As the team prepares for the 126th Big Game - and last as Pac-12 members - head coach Justin Wilcox, defensive coordinator Peter Sirmon and offensive coordinator Jake Spavital addressed the media in their weekly session.
Wilcox noted that the level of excitement and intensity in the locker room and on the field has made a step forward after shaking off the disappointment and frustration of their 4-game losing streak after their exciting 42-39 win over Washington State on Saturday.
"Well, as you can imagine, it was much improved from the last few weeks," Wilcox said of his team’s energy. "They've always practiced hard, but certainly after the game, the energy showing up in the morning is noticeable. So we're excited to build off of that but we've got a lot of work to do this week as we get ready for a really challenging opponent this weekend in Stanford."
Wilcox will be coaching his 7th Big Game and the significance of the game is not lost on him, despite Cal and Stanford’s disappointing seasons.
"Geez, I don't know if we have enough time to maybe give it it's due," Wilcox said "126 times the teams have lined up and played each other. So much history between the two institutions, the game, The Axe, the people that have played in this game, how much it means to the communities, the alumni, the student body. It's one of the greatest rivalries in college athletics and it's humbling to be a part of it. Our team is going to be aware of the history of it. And you know, the more times you get to be involved with it, and then maybe the older you get, you can appreciate it even more and more. So, it's an honor and it's humbling, but what's most important is that we practice really well so we can give ourselves the best chance to play good football this weekend."
Though Stanford has struggled to a 3-7/2-6 start, they’ve shown flashes of breaking through and the Bears will be ready for their rival’s best efforts on Saturday.
"They have a lot of variety in that offense," Wilcox noted. Troy's an excellent coach. They're gonna give you different personnel groupings, different formations, that they run a really good scheme so we'll use the tape to prepare the best we can also knowing that there's going to be some things that we haven't seen on tape, likely they will have to adjust to and regardless of who plays, they have different options at quarterback, depending on who's healthy. Same thing at tailback. They've got some talented wideouts. Elic (Ayomanor) is a really good player, Tiger Bachmeier and Bryce (Farrell) are really fast. They're always big and physical up front. So, we know there's going to be a challenge and there's going to be a variety and probably some new things we'll need to need to adjust to during the game."
Cal frosh linebacker Cade Uluave had a game for the ages on Saturday, with a forced fumble, two fumble recoveries including a scoop and score, an interception and 9 tackles - good enough earn him both Pac-12 Freshman Player of the Week and overall Defensive Player of the Week honors this week. Wilcox was asked if he’s ever seen a true freshman put together a comparable game.
"Oh, it'd be hard. That's a good question," Wilcox said. "It was a great performance by him. There's some performances in past years where a freshman has had maybe big games or big plays but you don't see them all that often. I mean, he's a really good football player. That first fourth down, stop taking the ball away and then just scooping it up, you can just tell that he's a football player by that's his instinct, to pull the ball out of the quarterback's hands, then get on your feet, scoop it up and run it in for a touchdown.
“There's some coaching in that and then there's a lot of, that's Cade being a football player, and he's still learning a lot. And he's going to continue to learn the more he plays. So he's not perfect, but boy, is he around the ball. And I think just in the last few weeks, the more and more he's played, you see just his instincts for the game show up and his kind of quickness and explosiveness and we're really excited about him. He's doing a great job."
"It's been huge," Cal defensive coordinator Peter Sirmon said of Uluave's performance since starting. "Losing a player like Jackson, just from the production part of it, he was part of takeaways and sacks and he was he was having a lot of tackles while he was in and anytime you lose a person in that position, that production is something you have to try to find again. Cade has been a very, very pleasant surprise. He has good tools. I think prior to here, I've coached four or five different freshmen All-Americans at some of my different stops and Cade kind of shares some of the similarities that those guys had.
"I think those similarities that reveals himself to me is guys that are extremely consistent. They don't behave like newcomers in terms of the ups and downs where the life outside of football gets a little bit out of balance. He has his life in order. He comes from a wonderful family. And he's been very consistent in his approach. He's worked hard in the meeting room, in the weight room to continue to stay available, which sometimes as a freshman plays, their body's not prepared for the amount of reps they're going to take. But for him to be able to to hang in there late in the season and to play as many reps as he's playing, it means he's he's taking care of his body here off the field and doing all the necessary things and he's got a bright future. He's a great young man, and we're excited that he'll continue to develop and I think he has even better football ahead of him."
The Bears were able to generate their best pass rush of the season Saturday when they compiled six sacks in addition to the turnovers they generated. No one was bigger in the pass rush than Florida OLB transfer David Reese, who had 6 tackles, including 3 sacks and 2 forced fumbles.
"He was extremely productive," Sirmon said. "There's been there's been glimpses of David doing that. You go back to early in the season in the second game against Auburn, he had a really nice pass rush. Got on an edge, made a real impactful play there. And we have to continue to find ways of showcasing David. He does have those tools and he did get some really good rushes and he was effective going after the ball on the one that eventually Nohl (Williams) ended up picking up advancing and that's the way you have to play defense in this conference right now.
“The offenses are so talented, the quarterbacks, the offensive coordinators do such a great job that you have to find disruptive plays. That's what really the game was because we still gave up points but it was about finding those disruptive plays and getting some negative yardage plays on the sacks and then ultimately some of the takeaways were the difference."
