Riley McAtee/File

The race may be down to two.

On the fourth day of practice, quarterback Austin Hinder seemed limited in number of reps, while Jared Goff and Zach Kline got the majority.

And in the reps he did get, he didn’t look that impressive. Hinder overthrew a couple of passes and was sacked at least twice.

Coach Sonny Dykes, however, did not confirm that the race may now be down to just Goff and Kline.

“Yeah, it was just kind of what we did today,” Dykes said about Hinder’s limited reps. “We’ll evaluate it tomorrow and come out with a plan tomorrow.”

Kline and Goff, meanwhile made the most of their fourth day. Kline had a pass that should have been intercepted by Damariay Drew, but overall, he did not look off of his game. He also had a scramble in 11-on-11s that went for nearly 20 yards.

And Goff got the most action. He had a few beautiful deep passes that showed off his touch and sense of timing. Goff also rolled out on a few plays and was able to complete passes while throwing on the run.

“They’re both anticipating throws better,” Dykes said. “The more reps they get, the more they see things clearly.”

Right now, it looks like Goff and Kline are in a tight, two-horse race. But Hinder is still getting reps and is not out for the count just yet.

Today was also the first day that the players competed in “shells,” or shoulder pads and helmets while still wearing shorts. In previous practices, the players had only worn helmets, and the increased padding immediately led to an increased physicality in the practice. Though tackling was still not allowed, there were a few big hits. One in particular, between Kameron Jackson and Jonah Hodges, stood out.

In a typical 11-on-11 drill, Hodges caught a short pass and immediately collided with Jackson. The hit featured an audible boom that was heard throughout the stadium. Fans gasped, but neither was injured on the play.

Dykes plans on using those kind of big hits as an opportunity to teach his players how to hit properly. New NCAA rules have placed greater restrictions on how a defensive player can hit an opponent.

“We’ll look at it and see, but based on what I saw, it could have been targeting,” Dykes said. “We’ll pull it off tape, show it to our players and use it to teach.”

Speaking of Kameron Jackson, the junior cornerback has received high praise from his colleagues. Wide receivers Bryce Treggs and Jack Austin both called him the best cornerback they have had to go against.

“He isn’t a big guy, but he’s very quick, he has great hands, he gets up in your face when he needs to and, even when he’s off the ball, he’s pretty hard to fight with,” Austin said. “But I feel confident going against him.”

With the physicality heightened, defensive players were able to finally show their teeth. Things will only get more aggressive when fully padded practices begin on Sunday.

The post Cal football training camp: Aug. 8 recap appeared first on The Daily Californian.

Riley McAtee/File

Twenty-two. That’s the number of positions Cal coach Sonny Dykes said are unsettled after the third day of practice. The entire roster is up in the air.

And nowhere is the position more up in the air than quarterback.

Austin Hinder began the day and immediately threw an interception to Jalen Jefferson. Ouch.

“Very first play — I loved it,” Jefferson said of his interception. “I almost had three today.”

Hinder probably didn’t love it quite as much.

The interception didn’t rattle Hinder, as he came back to make some tough throws later in the practice. Unfortunately, he threw another pick later in the day. Though his performance wasn’t bad by any stretch outside of those two interceptions, they put a damper on his day and definitely did not help him in the race.

Zach Kline also had two picks throughout the day, breaking his goal of having no turnovers throughout camp on just the third day. But Kline was able to make some other big throws, including several that were threaded between tight defensive coverage.

“Kline is showing off his arm strength, and he’s also showing touch on his pass,” said wide receiver Bryce Treggs. “That’s something I feel he didn’t have in the spring.”

Jared Goff, meanwhile, easily had his best day of camp and hit Chris Harper and Bryce Treggs on some downfield throws. The true freshman also showed off his running ability when he scrambled for about a 10-yard gain during 11-on-11s.

“Today was probably Goff’s best day,” Dykes said. “He looked more comfortable today than he did the other two days.”

Dykes also had words of praise for Hinder and Kline too, so don’t think that the race is any closer to its conclusion because of Goff’s performance.

Meanwhile, on defensive, it was Jalen Jefferson’s turn to shine. He had the aforementioned pick from Hinder and generally seemed to be in the right place at the right time.

