12) enters the final three games of its schedule riding a five-game losing streak that includes a 28-21 home defeat to Washington. The Bears must win all three — Oregon State on the road next Saturday and Stanford and UCLA at home — in order to become bowl eligible for the first time since 2019.
With five Pac-12 defeats, the Bears are assured of their 13th consecutive losing conference record. And they still haven’t beaten an AP Top-10 opponent on the road since 1951.
They made it entertaining in the fourth quarter against USC, getting up off the mat after trailing 34-14 to score three touchdown, including a 4-yard TD run by freshman Jaydn Ott with 2:31 left, then a successful two-point conversion to get within six points.
Said quarterback Jack Plummer, who had a Cal career-high 406 passing yards with three touchdowns, “Just hoped we’d get the ball back one more time.”
They didn’t.
Here are takeaways from the game:
THREE KEY PLAYS
Cal trailed just 13-7 late in the first half when Plummer was intercepted. USC took over at the 50 with 1:12 left and needed just 19 seconds to push its lead to 20-7.
Cal got the ball first to open the second half but had to punt after Ott was stuffed for no gain on a third-and-1 play. Five plays later, Caleb Williams threw an inside screen to Michael Jackson, who put a move on linebacker Femi Oladejo and raced 59 yards for a TD that made it 27-7.
“You’ve got to make those plays,” Wilcox said. “We want to win these games. We’re not out here to just keep it close.”
Wilcox didn’t dwell on the interception, but Plummer said it might have been “the difference between and a win and a loss.”
PLUMMER’S NIGHT
Even with the interception, Plummer had his most productive game of the season. The Purdue transfer became the first Cal player to pass for 400 yards since Davis Webb in 2016, and he threw for 273 yards and all three TDs in the second half.
Plummer said the Bears didn’t stop believing they could win, even while trailing by 20 points after three quarters.
“If you’re a competitor, you never look at that situation and say, `Oh, the game is over,’ “ he said. We were moving the ball pretty well at times, but weren’t putting points on the board. Once we started (scoring), we established a rhythm and it felt good.”
LINE DANCING
Sophomore Ender Aguilar made his first career start at right tackle and seldom-used Everett Johnson saw considerable action off the bench as the coaching staff continues to look for an offensive line combination that work.
“I actually thought they played very well for guys that had little to (no) college experience,” Plummer said. “The moment wasn’t too big for them.”
But while the Bears were successful through the air, they continue to struggle running the ball. Ott had 40 rushing yards on three carries during Cal’s opening drive of the game, then only 10 more yards on his final 11 rushes, although he did catch seven passes for 70 yards.
During its five-game losing streak, Cal is averaging just 53 rushing yards at 2.1 yards per attempt.
NEXT UP
With no more margin for error in their long-shot quest for a bowl bid, the Bears trek to Corvallis, Oregon, to face Oregon State on Saturday.
The Beavers (6-3, 3-3) are coming off a 24-21 loss at Washington, but they are 3-1 at home, including a 17-14 loss to USC in late September.
Cal is now 0-4 on the road this season and 1-11 since the start of the 2020 campaign.