The first win of the Tosh Lupoi era wasn’t pretty. But success leaves clues.
Cal’s gritty 21-18 road win over Syracuse on Saturday confirmed more good than what met the eye, and that should give Golden Bears fans optimism moving forward.
Hear. Me. Out.
Defense wins championships
Michael Hutchings’ defense was elite in New York.
After allowing six rushing touchdowns in Week 1 against the Bruins, Cal buckled down against Syracuse, with cohesion and confidence. The Golden Bears allowed just 63 rushing yards after a 55-yard rush on the game’s second play and forced the Orange to try and win through the air.
Syracuse had no luck doing that.
Kingston Lopa and Cal’s defense made Steve Angeli’s life a living hell, as the safety picked off the quarterback three times — including the go-ahead pick-six — and Hutchings’ unit sacked him three times.
Timely blitzes. Confusing alignments. Violent hits. Good tackling. Yeah, Hutchings was in his bag.
Despite being protected by the heaviest offensive line in the FBS, Angeli was under pressure all day. Nate Burrell, Solomon Williams and the trench troopers stepped up.
Led by Lopa in the secondary and AJ Tuitele in the middle, Cal’s defense truly dominated as one, bending at times but never breaking. Defensive backs Isaiah Crosby, Daniel Harris and Quimari Shemwell thrived in big moments. And freshman linebacker JD McKinley looked far more comfortable and disciplined than against the Bruins.
Hutchings said he wanted his unit to build on that strong third quarter against UCLA. Well, Cal pulled it off for an entire 60 minutes on the road.
The post-game film sessions presumably will be inspiring and motivating.
Let Somerville’s vision play out
It was far from ideal, but don’t give up on Jordan Somerville’s offense just yet.
“You have to allow for failure when teaching a complex system like this,” Somerville said in mid-August. “To challenge these guys and show the growth moments and the light bulb goes off has been really telling … excited about the growth …”
Yes, the 1st-and-10s remained challenging in Week 2. And there were more horizontal approaches than were probably necessary.
But, likely against popular belief, I felt Somerville’s play-calling was improved against Syracuse.
The first-time offensive coordinator mixed in some appropriate screens that didn’t see the light of day because of one or two missed blocks. Cal’s route concepts were also solid, but some crucial drops made the stat lines look worse. Jaron-Keawe Sagapolutele wasn’t his sharpest, either, maybe due to his banged-up ankle. Still much better than Angeli, Sagapolutele looked sped up at times, and again, the drops didn’t help.
While it’s an afterthought, running back Adam Mohammed remained integral, seeing 24 touches compared to his career-high 35 against UCLA. Without Carter Vargas, and as the offensive line still figures itself out, tip your cap to Somerville — and Ashten Emory — for taking the load off Mohammed in a winning effort.
Cal’s offense clearly hasn’t clicked on all cylinders yet, scoring 21 points over its last six quarters. But that also means that we have zero clue what Somerville’s offense looks like at its peak.
A home game against Wagner, the type of warm-up that the Golden Bears didn’t have to start the season, could do dividends for the developing offense. A peek of what success in Somerville’s system looks like, even if it's against a defense that just surrendered 87 points to James Madison, could help the unit better understand what is being asked of them and how to execute those visions.
Plenty of correctables
“Love these dudes, love this staff, just so thankful to be a part of this with them,” Lupoi said about his first win. “Can’t wait to just keep growing together.”
Take a page from Lupoi and let Cal grow.
Cal’s win over Syracuse, like the Golden Bears’ loss to UCLA, showed that the Blue and Gold don’t have any glaring holes lowering the team’s ceiling.
From what I can tell, most of Cal’s faults are addressable. Tweakable. Fixable.
Even the troubled special teams, which failed to stop a fake punt and struggled in coverage against the Orange, have more learning to do than praying for talent to walk in the door.
It took the defense two games to figure itself out — having an NFL prospect in Lopa helps. And while the offense and special-teams units need more time, this Cal team comes across as one that will be better as the season goes on.
In previous years, the Golden Bears were a program that had to stack wins early because consistently winning conference games wasn’t in the cards.
Not this year.
Saturday’s win proves Cal can win when far from its best. That’s a trait found in good teams.
Cal has tons of untapped potential right now, rather than a cap on what it can be. And yet, the Golden Bears still found a way to win an ACC game six hours away from home across multiple time zones, after taking a tough Week 1 loss on the chin.
It’s much easier to address what went wrong after a win. I’m eager to see who the Golden Bears really are against Clemson and beyond.
