Nevada, the opponent for Cal in its football season opener Saturday night, is one of those teams that coaches at so-called “Power Five” schools hate to face.
If the Bears beat the opponent from the less-prestigious Mountain West Conference, the national reaction will be “Big Deal”. It will do little to enhance Cal’s reputation. But should the Bears lose, something certainly within the realm of possibility, it will be a major setback.
That hasn’t happened often. Cal has won 32 of the 39 meetings between the two programs with one tie. But the Wolf Pack is on a two-game win streak in the series. They surprised the Bears, 52-31, in Reno in 2010 as Colin Kapernick introduced himself to Bay Area fans. Two years later the Wolf Pack spoiled the opening of a remodeled Memorial Stadium, 31-24.
Head coach Justin Wilcox said he hasn’t mentioned this to his team, “We don’t talk about games of the past,” he said, adding that his crew won’t take the Wolf Pack lightly. “They have good players,” he said. The most intriguing of them might have been playing for the home team had some things gone differently. Junior quarterback Carson Strong, last season’s Mountain West Offensive Player of the Year, is from Fairfield and grew up a Cal fan.
He said he attended many games at Memorial Stadium, mentioning the likes of Aaron Rodgers and Jared Goff as some of his boyhood heroes. He longed to follow them to Berkeley, but for a variety of reasons, including the fact he was injured his senior year of high school, Cal did not recruit him and he headed east.
He has had a terrific career in Reno and has no regrets. “I am happy to be in Nevada,” he said. “I love my coaches here. I wouldn't want to play for another head coach than Coach (Jay) Norvell.”
Norvell has designed a version of a spread offense that has Strong under center on some snaps. Norvell calls it an “air raid”, the Cal coaches refer to it as a “pistol”. Whatever you call it, it works.
Last year Strong led the Mountain West in passing yards (2,858), touchdowns (27), and completion percentage (70.1), tossing just four interceptions.
“He is very accurate, throws the ball short, intermediate and long,” Wilcox said this week. “He really has all those throws in his arsenal, and when you look at his percentage under 15 yards it is exceptional.
He is a very accurate passer. He does a great job running their offense. And they have really good skill players.”
As a group, the wide receivers might be as good as can be found in college football.
Romeo Dobbs, a 6-2, 200-pound senior had 58 receptions for 1,002 yards (17.3 per catch) with nine touchdowns in nine games last fall. He scored three TDs each vs. Utah State & New Mexico, had 12 catches vs. Wyoming, and 219 receiving yards vs. UNLV.
“He can take the top off it,” Cal defensive coordinator Peter Sirmon said of Doubs’ ability to go deep on defenses. ‘“They get the ball on the perimeter to him and he can outrun players. A lot of times in press (coverage), it looks like the DB is standing in cement on some of his releases.”
Elijah Cooks, a 6-4, 215-pound senior, missed virtually all of last year with an injury. In 2019 Cooks had 76 catches for 926 yards and eight TDs. A third deep threat is Tory Horton, who averaged 16.8 yards on his 20 catches a year ago.
The Pack also has a reliable “possession receiver” in Melquan Stovall, who has 52 catches for 421 yards in his first two seasons at Nevada.
Tight end Cole Turner was a wide receiver until last year, and he hasn’t lost a step. He was second to Doubs with 49 catches a year ago, and at 6-6 he is dangerous on “jump balls”
“We’ve got a lot of matchup problems out there,” Strong said. “You can’t double team everybody. I am just going to go with the 1-on-1 matchups when I’ve got ‘em.”
The Wolf Pack tries to make their offense balanced and actually run more often than most teams who run the spread.
“They do a really nice job in the run game,” Wilcox said. “They do a nice job with their O-line of torquing people at the point of attack to create lanes for their run game. We know about the quarterback and the skill at receiver but we need good run defense.”
Toa Taua and Devonte Lee, both seniors, are listed as “co-starters” at running back on the depth chart. But Toa (5-9, 210) will get most of the carries. Lee is more of a short-yardage back, but he did average 5.2 yards per carry.
The offensive line is big, experienced and adept at both pass protection and run blocking. “These are real dudes,” Sirmon said.
The defense has been the Wolf Pack’s weakness, at least when compared to the high-octane offense. They are getting better.
They play an unusual 4-2-5 alignment, something Cal doesn’t see very often. The starting down four are all seniors. “We have a lot of experience coming back in the D-line, it is one of the strongest positions on our team,” Norvell said. “Cal has a big, deep (offensive) line coming back with a lot of experience. That is going to be a big key in the game. We are going to have to do a good job.”
The unusual format puts a lot of responsibility on the two linebackers, and Norvell feels that Lawson Hall and Lamin Touray are up to the task.
It’s in the defensive backfield where the Wolf Pack has had problems. “One of the biggest things for us is inconsistency in our secondary,” Norvell said. “I just think that is one of the biggest things we have to get going. It starts down the middle with your safeties and the nickel.”
Bentlee Sanders a transfer from South Florida brings an instant upgrade to the nickel spot. “He’s a dynamic player, he can run, a punt returner,” Norvell said. “Really a great addition to our secondary. We think he is going to make a lot of plays for us.”
Junior Tyson Williams is one of the safeties and is on the upswing. “He had a great preseason and helped solidify the back end,” Norvell said.
Former walk-on JoJuan Claiborne is the other safety and had 22 tackles a year ago. He is being pressed by Chad Brown, a transfer from UCF.
Senior Berdale Robbins is far and away the team’s best cover corner.
“We have more depth in our secondary,” Norvell said, “more experience back there.”
Junior Brandon Talton is one of the best place-kickers in the county, and Julian Diaz, who averaged 46.3 yards as a part-time punter.
Coming off a 7-2 season, the Wolf Pack are pegged as title contenders in the Big West, and a win over a Pac-12 team would boost their national profile considerably. And they don’t act like a team that is running scared.
“We have a big chance to come in and make a statement and show we can hang with the big boys,” said Strong. “We’re not afraid of anybody. We’re just looking at this as a really big opportunity for us.”
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CALiforniALUM said:
Well, when Sonny Dikes was here any team that could control the line of scrimmage and run the ball down our throats usually won the game. Why can't we do the same against Nevada. We have a deep OL against an average DL. We have stable of capable RBs who once they get to the second level are going to be trouble for 2 LBs. Their DBs will get drawn in and that is when Garbers pounces and drops a dime to one of our WRs.
Ball control and keep their spread off the field. Simple as we all used the draw it up in the sand lot.
Everyone's waiting to see if Garbers has the game to do that. The jury is still out and tonight would be the time for him to start to show the doubters.I'm one of them. I'd love to be proven wrong.CALiforniALUM said:
Well, when Sonny Dikes was here any team that could control the line of scrimmage and run the ball down our throats usually won the game. Why can't we do the same against Nevada. We have a deep OL against an average DL. We have stable of capable RBs who once they get to the second level are going to be trouble for 2 LBs. Their DBs will get drawn in and that is when Garbers pounces and drops a dime to one of our WRs.
Ball control and keep their spread off the field. Simple as we all used the draw it up in the sand lot.
