Arizona Football needs to Bounce Back Versus Cal

The Arizona Football team (2-3, 1-1) looks to bounce back versus the visiting, Cal Bears (3-1, 0-1) as they come to Tucson for this Pac-12 showdown.

Last week was not a particularly good one for the Arizona Football team. The Wildcats squared off with a talented, but shaky USC team and found themselves down 24-0 fairly late into the game.

Luckily, Arizona came back to make it competitive, but too many mistakes and poor execution led to their third loss of 2018. Already five games into the year, and it’s do or die time for the Cats if they want to make a bowl game.

Arizona Wildcats

Up next is Cal, a competitive team that has had a solid start to 2018 so far.

However, this is a home game for Arizona and I find this one at least more winnable than the USC game. The problem is that the Wildcat have a lot of questions they still need answered.

Make no mistake, two straight wins were great, but once again, the team came out flat with seemingly no interest or energy, and Khalil Tate looked despondent, putting up pedestrian-like numbers through the first two-and-a-half quarters.

The rushing attack was even more frustrating as the Wildcats finished with a meek, 98 yards on 37 carries (an average of 2.6 yards per attempt).

Moving forward, Tate and the Wildcats are going to have to find a way to get better and put themselves in the best position to win this game and others. So far, many have been citing Tate’s injuries as to the Wildcats’ offensive inconsistencies. Personally I don’t know what is going on behind the scenes, I can only theorize just like many other pundits and fans can as to why this team has struggled.

However, I do know his [Tate] play in 2018 has been rather uninspiring, and is a far cry from his stellar 2017 performance. Beyond that, the defense needs to continue to find ways to get better each week, and it is worth noting they played much better in the second half against USC, and was one of their better performances.

Coming into this one, Arizona could face some better competition, at least defensively. Cal currently ranks higher than USC and should pose a tough challenge come Saturday. However, if Arizona hopes to prevent falling to 2-4, they need to improve and in a big way.

With that said here is our breakdown of Cal:

Know Thy Foe:

Team: Cal Golden Bears (3-1, 0-1); lost 42-24 to No. 18 Oregon last week.

Conference: Pac-12 Conference

2017 Record: 5-7 (2-7); lost 30-27 to UCLA in their final game of the season.

Head Coach: Justin Wilcox is 8-8 (2-8) as head coach, and enters his second season with the Golden Bears. For the second, straight year, Cal started the season off 3-0, however, Wilcox’s biggest struggle has been way of the Pac-12 Conference. He does have a pretty talented and competent squad in 2018 and perhaps they could make a significant jump from their 5-7 finish in 2017.

Key Returners/ Starters: Offensively, the Golden Bears have been fair this season, using the services of Brandon McIlwain and Chase Garbers primarily at quarterback. In the backfield is where they excel the most.

Cal heavily leans on the play of running back/receiver Patrick Laird and have competent runners in both Garbers and McIlwain. They also like to spread the ball pretty evenly with a few targets including; Kanawai Noa, Vic Wharton and Jordan Duncan most notably (Duncan already has three touchdowns in 2018).

Linebackers Evan Weaver and Jordan Kunaszyk have been phenomenal so far for the Golden Bears. Beyond that they have gotten great production from numerous others including; DE Tevin Paul, LB Alex Funches, and CB Camryn Bynum. Additionally, defensive backs Antione Davis and Jaylinn Hawkins have been absolute ball hawks, accounting for five interceptions between the both of them so far.

Key Injuries/ Missing Players: 

Arizona: (According to SportsReference)

OL- Nathan Eldridge (out for season).
OL- Alex Kosinski still out.
DL- Justin Belknap is done for the year.
CB- Jace Whittaker did not suit up versus USC and it’s unclear if he will play against Cal.
LB- Anthony Pandy was suspended last game due to team rules.
LB- Tony Fields II hurt his shoulder versus USC and his status is unknown versus Cal.
S- Dayven Coleman missed his second game due to a laceration suffered against Houston.
DE/LB- Jalen Cochran is nursing an arm injury and could miss the game with Cal.

CAL: 

Johnny Adams, Jr. sustained a lower-body injury and won’t play in 2018.

Cameron Goode is expected to miss the entire 2018 season with a foot injury.
Derron Brown has missed four missed four games so far and could miss action versus Arizona.

Game Information: 

When: Saturday, October 6th, 2018

Time: 7:00 PM PST – FS1

Where: Arizona Stadium (Tucson, AZ)

Spread: -1.5 Cal

Overall Series Record: 17-14-2 Arizona

Last Meeting vs. Arizona: Arizona won the last match-up 45-44 in a thrilling double-overtime game in Berkeley.

Our Prediction: Cal 27 Arizona 23. This one is a tough one to gauge. Cal has looked better this year, but I still think it’s early to be entirely sold on the Golden Bears being vastly improved.

They did beat a struggling UNC team, won pretty handily against Idaho State, beat BYU in Provo, UT, but lost to Oregon by quite a bit. I think Arizona has real issues on offense and unless Tate and the Wildcats can figure things out, I can see them coming up short once again. I do think Arizona will make it competitive, but Arizona loses in a close game.

Listen to head coach Kevin Sumlin as he talks with the media in his weekly press conference.

We’re anxious to see if Arizona can bounce back by against Cal, and hopefully come away victorious in this one! Bear Down, Arizona!