Two weeks and a coaching change since its last game, Colorado will provide a first glimpse at how it looks under interim head coach Mike Sanford with a noon kickoff Saturday against Cal at Folsom Field.
The game won’t lack in intrigue, a remarkable sentence to type about the lone remaining winless team in the Football Bowl Subdivision, but following the firing of Karl Dorrell last Sunday and given how other programs who made similar early-season moves have been faring under interim coaches, it’s fair to wonder how exactly the Buffs might respond.
Before we delve too deep into Colorado – which we’ll do plenty this week – what is there to know about Cal?
In their sixth season under coach Justin Wilcox, the Golden Bears have been a relatively steady program, having never won more than eight games or fewer than five (in a non-pandemic season) since Wilcox’s tenure began in 2017. The archetype for his teams – a strong defense paired with a plodding offense – is somewhat intact with this squad, though there’s an added dimension to this Cal offense with the emergence of standout freshman running back Jaydn Ott.
With that in mind, let’s get to know a little more about the Golden Bears.
Game details
Who | Colorado (0-5, 0-2 Pac-12) vs. Cal (3-2, 1-1)
Where | Folsom Field
When | 12 p.m. MT Saturday
TV | Pac-12 Network
Cal Golden Bears (3-2)
Location: Berkeley, Calif.
Conference: Pac-12
Coach: Justin Wilcox (6th season at Cal, 29-30 career record)
2021 record: 5-7
Scoring offense rank (of 131 Football Bowl Subdivision teams): 93rd (25.8 PPG)
Scoring defense rank: T-44th (22 PPG)
Total offense rank: 73rd (398.2 YPG)
Total defense rank: 76th (387 YPG)
Five players to know
1. RB Jaydn Ott (No. 6): Most everything Cal does on offense revolves around the stud freshman running back. The Rivals Top250 recruit in the 2022 class has wasted little time making an impact at the next level. He has a team-high 532 rushing yards and five rushing touchdowns. Both marks are more than the rest of his teammates have combined. Additionally, he’s averaging an absurd 7.2 yards per carry. Granted, 274 of his yards came in one game – a win against Arizona – but he’s a talented player worth keeping an eye on, especially since he’s also a threat to catch the ball out the backfield (with 16 catches for 104 yards and two touchdowns).
2. LB Jackson Sirmon (No. 8): A preseason first-team all-Pac-12 selection, Sirmon has lived up to that hope near the halfway point of the 2022 season, with a team-high 44 tackles and one forced fumble. Sirmon, the son of Cal defensive coordinator Peter Sirmon, is in his first season with the program, having transferred over from Washington.
3. S Daniel Scott (No. 32): Another preseason first-team all-Pac-12 honoree, Scott has performed well as a sixth-year senior. His two interceptions rank him among the top 50 FBS players in the category. A team captain, Scott is the lone Cal player who was with the program in Wilcox’s first season in 2017.
4. OLB Xavier Carlton (No. 44): Carlton has been a bit of a revelation this season for the Golden Bears, his first with the program after transferring over from Utah. After recording just one sack between his first two college seasons, he has a team-high three through Cal’s first five games. He came off the bench in the team’s first two games.
5. QB Jack Plummer (No. 13): In his first season in Berkeley, the Purdue transfer has been solid, completing 63% of his passes for 1,248 yards (about 250 per game), eight touchdowns and just two interceptions. In two Pac-12 games this season, he has been even better, completing 67.2% of his passes for 513 yards, three touchdowns and no interceptions. And, because I had to check given his position and that he’s from Arizona, he’s not related in any way to Jake Plummer.
What Cal does well:
For what the Golden Bears may lack in flash, they do a really good job of not beating themselves. They’re one of just five FBS teams that haven’t yet fumbled this season and are tied for 13th in fewest interceptions, with just two. They’re also 27th in fewest penalties. Colorado isn’t a team that thrives on creating turnovers – it has gotten just five this season, tied for the 11th-fewest in FBS – but a defense that hasn’t been able to stop much of anyone likely won’t get any help from its opponent.
Where Cal is vulnerable:
There aren’t many, if any, flattering adjectives that could be used to describe the Golden Bears’ offensive line, a unit that has been a sieve for most of the season. Cal is giving up 3.2 sacks per game, the 15th-most of any FBS team and is tied for 82nd in tackles for loss allowed per game, with 5.8. This is an area where Colorado badly needs to capitalize, but how likely is it to do so? Through their first five games, the Buffs are 130th in team sacks per game and tied for 126th in tackles for loss per game.
Key stat:
Over the past 12 seasons – not including this one – Cal has won at least eight games just twice. In both instances, it won eight games exactly. It wasn’t always this way, even recently. In the seven seasons before then, from 2003-09, the Golden Bears won at least eight games six times, including two 10-win campaigns under then-coach Jeff Tedford. While Cal’s slide has been to mediocrity, and not outright futility like Colorado, it stands as one of the more beatable opponents remaining on the Buffs’ schedule, even as a two-touchdown favorite.
Key matchup
Owen McCown against the Cal secondary. This may be a cop-out as I picked the same thing just two weeks ago when Colorado faced Arizona, only for the Buffs’ defense to cave in a way that would have caused them to lose even if Patrick Mahomes miraculously lined up under center for them. His task against Cal will be more challenging than it was against the Wildcats, as the Golden Bears have three players with at least two interceptions this season and as a team, they’re tied for 23rd in interceptions. If he can limit the mistakes that naturally come for any freshman – or not have them occur at crucial moments or deep in his team’s territory – he could help what should be an improved offense keep the Buff competitive.
