Saturday’s matchup with Wagner didn’t give Cal much to chew on, and that’s the problem. With an FBS team facing an overmatched FCS opponent in the third game of the season, the game ended up looking more like a tune-up than a test. Cal’s win didn’t reveal much that the Bears hadn’t already shown against UCLA and Syracuse, and Wagner’s place in the national pecking order only made that worse.
That lack of real competition meant the Bears could pile up easy offense without offering much in the way of meaningful answers. A lot of the production came on bubble screens and swing passes, the sort of plays that worked fine in this game but didn’t do the job against UCLA or Syracuse and may not hold up later on. Even Adam Mohammed’s day didn’t change that bigger picture, because Wagner still turned one of those situations into a 65 yard touchdown.
Still, there were a few things worth filing away. Dorian Thomas was on the field again, which matters after he missed the UCLA game and barely played against Syracuse because of an injury in fall camp.
Cal had leaned on true freshman Taimane Purcell in Thomas’s absence, and Purcell logged 58 snaps, five targets, two catches and 14 total yards. That’s some early production from a first-year player, but Cal still needs Thomas back as a real option in the passing game.
Against Wagner, he caught just one pass, so the question now is how close he is to being fully back.
Another notable development came up front, where Michael Klisiewicz appears to have taken the right tackle job from Jimothy Lewis. Klisiewicz replaced Lewis partway through the Syracuse game, and when he got the start against Wagner, Lewis still showed up with the second unit and finished the game.
That points to a real competition won, not just an injury substitution. Klisiewicz, now in his second year at Cal, came in as an under-the-radar Bay Area recruit ranked as the 100th best tackle in the 247 composite and with only three other FBS offers, none from the power conference level.
How that translates against ACC competition is still to be determined, but if Cal has found a playable tackle through development, that would be a major win.
The bigger concern remains special teams, where Cal has been shaky across the board. The Bears are 119th nationally in yards allowed per kickoff return, and half of the 12 teams behind them have already given up a kickoff return touchdown.
They’re also 124th in touchback percentage. On field goals, they sit 109th in accuracy.
And in punt returns, Cal ranks 128th, with just four returns for seven yards, including two yards on a muff that was fumbled forward. Quaron Adams got a look at punt returner, but he fumbled both of his catch attempts.
Angus Davies has been excellent as a punter and has bailed Cal out with some Aussie-rules-tackle-avoidance skills, but beyond that, this phase has been rough.
So the game became a kind of Rorschach test. Optimists could point to the starting offense scoring on every drive except one, with that lone miss coming on a fumble by the backup running back.
Pessimists could look at the special teams problems and the plain, unspectacular play selection and come away unimpressed. For one stretch, Kyion Grayes turning a WR screen into an 80 yard touchdown basically said it all: there was excitement, sure, but not much that felt especially revealing.
In Other News...
Cal Has A Real Opening Against Clemson If The Bears Cash In
Clemson still carries the brand of a powerhouse, but the Tigers are meeting Cal at a time when the edge around that reputation looks a lot thinner than it used to. Coming off a 7-6 season and sitting at 2-1, Clemson enters an ACC game against a Cal team with the same record, giving the Bears a chance to treat this like more than just a cross-country novelty. For a program trying to establish itself in the league, this is the kind of matchup that can say a lot about where it belongs.
The opening is there because Clemsons front has not played with its usual authority, and the Bears have a way to make that matter if they stay committed to their run game and stay efficient on early downs. Cals best path is to keep the Tigers from dictating pace and force them to answer in situations where the game pressure starts to pile up. Whether the Bears can actually cash in on that window is the real question, because a conference road chance like this does not come around often and Clemson, even in a down stretch, is still waiting for a team to make it pay. [Read more 🡒]
Cal Still Has One Lingering Problem After Its Wagner Blowout
Wagners visit to Berkeley did not tell Cal a great deal about where the Bears really stand, but it did offer a chance to clean up a few details and get a better look at the roster. In that sense, the game was most useful as a checkpoint in early-season evaluation, with the bigger takeaway being that Dorian Thomas was healthy enough to get back on the field after missing time in fall camp and sitting out against UCLA. It also gave the staff another live look at the offensive line, where Klisiewicz emerged with the starting tackle job.
Even with the comfortable result, Cal still walked away with a familiar concern hanging over it. Special teams issues have lingered long enough to remain a legitimate problem rather than a one-game wrinkle, and against tougher opponents those mistakes can become much more costly. The blowout may have helped the Bears in the standings and in morale, but it did not erase the need to get that phase of the game in order before the schedule gets less forgiving. [Read more 🡒]
Cals Offense Faces A Brutal Test In A Tight Clemson Showdown
Clemsons 28-20 win over North Carolina gave the Tigers a little breathing room heading into Week 4, but the matchup with California now looks like the kind of game that could turn into a grind. Both offenses have struggled to get much going, with Clemson averaging 4.5 yards per play and Cal not far behind at 4.4, which sets up a meeting where every drive may feel like a test of patience.
The more intriguing side of this one may be the defenses, with players like Will Heldt standing out for Clemson as the Tigers try to keep tightening things up. For Cal, the challenge is obvious: finding enough rhythm against an opponent that has already shown it can make games uncomfortable, and doing so in a setting where points could be at a premium from the opening kickoff. [Read more 🡒]