“He is just playing so fast right now,” Dykes said about Jefferson, whom he named as one of the players that stood out to him.

On the offensive side of the ball, it was Bryce Treggs’ show. The sophomore receiver caught several deep balls and was constantly breaking away from defensive backs.

“I’m always looking for ways to improve,” Treggs said. “I do want to be a game changer.”

Chris Harper, the other star receiver on the squad, also made some big plays. He had a one-handed diving catch in the corner of the end zone that drew cheers from the crowd of about 50 people at the practice.

Meanwhile, two skirmishes that broke out between the offense and the defense put a damper on the practice. One happened during offensive and defensive line drills, and the other occurred during 11-on-11s. This is the third in three days — including one that broke out on Monday.

It’s unclear who started both, but Dykes is not worried about them yet, because the skirmishes — which haven’t been serious enough to call full-blown fights — prove that the players care.

“I’ve been places where I was begging them to fight,” he said. “No one was competitive enough to fight.”

Contact Riley McAtee at rmcatee@dailycal.org

The post Cal football training camp: Aug. 7 recap appeared first on The Daily Californian.

Tony Zhou/File

Keenan Allen now plays for the San Diego Chargers, leaving Cal as the holder of the school reception record. So how does the team replace the production of the best receiver in school history? By bringing in one of the most talented sets of receiving recruits in school history to split the burden.

The start of the 2012 season brought the emergence of a talented trio of freshmen: Bryce Treggs, Chris Harper and Darius Powe. Treggs arrived with the highest pedigree, ranking among the top wideout recruits in the nation. After his impressive debut against Nevada, however, his production slowed when an ankle injury hampered his progression. Coach Sonny Dykes selected Treggs as one of his representatives for Pac-12 media day, an indication that a breakout season is expected from the 6-foot wideout in his sophomore campaign.

Harper, the lowest-ranked recruit of the three, broke out in a spectacular way in the latter half of the season. He finished with 544 receiving yards on the season, mostly on the strength of a three-game stretch against Stanford, Utah and Washington, where he accumulated 80 or more receiving yards in each game. Harper begins the year on the short list for the Biletnikoff Award, annually bestowed upon the best receiver in college football.

In addition to Powe, who flashed potential with a couple of highlight reel grabs, junior tight end Richard Rodgers and redshirt freshman Kenny Lawler look to contribute heavily to the pass-happy attack. Allen’s gone, but the collection of talent remaining ought to make his departure a little less painful for Dykes and company.

Contact Michael Rosen at mrosen@dailycal.org

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Tony Zhou/Staff

The football program is beginning to feel the changes that new coach Sonny Dykes is implementing.

One of the changes is a little odd: All new recruits will be required to spend two years in Berkeley’s dorms.

The obvious motive behind this is to address the team’s slumping academics by putting the players in a more controlled environment. The program ranks last in the Pac-12 in graduation rate and also brings up the rear in the NCAA’s recently released Academic Progress Report scores.

But Dykes sees the change going beyond academic performance. He wants to foster a tighter community for the team — a goal he has consistently reiterated since becoming the coach of the team in December.

“The big thing is that we become closer as a team,” Dykes said. “That’s a culture that’s established by the coaching staff. We have to have a relationship that’s not just centered around football.”

The new rule comes with the skepticism of some of the athletes.

“To bad we have to live in the dorms for two years now,” tweeted Ray Hudson, an incoming recruit, on June 5.

Bryce Treggs, a sophomore wide receiver for Cal who is not required to stay in the dorms for a second year, expressed sympathy for the recruits that are bound by the new rule.

“That’s not fair to the people who take care of their academics,” he tweeted.

But the change is designed to benefit the players in many ways — not just to punish athletes who are struggling academically.

Academic performance was actually not one of the top reasons that Dykes made the change. Instead, he was focused on goals that cannot be measured with a GPA — namely, ensuring that athletes would be able to meet a diverse group of students and that the football team would be able to grow closer as a community.

“If I had to do it over again, I would have stayed in the dorms longer,” Dykes said. “It improves your experience, and you get to meet more people.”

