By Derek DeBurger
No. 15 Louisville will host the California Golden Bears for the first ever matchup between the two programs.
Flashes
In spite of having a winning record and a lot of promising young pieces, the Cal offense has been pretty pedestrian this season.
The Golden Bears only average 24.6 points per game which ranks 89th nationally and is just barely less than the 25.1 points they give up a game.
Their high water mark this season was 35 points against an FCS opponent. Against FBS opponents, Cal has capped out at 34 points twice with one of those showing going into double overtime.
However, the Calgorithm is pretty satisfied with that side of the ball because of five-star freshman Jaron-Keawe Sagapolutele.
Sagapolutele has shown flashes of brilliance this season with a strong arm, good mobility and advanced mind for a freshman. But he’s still a freshman and has made several mistakes.
The signal caller has thrown for 2,195 yards and 11 touchdowns with nine interceptions.
What hasn’t helped the young quarterback is the plethora of drops from the Cal receiving corps. But Cal still airs it out, with Jacob De Jesus, Trond Grizzell and Mason Mini being the top targets.
What’s new for a Justin Wilcox offense is their ineffective rushing attack.
The top nine rushers all left Cal in the offseason, leaving a lot of question marks.
The team as a whole has a terrible rushing offense, totaling just 707 yards in nine games. But 612 of those yards come from Kendrick Raphael.
Raphael is the clear workhorse with over 100 more carries than the next closest back.
Louisville is a defense that has been relentless this year, getting after passers and allowing under 200 yards rushing in every game this season.
The Cards have a clear advantage in this arena. If they can stifle the Cal offense, there shouldn’t be much asked of Miller Moss.
The good side
Defense is Wilcox’s calling card as a coach.
The Golden Bears like to have a lot of defensive backs on the field at a time. In theory this benefits the Cards, who are a run-first team at their best.
A lot of pressure is put on three defensive lineman and three linebackers, but Cal is not hurting in that area.
T.J. Bollers leads the D-line with a big 300-pound frame. His job is to clog up the middle and let the athletic linebacking corps do their thing.
To lead the linebackers is the extremely talented Cade Uluave. Uluave is second in the ACC with 81 tackles, and he makes plays all over the field.
Uluave is actually listed as probable for Saturday’s game. His absence would be huge for the Cards, but Cal has solid depth and would be able to replace some of his production.
The other injury news is Duke Watson being listed as probable himself. After missing half the season thus far, and Isaac Brown being listed as “out for a while” according to Jeff Brohm, Watson’s presence would be huge for Louisville.
If the Cards can control the ground game on both side of the ball, everything else should fall in place.
A win would keep Louisville on pace for an ACC championship appearance and alive for the College Football Playoff.
Photo by Harrison Plank
