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Cal coach Justin Wilcox admitted on Tuesday that a bowl game is still the goal, and that would require the Bears to win all three of their remaining games, starting with Saturday’s home game against Washington State.
The injury status of several Cal players will influence whether Cal can achieve that goal.
The injury that is still at the forefront is the one freshman running back Jaivian Thomas sustained in Saturday’s loss to Oregon. Thomas was unconscious on the field for a while after taking a hit, according to offensive coordinator Jake Spavital. Thomas had to be hospitalized after being taken off the field on a stretcher with his head strapped to a board.
But all indications are that he is doing well now.
“He’s back home and doing well,” Wilcox said Tuesday. “The tests he has undergone have been positive and we’re communicating with him daily. We don’t have an update on when he’ll return.”
That last sentence suggests Thomas will return to football action at some point, but it certainly won’t be this week.
Two other key Cal players are also in danger of missing Saturday’s game because of injuries.
Isaiah Ifanse, Cal’s No. 2 running back behind Jaydn Ott, did not play against Oregon, and Wilcox listed him as “week-to-week” on Tuesday. Offensive coordinator Jake Spavital said Ifanse has one hand wrapped and has a boot on his foot, so he has a lot to overcome. It all suggests that Ifanse is unlikely to play this week and may not play the following week either.
The prognosis is slightly better for inside linebacker Kaleb Elarms-Orr, who is second in the Pac-12 in tackles per game but also missed the Oregon game. Wilcox described his status as “day-to-day,” which means there is a chance Elarms-Orr will play against Washington State, leaving him in the “questionable” category.
Cal (3-6, 1-5 Pac-12) would like to have Elarms-Orr available for Saturday’s game, which is a must-win contest for Cal’s hopes of landing a bowl berth. Wilcox admitted that he is talking to the players about the bowl possibility.
“Yeah, we do talk about that, and that is a goal,” Wilcox said, “and the only way to accomplish that is go 1-0 this week.”
In fact, going 3-0 over the final three games is the only way to accomplish that, and a three-game winning streak seems like a tall order for a team that is riding a four-game losing streak.
However, the schedule in the final quarter of the season is a lot easier than it has been recently. Cal’s last four losses all came against teams that were ranked at the time. The final three games are all against teams that are currently unranked.
Washington State (4-5, 1-5 Pac-12) is riding a five-game losing streak, and Saturday’s game against the Cougars is considered a virtual tossup, with most betting sites making Cal a 1-point favorite. The Bears’ game the following week at Stanford (3-6, 2-5 Pac-12) on Nov. 18 also figures to be a virtual tossup, and the Bears might not be a big underdog in the finale against UCLA (6-3, 3-3 Pac-12) on the road on Nov. 25.
Winning all three would give Cal a 6-6 record, making the Bears eligible for a bowl berth.
To win all three, the Bears would have to play better defensively than they have recently. They have given up 50 points or more in four of their past six games, and they are 127th of 130 ranked FBS teams in scoring defense, allowing 36.78 points per game. Only three FBS teams – South Florida, Massachusetts and Alabama-Birmingham – have given up more points than the Bears. And Cal’s defense has been even worse in Pac-12 games, having yielded 46.5 points per game in the six conference games.
Will playing an unranked opponent that has averaged just 16.2 points during its five-game losing streak change that?
Follow Cal Sports Report on Twitter: @jakecurtis53
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