Other reasons also factored into Dykes’ decisions. He was impressed with the housing at Clark Kerr Campus and viewed keeping players in the dorms as preferable to having them search for housing after only one year — something that can often be expensive and difficult.

“Clark Kerr is such a great facility,” Dykes said. “It also encourages players to get in touch and in tune to what’s happening on campus.”

Dykes believes that, despite some skepticism from players, the team will rise to the challenge and fix its academic problems. He stated that the program has hit rock bottom, and that it is time to turn it around.

“The good thing is the players are aware of (the academic problem),” Dykes said. “Their pride is hurt, and they understand that it needs to get fixed.”

That’s not just talk — it appears the players are ready to respond to the challenges set forth by Dykes in order to erase the criticism the program has come under in recent years.

“I hope we can prove we can get the work done,” Hudson tweeted.

Contact Riley McAtee at rmcatee@dailycal.org

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Gracie Malley/File

When it rains, it pours.

“Keenan won’t play against Washington,” said head coach Jeff Tedford. “We’ll continue to evaluate him on a weekly basis.”

After suffering one of the worst losses of Tedford’s career last Saturday against Utah and virtually eliminating itself from bowl contention, the Cal football team added injury to insult on Thursday with the loss of star wideout Keenan Allen.

The loss of Allen — potentially for the rest of the season — severely inhibits the Bears’ chances of winning out as the team takes on the Washington Huskies (4-4, 2-3 Pac-12) at Memorial at 6 p.m. on Friday.

The Huskies resemble Cal in their enigmatic tendencies. After suffering a blowout against Arizona two weeks ago and allowing 52 points, Washington buckled down on defense and squeezed out a 20-17 win over No. 7 Oregon State. Earlier this season, the Huskies were also able to take down then-No. 8 Stanford in an upset victory.

Tedford appeared flummoxed in this week’s press conference by the inconsistency of Washington’s play.

“I don’t think there is any doubt that they have more insight into us than we have into them,” Tedford said.

It’s difficult to pin down the Huskies’ exact strengths.

The defense emerges in big games against average offenses — such as Oregon State’s and Stanford’s — but completely disintegrates when faced with a potent offensive attack.

There was the Arizona game, an unmitigated disaster for the Husky defense. Against Oregon, they allowed 52 points. LSU put up 41 points, letting off the gas pedal early in the fourth quarter.

But somehow, the offense is just as inconsistent as the defense.

Quarterback Keith Price began the year as a dark-horse Heisman candidate but has shown major signs of regression, and, partly as a result, the offense has taken a major step back.

Price completes just over 60 percent of his passes and has thrown more interceptions (nine) than touchdowns (eight).

Tight end Austin Seferian-Jenkins and wide receiver Kasen Williams are two skill position players primed for NFL stardom. The pair has caught a combined 86 passes for 981 yards, catching more than 50 percent of Price’s throws.

Yet the offense has not scored more than 21 points against an FBS defense.

The source of the Huskies’ ineptitude on offense — 105th in the nation in scoring — starts with the offensive line, which has allowed 23 sacks in just eight games.

But that’s nothing compared to Cal’s offensive line woes. The patchwork unit has allowed 36 sacks, the most in the FBS.

Quarterback Zach Maynard spent the entirety of the Utah running game from the pass rush when dropping back in the pocket. After nine games, the line has shown no discernible signs of improvement.

The Bears will bring their own brand of offensive ineptitude to Memorial Stadium with an offense sans Allen. The offense played poorly enough without Allen, who served as the always reliable option in an inconsistent and inexperienced offense.

With the catalyst removed, Cal’s passing attack will rely on freshman wideouts Bryce Treggs and Chris Harper to receive the bulk of Maynard’s throws.
Both receivers have shown flashes of ability and potential, but asking them to carry the entire receiving corps will stagnate the passing attack.

The key to Cal’s success in this game lies in its ability to run the ball effectively. The Huskies’ run defense ranks second-worst in the conference in yards allowed per game.

With the passing attack suffering a devastating blow with the loss of Allen, the success of the run game likely determines the result of this game.

And, likely, the future of Tedford’s employment.

Michael Rosen covers football. Contact him at mrosen@dailycal.org

The post Allen’s injury to pay the price for Cal appeared first on The Daily Californian.

