Cal Football: How a Horrible Offense Is Killing The Bears

The Cal football team, playing Utah on the road, is about to be massacred. They don't have a chance against No.12 Utah, a three-touchdown favorite.


The Utes have a great defense, ranked fourth nationally, giving up a measly 252 yards per game. Alabama and Oklahoma would have trouble gaining yards against these guys. So what can the Bears' offense do against this defense? Not much. Their offense is a joke. It's so bad it can even be stymied by lousy defenses. This offense is truly bottom of the barrel, Out of 120 major college offenses, the Bears rank No.115 in yards gained.

As usual, the Bears have one of the best defenses in the Pac12. This season, the secondary is really something special. According to pro scouts, it's one of the best in the country. Overall, this defense smothers the opposition, bends but rarely breaks. Scoring on this unit isn't easy. The last time anyone scored more than 24 points was 15 games ago.

But this stellar defense is largely wasted. The problem is the offense. It's like an anchor, dragging the team down.

About a month ago, things were looking up. Cal was 4-0 and brimming with hope, The offense was just starting to click under QB Chase Garbers. Unfortunately, though, he got hurt in the fifth game, against Arizona State, which turned into a loss because the Bears couldn't score in the second half.  Since then, the Bears' 4-0 record has tumbled to 4-3. The pummeling by Utah will drop it another notch, to 4-4.

So what's wrong with the offense?

Just about everything.

The problems start with the quarterback. Backup QB Devon Modster is a disaster, He can't make basic sideline passes and constantly overthrows receivers. His receiving corps, however, deserves some of the blame. When they're not dropping passes, they're failing to get open.

The offensive line is another major negative. Their pass-blocking is very weak, allowing defenders to swarm behind the line in a flash, giving the QBs little time to set up and look for receivers.The major consequence of bad pass blocking is to eliminate the deep threat. When defenders aren't concerned about being burned by bombs, they hang around the line of scrimmage.

Without a deep threat and with extra defenders around the line, something else suffers--the run game. Extra defenders lurking around the line of scrimmage clog the rushing lanes, severely limiting the RBs. Cal has a pair of quality runners--burly Chris Brown and speedy little Marcel Dancy. But since QB Garbers is gone, erasing the deep threat, the RBs are always bottled up. These days the Cal offense is a parade of three-and-outs.


But wait, there's more bad news. Modster is hurt, forcing Cal to turn to inexperienced freshman Spencer Brasch. He played the final minutes of the Oregon State loss, looking like what he is---an inexperienced freshman. Unless he has a miraculous transformation, that's how he will look against Utah, the best defense Cal will face this season.


After Utah the Bears have four games left---Washington State, USC, Stanford and UCLA. The Bears goal now is to win two more games and become bowl-eligible. These games are winnable. Assuming the defense continues its quality play, the QBs have to really step up.


Can they, will they....?