After a 3-9 campaign that represented the most disappointing season of former head coach Jeff Tedford’s 11-year tenure, Sonny Dykes was hired to revive the Bears’ struggling program. Dykes’ first test is a tough one — the Bears take on No. 22 Northwestern at Memorial Stadium on Saturday night.
The Wildcats return 15 starters from last year’s 10-win squad, including senior quarterback Kain Colter and senior running back Venric Mark. The two veterans combined for 2,260 rushing yards in head coach Pat Fitzgerald’s run-heavy offensive attack. On the strength of the efforts of Colter and Mark, predominantly in the zone-read, Northwestern ran the ball 62 percent of the time last year, ranking in the top 20 in Division I in both rushing yards and rushing attempts.
“They’re very diverse offensively,” Dykes said. “There’s an option element built in, there’s the zone read, power football that goes along with that, and they throw some play action stuff in there that puts some pressure on you.”
A running quarterback and a bruising running back in a zone-read package in the season’s first game might conjure up some bad memories for the Cal faithful; in last year’s season opener, Nevada quarterback Cody Fajardo and running back Stefphon Jefferson gashed the Bears for 227 rushing yards, the Cal defense powerless against the inside-outside approach.
Northwestern’s personnel profile as a more talented and well-coached group than the 2012 Wolfpack of yesteryear.
And Cal’s defensive personnel may be even less equipped than they were last year in dealing with Colter and Mark. Starters and key contributors Avery Sebastian, Nick Forbes and Brendan Scarlett all carry lingering injuries into Saturday’s contest. Forbes, the starting middle linebacker and captain, is listed as doubtful on the team’s injury report, although Dykes played down the severity.
“I think he’s going to be fine,” Dykes said. “We’re just trying to let it calm down a bit.”
With so many key defensive contributors sidelined or limited for Saturday, Northwestern torching the Bears seems like an inevitability. Which means, for the Bears to have a shot at competing with the talented Wildcats, Dykes’ much lauded offense is going to have to score, score and score again.
And while Cal’s defense might resemble a leaky faucet Saturday, the offense has the pieces to keep up with Northwestern. The Wildcats’ run defense should be stout, but their passing defense last year ranked among the middle of the Big-10.
“They’re solid,” Dykes said. “If you ask them the strength of their team, they’d say the back seven. They’re probably not as comfortable there as they are in other areas.”
The Bears return a flurry of promising wideouts: Bryce Treggs, Chris Harper and Richard Rodgers, to name a few. All three, and the rest of the receiving corps, will have to be in top form against the Northwestern secondary to give the Bears a fighting chance. If the receivers struggle to get open, Cal freshman starting quarterback Jared Goff’s welcome to Memorial Stadium won’t be very welcoming at all.