Derek Remsburg/Senior Staff

Like most 20-year-old guys, Keenan Allen gets distracted by girls.

Allen is sitting in a golf cart outside Memorial Stadium, his feet up, his arm draped around the driver’s seat.

On Saturday, he’ll catch passes, break records and make the kind of jaw-dropping plays that SportsCenter replays deep into the night.

But right now, he’s still just a kid, one who stops mid-sentence as two girls walk by. He glances over at them and laughs sheepishly.

It’s good to be Keenan Allen.

He can show up to postgame interviews with his headphones on, and he can call himself the best wide receiver in the country. Because he is not only a silly college student but also one of the best athletes in the nation.

“Just having a football in my hands, I feel like I can do anything,” Allen says.

A soon-to-be NFL star, Allen is the face of Cal athletics, for now.

Allen could have been at Alabama.

The nation’s No. 5 overall high school prospect, Allen passed up the chance to potentially win multiple national championships when he de-committed from Alabama so he could team up with his half-brother Zach Maynard, who was never even expected to start at Cal.

But Allen is not one to wonder. He makes nothing of it. When the Crimson Tide won the title last year, he says he just laughed. He had nothing to say.

“I don’t do the, ‘What ifs,’” he says. “It’s not all about championships.”

Seeing as Cal has gone 13-17 since his freshman year — while Alabama is 26-4 — it’s only natural that Allen’s college years are defined by qualitative measures rather than wins and losses. It’s about getting to next level, he says, and Cal is the best place for that. In Berkeley, he is both maturing into an adult and progressing as a football player.

He is serious when talking about the challenges of being on his own, paying rent, organizing his time.

“You go through so many things, trials and tribulations here,” Allen says. “So I think it just gets us ready to be a man.”

That’s not to say Allen doesn’t still have time to act like a kid.

There are the times he acts silly, like his nonstop singing. His vocal arrangements are not limited to the shower. “Everywhere we go, he just starts singing,” says fellow receiver Chris Harper. Allen even claims to sing Chris Brown in his head when he plays.

Then there are the times he acts foolish, like when he refuses to eat breakfast.

In the 2012 season opener against Nevada, Allen led the Bears with six receptions for 67 yards, a miraculous performance considering it was on an empty stomach.

“I had no energy the whole game,” he says. “My legs were dead.”

He just doesn’t like breakfast. He wakes up with his stomach hurting and has no appetite. He has eaten breakfast before games since then.

But if he was able to attain success without eating breakfast, there seems no reason to stop him. Let Keenan be Keenan — off and on the field, where his self-esteem is off the charts.

“Any time (Zach) doesn’t throw me the ball and it’s an incomplete pass, I tell him, ‘Hey, Zach, throw me the ball. I’m open, dude,’” Allen says. “And I don’t know if I’m open, I just feel like I’m open.”

He believes that he will always make the play, that he will always succeed. He has such an innate confidence in himself that he has no qualms with denigrating USC’s tandem of All-Americans Robert Woods and Marqise Lee as second-class receivers.

“They’re good, but I don’t see a comparison,” Allen says. “I feel like nobody can play with me.”

Allen considers himself to be in his very own tier at the top. Yet teammates see him as not cocky but as a role model. When the receivers watch game tape, they always zero in on No. 21.

“I watch Keenan, I think, more so than I watch myself,” says freshman receiver Bryce Treggs.

Allen is their leader, their mentor, their standard bearer. He may brag, but he does so with a smile on his face and means no offense by it.

And he backs up his statements with his play on the field.

Maybe it was his double reverse touchdown run in week one or his punt return for a touchdown the following week. Maybe it’s simply how he consistently turns four-yard curls into first downs even when four defenders swarming him.

Perhaps the best example was this past Saturday. In the fourth quarter he snagged a pass heading out of the end zone and slid his right foot inbounds. The refs ruled it a touchdown.

What made the play so significant was not that it brought the Bears to within three. It was the fact that Allen had missed most of the second and third quarters with a stomach illness that had him vomiting on the sideline.

Harper compares the performance to Michael Jordan’s infamous flu game. Tedford just shakes it off as if Allen’s effort was nothing out of the ordinary.

