Today the California Golden Bears suffered their worst loss in the tenure of head coach Justin Wilcox.
There are no excuses for Wilcox and his team. The University of Arizona had not won a game since October 5, 2019 a 35-30 victory over the Colorado Buffaloes. Cal and the horrendous play-calling of offensive coordinator Bill Musgrave were a perfect match to end the Wildcats losing streak.
Musgrave made backup quarterback Ryan Glover look like he never played a down of college football. Yet, he started 10 games for the University of Pennsylvania in 2019 and five games in 2018.
Neither teams were able to muster up much offense though. At the end of three quarters the game was tied at three. The only good chunk of yardage Cal’s offense mustered were three unsportsmanlike conduct penalties on Arizona’s defense.
Still during the fourth quarter Cal lost momentum after an inexcusable holding call got made on McKade Mettauer. He had no reason to hold it was out of pure laziness that he wrapped his arm around the Arizona defender that took away a solid run by Christopher Brooks.
The defense for Cal forced a punt on Arizona’s next offensive possession. Yet the ball got downed at the one. Glover missed an easy throw from the end zone that he needed to make, after a false start his second pass was incomplete along the sidelines. Arizona though got called for sideline interference a 15-yard penalty that gave the offense some breathing room. It took the ball to the 31.
On second down Glover threw a dangerous pass to Brooks who picked up six. The third down play-call got timed perfectly by Arizona’s defense and it went for a loss of couple of yards to force a punt.
Stanley Berryhill III gave the momentum back to the Wildcats with a solid punt return. In the heat Cal’s defense started to break down and the running game was able to pick up solid yardage. Capped off with the game winning touchdown run by Michael Wiley.
Glover finished the game completing only 11 passes on 29 attempts for 94 yards. Brooks finished with 11 carries for 31 yards. Kekoa Crawford led Cal’s receivers with five catches for 56 yards.
On defense Cal came up with three interceptions two got thrown by Will Plummer and one was by Luke Ashworth. Even with winning the turnover battle the atrocious play-calling of Musgrave meant no points on the board by the offense.
Now is the time for changes in Berkeley. It starts with the immediate firing of Wilcox and Musgrave.