“Alright. So what? Now what?”
That was the question hanging over Cal after Tosh Lupoi opened his postgame comments with those words following the Golden Bears’ 24-10 home loss to Clemson on Friday night. The answer, at least in the short term, is staring the program in the face: the offense and special teams have to get fixed.
At 2-2, Cal has already lived through enough uneven football to know where the problems are. The defense has done its part, and the Golden Bears have banked a defensive-minded win at Syracuse plus a comfortable home win over Wagner. But two of the three phases have been dragging the team down, and that can only hold for so long.
Special teams is the cleaner repair job. Whether Zach Tinker stays in charge or not, Cal has to clean up the basics - stay disciplined at the line, hold lanes in coverage, field kicks cleanly and stop giving returners space with line-drive punts from Angus Davies.
Those are the kinds of issues a special teams coach can circle in red and fix. Kicking, as the story goes, is its own beast.
The offense is the harder problem, and it starts with first-time offensive coordinator Jordan Somerville, who has previously called plays only at the 12-and-under level. Cal’s pro-style attack has produced very little beyond the season-opening 10-play touchdown drive against UCLA. After four weeks, the results are plain: the offense is alarmingly bad.
The Bears keep digging themselves into third-and-long. They aren’t stretching the field.
Adam Mohammed is often left trying to manufacture yards through contact. Dorian Thomas has disappeared from the picture.
The whole unit looks out of sync, uncomfortable and stuck.
Somerville isn’t the only reason. Cal’s offensive line hasn’t taken the expected step forward.
The new receivers, especially Ian Strong, haven’t delivered the kind of jolt the Bears hoped for. Carter Vargas being banged up early changed the equation too.
Then there’s the biggest surprise of all: Jaron-Keawe Sagapolutele. After a stunning freshman season, the sophomore quarterback has looked off, less confident in the pocket and shaky with his decisions.
That combination has made everything feel connected in the worst possible way. Somerville appears to be asking a lot of the offense while also juggling personnel and sequencing.
The players, meanwhile, aren’t executing at a high enough level or showing enough improvement. The 2-2 record reflects all of it.
“We have high execution in practice,” wideout Chase Hendricks said after the Clemson loss. “Now, it's just about translating to the game.”
What Cal cannot do, though, is keep waiting for the offense to magically click on its own. Somerville has already talked about allowing room for mistakes while teaching a complex system.
“You have to allow for failure when teaching a complex system like this,” Somerville said on Aug. 17
But this is no time for patience for patience’s sake. Cal is four games in, with eight left, and realignment is coming. The program has worked hard to push itself into the national conversation, but that becomes a tougher sell if Saturdays at Memorial Stadium keep looking like this.
A reset may be the best move. Shrinking the playbook would be one step.
Giving quarterback coach Nick Rolovich a chance to call plays might be another. Somerville’s system is already installed, so there’s no true going backward this season, but another offensive voice could help.
Rolovich knows Sagapolutele well and, by extension, should know how to play to his strengths. He also guided Cal to 38 points in a win over No. 25 SMU last year when he was the interim head coach, coming after the Bears’ 31-10 loss in the 128th Big Game, which came with similar offensive problems.
That does not mean Lupoi has to cut ties with Somerville. It does mean the staff may need to shift the play-calling duties to an experienced offensive mind while keeping Somerville involved behind the scenes.
“I have full faith that he's gonna be right there with me as far as dissecting every play that occurred, once again, that we didn't win,” Lupoi said of Somerville after the Clemson game. “We’ve got the players to do it, and we've got a great staff …”
And that part matters, because Cal still has talent. Lupoi pointed to it, and there’s enough brainpower on the staff to believe this group can do better than what it has shown.
Effort is not the issue. The Bears want to win, and they believe they can win. The defense, especially Michael Hutchings’ group in Syracuse, has already shown the fight is there.
But the margin for waiting is shrinking fast. Joe Kapp’s old line still applies: the Bear does not quit, nor does it die. Cal just has to make sure the offense and special teams stop putting that truth to the test.
In Other News...
Cal Gets A Fascinating Homecoming Test Against Unbeaten Virginia Tech
Cals Homecoming weekend will bring an early spotlight to Berkeley, with the ACC setting the Bears Oct. 10 meeting with Virginia Tech for a midday start and national television coverage still to be finalized between ESPN2 and the ACC Network. The timing matters for a Cal team that has looked sharper in day games than under the lights, and it adds a little extra edge to a matchup that already carries plenty of novelty on campus.
Virginia Tech arrives unbeaten under new coach James Franklin, giving the Bears another measuring-stick opportunity in a season that has already had its share of swings. The Hokies also will be making their first trip ever to Berkeley, which gives the game a fresh feel beyond the standings and the calendar, and makes Cals Homecoming stage look even more intriguing. [Read more 🡒]
Cal Faces A Familiar Crossroads After Another Uneven Start
After another uneven opening month, the Bears find themselves at a familiar sort of crossroads, with plenty of season still ahead and not much margin for error. Cal has eight games left, and the path from here turns quickly from one last non-conference test into a long run of ACC play, which means the room to settle in, stack wins and change the narrative is still there if the team can find it.
The history, though, is not especially encouraging for Cal teams that have stumbled early, even if there are a few standout exceptions tied to some of the programs best quarterback eras. This groups ability to make something of the season may rest in part on sophomore Jaron-Keawe Sagapolutele continuing to grow into the job, but the larger issue is broader than one player. Cal needs to improve across the board, and soon, if this year is going to end anywhere near where the Bears want it to. [Read more 🡒]