“It says he’s a true competitor, which we all know,” Tedford says. “That’s nothing new … Keenan’s as good a football player as there is.”

Through two and a half seasons in Berkeley, Allen has compiled an impressive resume: Freshman single-season receptions records in 2010, second-most single-season catches and receiving yards in 2011.

He’s caught a pass in 29 consecutive games, a streak that could leave him tied for first place by season’s end. Should he catch 26 more — a likely feat with seven games left on the schedule — he’ll be Cal’s all-time leader in receptions

Of course, Allen wants that prize. But he’s not about to stay another year to seize first place in receiving yards too, even if that might cement his status as the greatest receiver in program history.

“I mean, I probably could (stay and break the record),” he says, “But chancing it would be another thing.”

One fluke accident, and his dream of being an NFL star could never be realized. On draft boards, he is a unanimous first-round pick. CBS Sports has him at No. 8, SI.com at 13. These forecasts mean Allen has all but decided to forgo his senior year and enter the 2013 NFL draft.

“If I’m projected to go first round, then I’m probably liable to leave,” he says.

There is an addendum: He doesn’t necessarily want to leave. But if he’s a first-round projection, it’ll probably be the right decision.

Because Allen is always thinking about the future. It’s just not completely Cal-centric.

“I’m not gonna lie, my goal was to be the best that’s ever played at Cal,” Allen says. “My legacy’s gonna be the best person to play in the NFL.”

While Allen might not have meant to differentiate his goal and his legacy, sometimes what comes out is more meaningful than what was intended. He’s not a cerebral person by any means — he speaks from the heart.

Regardless of who he is off the field, Keenan Allen might just be Cal’s greatest receiver ever when he leaves, even if it’s this spring.

Jonathan Kuperberg covers football. Contact him at jkuperberg@dailycal.org

The post Keenan Allen: No Reservations appeared first on The Daily Californian.

Sean Goebel/File

On Saturday against USC, quarterback Zach Maynard reverted back into his old, mediocre form.

Having said that, any further evaluation of Maynard’s play on Saturday needs to be prefaced with two things. First, his offensive line absolutely let him and the team down. The unit was completely dominated by USC’s defensive line, giving up seven sacks. Maynard was constantly running for his life and only had a handful of plays where he could sit back in the pocket and step into his throws.

Secondly, Cal failed to establish any sort of running game (except for a brief stint in the third quarter), often forcing Maynard and the offense into third-and-long situations. Running backs Isi Sofele and C.J. Anderson carried the ball a combined 13 times for just 48 yards. Maynard excels at rolling out and hitting guys underneath on short and easy throws — and the lack of a ground game prevented Cal from utilizing him in that way.

Regardless, Maynard still had an awful game. There were still plays when Maynard had decent protection and open receivers downfield and he simply failed to put the ball in the right spot. His pocket presence was poor, and he could’ve avoided at least two of the sacks by throwing the ball away. His stat line doesn’t necessarily show it (18/33 for 173 yards and 2 picks), but this was one of the worst games he’s played at Cal.

Two plays in particular stand out from Saturday. The first came towards the end of the third quarter, with the Bears facing a 2nd and 10 at USC’s 14. Cal had cut USC’s lead to 17-9, and were looking to score for the third straight drive and tie the game. Maynard initially saw nothing downfield, so he started to roll to his left and tried to sell the run. With Anderson running in the flat, Maynard jumped back and tried to squeeze a pass into a non-existent window, only to have USC’s T.J. McDonald jump the route, snag the ball and tap his toes for the pick. What Maynard didn’t see was a wide open Bryce Treggs literally jumping up and down in the back of the end zone to alert him to the fact that the closest Trojan defender was about as far away as Inglewood.

Throughout his career, Maynard has shown poor field vision and poor decision-making — both of which were on full display on that play. Throwing that interception might as well have ended the game for Cal.

Later in the game, the Bears were down 20-9 with the ball on their 20. On third and 15, Maynard had all kinds of time to throw and slowly rolled to his left in order to try buy some time and find someone downfield. His brother Keenan Allen was double-covered, and no one else managed to get open. So Maynard made a good decision in not to force anything and risk another turnover.

