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UCLA Football Early 2018 Schedule Preview: California Golden Bears

By Mike Regalado

BERKELEY, CA - OCTOBER 13: Head coach Justin Wilcox of the California Golden Bears looks on from the sidelines against the Washington State Cougars during the fourth quarter of their NCAA football game at California Memorial Stadium on October 13, 2017 in Berkeley, California. California won the game 37-3. (Photo by Thearon W. Henderson/Getty Images)
BERKELEY, CA - OCTOBER 13: Head coach Justin Wilcox of the California Golden Bears looks on from the sidelines against the Washington State Cougars during the fourth quarter of their NCAA football game at California Memorial Stadium on October 13, 2017 in Berkeley, California. California won the game 37-3. (Photo by Thearon W. Henderson/Getty Images) /
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BERKELEY, CA – OCTOBER 13: Jordan Kunaszyk #59 of the California Golden Bears celebrates after intercepting a pass against the Washington State Cougars during the third quarter of their NCAA football game at California Memorial Stadium on October 13, 2017 in Berkeley, California. (Photo by Thearon W. Henderson/Getty Images)
BERKELEY, CA – OCTOBER 13: Jordan Kunaszyk #59 of the California Golden Bears celebrates after intercepting a pass against the Washington State Cougars during the third quarter of their NCAA football game at California Memorial Stadium on October 13, 2017 in Berkeley, California. (Photo by Thearon W. Henderson/Getty Images) /

California Defense

Cal might not have had the best defensive numbers in the Pac-12 last season, but they had immense improvement. For example, in 2016, Cal gave up 42.6 points per game. Last year it was only 28.4. See? Improvements.

If you want to know why UCLA’s Azzinaro was such a brilliant hire, consider the fact that in 2015, Cal had the worst rush defense in the Pac-12, giving up 272.8 yards on the ground. They improved by over 100 yards in 2018, giving up only 164.1 yards. The only problem is that only a few return on the line. DE Luc Bequette is the top returning lineman and will have to step up and led a young group.

California 2017 Defensive Stats

Total Defense Passing Defense Rushing Defense Scoring Defense
 429.9 (7th)  265.8 (10th) 164.1 (6th) 28.4 (7th)

( ) – denotes ranking in the TEAM CONFERENCE

Though the line will have to grow up in a hurry, the will have a lot more help the further back they go. The linebacking corps has a lot of experience and should continue to limit the opposition in the run game. They will be anchored by senior inside linebacker Jordan Kunaszyk who led the team in tackles with 74 (40 solo, 34 assisted). He will be surrounded by familiar (starting) faces OLB Alex Funches, ILB Gerron Brown and OLB Cameron Goode. All four accounted for 216 total tackles, nearly 25% of the team’s total.

As for the secondary, they are young, but they now have experience. The cornerbacks, Camryn Bynum and Elijah Hicks, are now sophomores and the safeties, Jaylinn Hawkins and Ashtyn Davis, are now juniors. They did a decent job, but the important thing is that they are all back and they all know what is expected of each other.

So what should UCLA do against Cal? Same thing try to do to every team, run until there is a need to pass. UCLA will be looking to improve the run game, though they have no choice as that is what Kelly is going to implement. What will be hard is moving the ball down the middle of the field against the talented linebackers and that is not going to be easy.