5 questions with Cal expert
BeaversEdge.com caught up with Trace Travers of GoldenBearReport.com on the Rivals.com network to get an in-depth look at the Oregon State Beavers' opponent this week.
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1. Cal has now lost five of their past six games, but the one win might be the most impressive win this season in the Pac-12 - a 37-3 blowout against Washington State. Was the win over WSU a fluke?
I wouldn’t say so. The Cal defense has had their two best games against teams with Air Raid offenses in Ole Miss and Washington State. It may help that plenty of guys on the defense had played against the Air Raid every day in practice under Sonny Dykes, but Justin Wilcox and Tim DeRuyter have shown that they can scheme well against simple offenses like that. They schemed to play cover two under Wazzu’s out routes, forcing an interception on the first possession. They delayed blitzes and dropped back into coverage, realizing that Luke Falk holds the ball way too long on occasion. It was a solid game plan.
There’s no doubt that the team played their best game defensively, and that a couple plays bounced their way to force turnovers, but if anything it showed that the defense is capable, something it needs to get back to in the coming weeks.
2. This is a pretty early game on the schedule for a senior night as Cal finishes the season with a bye week and two road matchups. What senior leaders on the Cal team do Oregon State fans need to know about?
There aren’t too many seniors on this team playing big play counts, but here’s a few.
#9 James Looney: The team’s leader in TFLs from the 3-4 DE spot, Looney is a bit of a tweener, but he gets penetration well against different fronts with his speed.
#2 Darius Allensworth: The veteran corner on defense who had to earn his spot back during the year. A solid tackler in one on one situations and a smart player.
#23 Vic Enwere: The bigger back that you may see more of on 3rd downs, the “Spearmint Rhino” (don’t google that) has been up and down this year. Sometimes he’ll be incredibly effective, busting 3rd and 1 situations for 20+ or try to make a move outside and be stopped at the line.
#9 Matt Anderson: The kicker who bears a strong resemblance to Sunshine from Remember the Titans, he’s four points away from tying Doug Brien’s school scoring record at Cal, and the lefty kicker shook off a rough start to the season and has been near automatic since.
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3. What does Oregon State need to do to have success against Cal's defense?
Not too much different than what they’ve been doing during their past two games. With the running talent that they have, Oregon State should be using Nall over and over again, as the Bears did alright against Phillip Lindsay, but not great, and have had trouble against the run in recent weeks. It’s not going to be like last year, where Nall’s monster performance likely put a few more nails in Sonny Dykes’ coaching coffin, but Nall should have some success running.
4. What's the scouting report on Ross Bowers? Do you see him as the answer at QB for the next two seasons?
He’s a first year starter at the college level, one that didn’t throw a pass at Cal until this year (oddly enough, he could have come into the Oregon State game a year ago, where Davis Webb broke his hand early, but Webb wouldn’t come out), and to a certain extent that shows. There’s some issues with the injuries all around him and the lack of line depth (lost top WR, RB, TE early in the season, two guys who would have been projected starters on the line grad transferred or were kicked off the team) too which explain a good portion of the poor play.
When Bowers gets in rhythm, he can make plays. He’s one of the toughest quarterbacks I’ve seen, and he has to be, since he’s gotten hit a bunch. He’s very good at following up bad plays with spectacular ones (like getting mauled against North Carolina, then throwing a perfect deep ball while getting hit again). He’s not much of a runner and can make easy mistakes. He’s young in that regard, and the situation around him is a bit of a struggle, as Beau Baldwin is doing what he can with what they have.
As far as being an answer for the next two years, I think he has to improve a lot for that to be the case. I think it’s more likely that he gets passed up by South Carolina transfer Brandon McIlwain, who had a tremendous fall camp and is a solid dual-threat guy, or Chase Garbers, who is redshirting this year, but shows a ton of promise with his arm and his awareness. We’ll see, Bowers does appear to be improving at times, at others he either makes correctable mistakes or is struggling in his situation.
5. What's your score prediction and why?
I’m never anywhere close to right on these, so I’ll go with Vegas on this one. The spread is 7.5, the over/under is 54, I’ll go with 31-24 Cal as this one ends up being a quicker game with Nall being utilized 25+ times. Cal forces a couple turnovers, and the seniors get a nice sendoff.