However, instead of tossing the ball out of bounds — as he was well outside of the pocket — he just sort of nonchalantly jogged out of bounds three yards behind the line of scrimmage. He then proceeded to chuck the ball at the ground, and bee-lined to the bench with his head down.

First off, every quarterback to ever play the game of football knows to throw the ball out of bounds on that play. If you go through your reads and find nothing and have nowhere to scramble, you throw the ball away. It’s just second nature. Maynard knew that, but he wanted to show his frustration with his team and his coaches.

Regardless of what he thought, the game wasn’t over, as there was still more than 13 minutes left. In that situation, a quarterback can’t just concede yards to the other team and start throwing up the white flag. If Joe Kapp or Jack Clark were coaching Maynard, he almost certainly would’ve sat out for the rest of the game.

What’s probably most disappointing about Maynard’s play so far is that it in no way matches what was being said about his development this spring. He appears to have actually regressed in some facets of his game — namely his decision making. His Ohio State performance was encouraging, but this weekend’s game effectively erased that memory.

Connor Byrne covers football. Contact him at cbyrne@dailycal.org

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Derek Remsburg/File

Cal coach Jeff Tedford and No. 12 Ohio State coach Urban Meyer maintain a cordial relationship in the offseason. But this past February a taboo elephant came along for a golf outing.

“This year there wasn’t a lot of talk about football, as you can imagine,” Tedford said.

When Meyer’s Buckeye squad takes on Cal on Saturday at 9 a.m. in Columbus, the Bears may not have a shot  — even if Tedford was given unrestricted access to Meyer’s entire playbook.

This game serves as a fight for Cal’s legitimacy. Teams like UCLA, Arizona, and Oregon State — all considered below the bears’ level before the season started — have dispatched ranked opponents and ascended the ranks of the Pac-12. Cal, meanwhile, has proven nothing in a loss to a WAC school and a lackluster performance against an FCS school.

If the Bears hang with the Buckeyes or even squeeze out an upset victory, Tedford’s pressure chamber receives much-needed relief.

A loss, however, may be the first push in a domino chain, in which the final domino is Tedford’s head.

A 17-point favorite heading into Saturday’s contest, Ohio State’s offensive attack is led by dual-threat Braxton Miller.

Cal fans may remember the season opener two weeks ago, in which a similarly threatening quarterback — Cody Fajardo of Nevada — shredded the Bears’ defense apart with his triple-option attack and ability to break out big runs to the outside.

Miller is like Fajardo with a jetpack and a stronger arm to boot. Ohio State’s quarterback averages over 150 yards a game on the ground and has shed the preseason label as an inaccurate passer by completing 66.7 percent of his passes on the year.

The Cal secondary needs to learn some serious discipline if they expect to halt the Miller train.

A litany of injuries present further problems for the Bears. Starting right guard Dominic Galas is already sitting out with a torn pectoral muscle; starting right tackle Matt Summers-Gavin is on a week-to-week recovery schedule after injuring his MCL. Galas and Summers-Gavin were — and still are — Cal’s strongest offensive linemen. Their absence against a Buckeye line that is considered among the best in the country could be catastrophic. Tight end Richard Rodgers and outside linebacker Chris McCain are also banged up and listed as probable.

Ohio State defensive end John Simon resides on the Hendricks Award watch list, an accolade for the best defensive lineman in the country. Simon will provide a pass-rush on the end and defensive tackle Johnathan Hankins will plug up the Bears’ running game.

This will be the most disruptive pass rush Cal quarterback Zach Maynard has seen thus far this season, which will make his suspect decision-making even more erratic. Maynard has overthrown simple screen passes to Sofele and struggled to get rid of the ball when sitting in the pocket.

Cal’s only chance at an upset may lie in its passing attack. The trio of Keenan Allen, Bryce Treggs and Chris Harper will pose problems for a secondary that has allowed a 60 percent completion rate to the quarterbacks of Miami of Ohio and University of Central Florida. The secondary is the weakest part of the Buckeye defense, and the Bears passing attack is its strength.

The Bears defense has proved it struggles mightily with the running option attack. If Miller establishes the running game early, the passing attack will break wide open, and Cal will be helpless against the whims of the Buckeyes offense.