Sirmon noted that while there’s some changes related to situational rush opportunities and other things of that nature, there's been no dramatic shift in pass rush philosophy related to the increased pass rush production of late.
"There's the things that you're reinforcing," Sirmon said. "We're trying to give them some better opportunities to rush the passer on some of the down and distances that aren't traditional pass rushes. So those are things that you kind of do internally where you're not necessarily waiting for third down to give those guys some opportunities to go after him. But you know, ultimately, I wish it was some magic coaching point. But the guys are continuing to and work Vic (So'oto) and AB (Andrew Browning) are continuing to develop those guys up front and I think sacks and affecting the quarterback is extremely - there's not a lot of opportunities to get great pass rushes.
“The ball comes out quickly and the quarterbacks are hard to get on the ground. So that's one of those things that you hear people (refer to) taking a hammer to a rock and you just have to keep pounding the rock, keep pounding the rock, keep pounding the rock. And that's kind of the same thing with rushing the quarterback, you just have to keep doing it. And you don't know when that one is going to finally break free and be an impactful play."
The last half decade or more have seen the decline or elimination of some traditional Big Game activities and Sirmon noted that while some of the traditions have fallen by the wayside, there is still plenty of rivalry emotions motivating players and fans.
"I would agree that the last 5,6 years, some of the things like covid have greatly impacted the fan events, the student events, the groups of people getting together, it feels like there's a little bit less of an appetite for that sometimes,” Sirmon said. “So those things have definitely changed. But I feel there's a great sense of pride in this game and I know that both sides of the fanbases, the people that live here in the communities, it's a huge game. But I think that his is one of those game where there's an immense amount of pride and we're excited to be a part of it.”
Sirmon is no stranger to rivalry games having grown up in Washington and experiencing the Apple Cup rivalry between Washington and Washington State.
“Well, I would say for me, the Apple Cup is probably a little bit different," Sirmon said. "Just because I was born and raised in the state of Washington, I have a longer history of that, a little more of an impressionable time when you're growing up and hearing about it, but I think they share a lot of similarities. The Apple Cup is a passionate game, as well, a little more east/west than it is when you're essentially in the same part of California, so you don't have some of the geographical distinctions that you might have in Eastern Washington to Western, the West side of the state. But I think fans are passionate, and I think the products can be the same."
After starting the season with Sam Jackson at the helm followed by Ben Finley, redshirt frosh QB Fernando Mendoza has made the most of his opportunities as the most recent starting QB for the Bears, completing 88 of 144 passes and 8 TDs and 4 interceptions during the heart of Cal’s most difficult opponents on the schedule.
"I think he's not even close to his potential right now," Spavital said of Mendoza. "I think he will say the same exact thing to you. What is he on now, like five starts now, this will be six starts, I believe. That's just half of the season right there, and that's gonna be valuable moving forward. And if you just look at the plays, if you talk about last week, there's a lot of throws that he left out there that he wants back and there were some managerial parts of the game that he's learned from. I think that his ceiling, he's got a tremendous opportunity for growth these last two to three games and then going into an offseason and continuity. He's still so young, his best ball is way ahead of right now."
Spavital was asked about Mendoza’s mentality that now that the starting job is his, he’s not prepared to let it go.
"Yeah, I love that about him," Spavital said. "The quarterback position is such a unique position. You only play one. There's the teams that go to two and all that but there's a lot of moving parts. He's a big fan of quarterback play, and you look at just like stories of great quarterbacks and how they got their opportunity and the mindset that they have, and how they're just never going to look back and never let anybody else have those opportunities to replace them and that's just kind of the nature of the beast. We always refer to Tom Brady who's the guy that he looks up to and he had his moment. And I truly believe, just his work ethic and what he does, he's very driven to never look back and be a great quarterback here at the University of California. It's pretty awesome to watch."
The Cal running back depth chart has taken a pounding with injuries this season but has still managed to produce four running backs averaging more than 5 yards per carry this season, often while playing injured. Spavital was quick to give praise to running backs coach Aristotle Thompson for both stocking the rosters with quality backs through his recruiting and getting production throughout the running back roster while players have come and gone all season due to injuries.
"Let's talk about AT and what he's done and how many backs that he's had to recruit and how he's had to get them ready," Spavital said. "I'm telling you, it's a revolving door and I think he does a great job of having them prepared. If you look at all the guys that repped in spring football all the way through the summer workouts and meeting times and all through fall camp and then through the season, it's absolutely insane how many running backs we played in really key roles.
“Like I said before, I never thought that it Justin Williams Thomas was going to finish the USC game. And I think AT has done just a tremendous job of getting those guys ready. But when you look at JOtt, I know we talked last week, like listen, man, you gotta go a little bit more than what you're used to. I think he had 27 rushes last week, played a lot of downs. And we're gonna have to rely on him again this week. And he understands that and he takes a lot of pride in making sure that his body is ready to go because the running back position in our offense takes a lot of hits. I think he's a guy that's been chipping away at a great season, surpassing the 1000 yards in a year mark this past game. All great honors that he always attributes to everybody else. But you know, at the end the day, we've got the Big Game this weekend and he's gonna have to put everything on the line again, he's gonna have to go a lot more than what we expected him to do. But he's ready for the challenge."
Wilcox noted the MLB Kaleb Elarms-Orr, who left the field in the second half of Cal’s win over WSU should be back this week. He also noted the running back Isaiah Ifanse is day-to-day and Jaivian Thomas will be out this week but he has returned to school.
