Behind Enemy Lines: 5 Questions With Cal Expert

With the Oregon State football team (4-3) set to face Cal (3-4) at Memorial Stadium on Saturday, BeaversEdge catches up with our sister site GoldenBearReport to learn more about the Bears!

1. It seems like Cal's season so far could be split into the first three games vs the last four - What's gone wrong for the Bears these last few weeks with such close losses?

GoldenBearReport Publisher Matt Moreno: "There have been some common themes throughout the season, even in the wins, that have come to the forefront once the team moved into conference play. The issue as of late has been closing out games.

The Bears had fourth-quarter leads in three of the last four games but simply could not hang on until the end. It has become a bit of a theme for Justin Wilcox in his time in Berkeley and has often gone hand in hand with his record in one-possession games.

Cal has lost its four games this season by a combined nine points. The fourth quarter has been an issue for this team over the last month and is a big part of why the Bears are now under .500 entering Saturday."

2. It seemed like Justin Wilcox finally found an OC with Jake Spavital last season - However, Spatival was hired by Baylor and Wilcox promoted Mike Bloesch, former OL/run game coordinator... How has Bloesch fared so far and do you think they miss Spavital?

MM: "I’d say they probably do miss Spavital but it’s tough to say for sure since he was only around for a short time in his second stint at Cal. He was never quite able to find the same spark that he had with Davis Webb in his first time leading Cal’s offense, but there were certainly more positives to look at on that side of the ball. It’s been difficult to truly gauge what kind of offensive coordinator Bloesch is this year because he has been a bit handcuffed by injuries to key playmakers on that side of the ball.

Star running back Jaydn Ott has missed a ton of time this season, including the last two games, and he has yet to have a rushing performance of over 100 yards in four appearances. Two of Cal’s expected contributors at receiver, Notre Dame transfer Tobias Merriweather and Ohio State transfer Kyion Grayes have not played this season.

Still, the offense has felt a bit stale for a lot of the season and has had issues getting the ball in the end zone. There haven’t been problems moving the ball, but Cal’s red zone efficiency has been a problem. It has put a lot of pressure on the defense to be great every week, and that has taken its toll."