Revived after 44-7 win over Oregon State, Cal Eager For More

The last-place team in the Atlantic Coast Conference is ready to take on all the newcomers.

That was the mood of Cal’s players after their 44-7 loss to former Pac-12 rival Oregon State on Saturday afternoon.

The win snapped a streak of four consecutive ACC losses by a razor-thin combined margin of nine points, leaving the Bears heading into a bye week with renewed optimism.

Cal is 4-4 overall but 0-4 in its new conference, the only under-17 team without a win in league play. The Bears’ next game is a week from Friday on the road against Wake Forest (4-4, 2-2), which escaped with a 27-24 win over Stanford on Saturday.

“Coach Wilcox talks about we’re trying to take down the dam,” quarterback Fernando Mendoza said. “Ironically, because beavers build dams, we breached the dam today.

“It was that four close (loss)… We played such good football, it was so frustrating. But now that we’re finally able to not just talk the talk, but walk the walk, that’s what we’re going to do.” have great momentum in our last four games and they are all great, formidable opponents, but we believe in ourselves.”

Although they are at the bottom of the ACC standings, the Bears have some numbers that reinforce the idea that they are better than that 0-4 record suggests.

Nine other teams actually have a worse point differential in ACC action than the Bears’ minus-9 mark. Stanford has allowed twice as many points as it has scored, Florida State is 1-6 and minus-84, and four teams with at least two conference wins have larger for/against disparities than the Bears.

Cal’s problem was that he made just enough mistakes to keep losing those closest to him. Had that become an obstacle?

Justin Wilcox said the theme Friday night during the team’s pre-game visit was confidence.

“The psychology of sport is amazing and how one game can really impact the psyche of a player, a team or an entire football community,” he said. “We’ve had some really tough, frustrating and painful losses and I’m really proud of the boys for coming out and playing confidently, believing in themselves and committing to playing good football.

“After four such heavy losses, there are people who would crumble.”

Asked about the return to 4-4 overall, Mendoza said he can’t really identify with the record.

“I don’t think anyone on the team believes we’re a 4-4 team,” he said. “We look at the top teams in the country. . and we can compete against those guys and we can beat those guys.

‘We have shown that we are capable of this. If we play good football, we can destroy opponents. If we play great football, and we don’t have that level yet, then it won’t be a match.”

Okay, so the Bears were feeling pretty good about themselves after winning by 37 points against a team that had won four of the previous meetings in the series.

Here’s an overview of what they did:

OFFENCE: The Bears compiled their highest point total of the season, running for 478 yards of offense, converting 8 of 15 third and fourth down chances and scoring on all eight trips to the red zone.

An offensive line dealing with injuries and inexperienced replacements allowed no sacks for the first time all season, allowing Mendoza to pass for a career-high 364 yards with two touchdowns. Over the past three games, he has completed 73 percent of his attempts for an average of 306 yards per game without a turnover.

The run game still needs work, but Jaydn Ott returned after missing two games and contributed 69 rushing and receiving yards and should benefit from the bye week.