Michael Rosen covers football. Contact him at mrosen@dailycal.org

The post Bears descend upon Horseshoe for first away tilt appeared first on The Daily Californian.

Like Meursault in Camus’ The Stranger, Cal fans are currently asking themselves, “What’s the point?”

With the embarrassingly lackluster effort against FCS opponent Southern Utah University on Saturday that saw the Thunderbirds within three heading into the fourth quarter, spirits are about as low as they’ve ever been in the Tedford era.

The Bears currently sit at 1-1 with two games against top-20 teams looming on the not-so-distant horizon.

Any preseason optimism has rapidly evaporated, and Bears fans are now struggling to find any reason to keep tuning in to root for a team that looks increasingly like a bottom dweller in a relatively weak Pac-12.

The offensive line collects flags like they’re vintage stamps. Kickoffs and punts never cease to be adventures. The secondary plays as if it feels guilty for getting too close to a receiver.

Giant, glaring holes have emerged out of almost every facet of this Cal team, and the scariest part is that the holes were exposed by a Mountain West team and an FCS team.

If the Bears are making Brad Sorenson look like Matt Barkley, what’s going to happen when Matt Barkley actually takes the field against Cal in two weeks?

Firing Jeff Tedford looks more and more realistic, and the season is starting to look like a lost one.

So, once again, what’s the point?

Well, maybe there isn’t one. Depending on who you ask.

For the casual Bears fan, the season may as well already be over. The fair-weather bandwagon jumpers want a 10-win season and a Rose Bowl berth, which obviously is not in the cards for this year.

But for the passionate Cal fan, there are myriad reasons why giving up on this team would be a mistake. And almost all of them have to do with the wide receiving corps.

Bryce Treggs and Chris Harper are two of these reasons. The freshman wideouts have impressed mightily in consecutive games. Treggs is incredibly polished for a young wide receiver, displaying sharp route-running ability and reliable hands in both games.

Harper has shown a knack for picking up big chunks of yardage on screens and short passes into the flats. Tedford and quarterback Zach Maynard heaped praise on the young wideout in the post-game press conference on Saturday, noting his surprising level of contribution.

The quality play from the rookies lends to grand visions of future Bears’ offenses, especially with highly touted quarterback recruit Zach Kline lurking in the wings.

Future NFLer and likely first round pick Keenan Allen never fails to amaze the crowd at least once a game. Against Nevada, such an instance was the shifty juke-heavy reverse touchdown run. His punt return against Southern Utah was nothing short of magic.

After initially muffing the punt, Allen scooped the ball up and ran through the entire punt defense, making a couple of Thunderbird defenders look downright silly on his romp down the sideline.

Watching the development of Treggs and Harper will remain an intriguing storyline regardless of how many points Oregon and USC hang on the inconsistent Cal defense.

Allen is a unique talent, probably one of a handful of Bears from the past 10 or 15 years that has legitimate superstar potential. Like Desean Jackson, Marshawn Lynch and Jahvid Best before him, his mere presence on the field evokes excitement.

So maybe Tedford gets fired at the end of the season and the program has to implode and start from scratch. Maybe the Bears will struggle to qualify for postseason play. But worry not, true Bears fans: hope is imminent. And the most positive signs for this will be on the field every Saturday, juking cornerbacks and instilling awe every time they touch the ball.

Michael Rosen covers football. Contact him at mrosen@dailycal.org.

The post Existential Crisis in Memorial Stadium appeared first on The Daily Californian.

Andrew Kuo /File

Follow along as Daily Cal football beat writers Connor Byrne, Jonathan Kuperberg and Michael Rosen give play-by-play and analysis of the Cal-Southern Utah game live from Memorial Stadium.

The Bears are looking to rebound from their disappointing season-opening loss to Nevada. Will the squad get its act together? Will Zach Maynard start? Will Isi Sofele have more than five carries? Will freshman receivers Bryce Treggs and Chris Harper score another pair of touchdowns? We’ll find out at noon. It’s about to get real.

Connor Byrne, Jonathan Kuperberg and Michael Rosen cover football. Contact them at sports@dailycal.org

The post Live Blog: Cal football vs. Southern Utah appeared first on The Daily Californian.