Here’s an at-a-glance look at who the Cal Bears are in 2019, who they were in 2018, and what to watch for this Saturday when they come to Husky Stadium.
2018 Season Recap:
Cal had an up and down season in 2018. They found success on defense at times but they had one of the worst offenses out of all power 5 schools. They started the season 3-0 then lost 3 straight to Oregon, Arizona, and UCLA. They then beat OSU the week before the UW game. They were 4-3 going in to the Washington game. Both teams struggled on offense in that game but Cal was able to get the defensive touchdown they needed and won 12-10. The Bears then went on to finish the season with 7 wins and 6 losses with a 10-7 loss to TCU in the Cheez It Bowl.
2018 Offense: 21.7 points per game, 2421 passing yards, 2045 rushing yards, 16 passing touchdowns, 13 rushing touchdowns
2018 Defense: 20.4 points per game allowed, 2272 passing yards allowed, 1849 rushing yards allowed, 13 passing touchdowns allowed, 13 rushing touchdowns allowed
2019 Cal Bears:
Head Coach: Justin Wilcox (Career Record: 12-13)
Offense: Chase Garbers will open the season as the starting quarterback. He started 10 games for Cal last season with a record of 6-4 as a starter. Last year the offense really struggled to get anything going. They ranked in the bottom five in power 5 conferences in offensive efficiency. The passing game is still the offense’s biggest question mark this season. After losing senior RB Patrick Laird from last year’s team Chris Brown Jr will take over as the starting Rb and will get a majority of the carries this year. He is a big power running back, who is hard to bring down. Considering that the strength of their team is their defense and that they struggle to pass the ball, I would expect Chris Brown to get a ton of work this year.
Defense: The heart of Cal’s defense is the defensive back group, rated as one of the best in the country coming into the season. The defensive backs are led by safety preseason all American Ashtyn Davis, but the whole group is extremely talented and experienced. Ashtyn Davis along with CB Camryn Bynum, CB Elijah Hicks, and S Jaylinn Hawkins have started a ton of games for the Cal Bears over the past two seasons. Up front the Bears are led by All American linebacker Evan Weaver, junior linebacker Kuony Deng, and senior defensive tackle Luc Bequette. Cal will probably be the best defense the Huskies will face all season, and will push Washington for best defense in the Pac-12 this year.
Last Week: Cal started the season week one against UC Davis. They got off to a slow start and fell behind 10-0 in the first quarter. But as the game went on Cal was able to wear down UC Davis with their strong running game and defense. After allowing 107 yards and 10 points in the first quarter, Cal’s defense buckled down and allowed only 157 yards and 3 points the rest of the game. Chase Garbers and the passing game got off to a slow start, 3-9 16 yards and an interception in the first But he turned it around, finishing 16-28 for 238 yards and 2 TDs. Rb Chris Brown had a big game, started off strong finished the first quarter with a 26 yard run the longest of his career so far. He went on to run for 197 yards and a touchdown. Cal eventually wore down UC Davis and finished the game on a 27-3 run. The final score was 27-13 Cal. To give an idea of where UC Davis is at as a team they played Eastern Washington twice last year, once in the regular season, once in the playoffs. Eastern won both meetings, 59-20 and 34-29.
Players to watch for:
RB Chris Brown Jr– The big RB will be the engine that keeps Cal’s offense going. He is 6’1” 230 lbs and runs hard, not an easy back to bring down. In week 1 Chris carried the offense while the passing game struggled early. He ran the ball 36 times for 197 yards and a touchdown.
WR Kekoa Crawford– The 6’1” 190 lb WR sat out and redshirted in 2018 after transferring from Michigan. He had 3 catches 84 yards and 2 touchdowns last week vs UC Davis.
LB Evan Weaver– The Preseason All American LB is the leading returning tackler in the nation with 159 tackles last season. He had 11 tackles last week vs UC Davis. Last year after the game he made a point to say that Cal had a better culture than Washington, a clear shot at Coach Petersen and the program he runs. Then after the game last week vs UC Davis, Evan was asked about being ready for Washington he said “we’ll fly up there and we will beat them Saturday, that’s what we do.” He is clearly not scared of giving the Huskies any bulletin board material, but this could backfire and give the Huskies even more motivation to beat the Bears this year.
S Ashtyn Davis– Preseason All American Safety, and the leader of the highly rated Cal secondary. He played CB his first two seasons with Cal before moving to safety at the beginning of last season. Last year he finished the season with 53 tackles and 4 interceptions. Last week vs UC Davis he had 4 tackles and a fumble recovery.
