Oregon State travels to Berkeley, California to face the California Bears at 1 p.m. Saturday in Memorial Stadium.
Here’s what Cal coach Justin Wilcox had to say during his Tuesday press conference (answers were edited for brevity and clarity):
Opens with injury updates. Most prominent is running back Jaydn Ott, who practiced Tuesday. We’ll see how that goes throughout the week.
Third time this season Cal has faced a quarterback it played last season, but this season for a different team in Gevani McCoy (Idaho/OSU). Is the game plan more about the quarterback, or the current system he’s in?
Wilcox: It’s both of those. He’s a very talented player. He played really well last year. He came in here and gave us fits. It was really hard to tackle. He was accurate with the ball. He delivered the ball on time, played with great calm, even under duress. He’s a good football player, and so I think you take that, along with what they’re doing on offense. Their offensive coordinator does a great job, known him and competed against him for a long time. They’re obviously running the ball very, very effectively. Running backs are good. They’re almost 240 yards a game running the football, and they hold the football.
Oregon State (4-3) at California (3-4)
- When: Saturday, Oct. 26
- Time: 1 p.m. PT
- Where: California Memorial Stadium, Berkeley
- TV channel: ESPN2
- Stream: Watch live for FREE with Fubo (free trial) or by signing up for Sling (cheapest streaming plans, $25 off your first month). If you already have cable, you can also watch this game live on Watch ESPN with your cable or satellite provider login information.
- Oregon State football 2024 season schedule, scores
- Sign up for The Beavers Beat newsletter
First three quarters of games lately have gone well, not so much in the fourth. Any particular reason for that?
Wilcox: We’ve looked at that very hard, especially defensively in the Miami game and in the NC State game. The look in their eye on the sideline is good. We feel like our conditioning is strong. It’s the execution and critical moments. We had opportunities again, on offense and defense and on special teams in the fourth quarter. We’re adjusting some things in practice to make it very competitive late. We have to be a fourth quarter team. You got to win late in the game, and we have not obviously done that. We feel like the guys have the ability to do that. I have confidence we can get it done, but we have to prove it on game day.
Is it more offense or defense, or both?
Wilcox: I think you could include every unit, especially in this past game, and in the Miami game, where each unit could have done something much better. I thought going into the fourth quarter, the defense had played really pretty well against NC State. Any one of those units could have did something better to help us win the game.
Injuries have impacted performance. What about the guys who have stepped up in those roles?
Wilcox: That’s part of this game, an unfortunate part, but it’s the next man up mentality. You hear people say that all the time, and it’s true. Nobody else cares about our problems. We have to find a way with the players that have are needed to step up, help those guys produce at a high level, so we can go get the results we’re looking for. I’m proud of the effort. However, our execution just has to be a bit better. I think we all know that it’s just too close too many times. We’ve got to coach better, and then we got to execute on the on the field better in critical moments.
Red zone offense and how to make it more effective.
Wilcox: Red zone offense, situational football and on offense right now, has to get better. The red zone offense is obvious. We got to score touchdowns when we get down there, third and fourth downs, the one-minute offense. We would like to have every player available if we could. Football doesn’t work like that. Unfortunately, we’ve had a number of guys out, and we got to figure out a way to put the ball in the end zone, and we feel like there’s players that can do that, but we got to execute at a much higher clip.
When scouting for players like McCoy, how much do you draw on the matchup from last year when the talent level he’s working with now has changed?
Wilcox: I think it gives you a feel for what he’s capable of. I mean, he, as I mentioned before, he’s an accurate passer. He plays really calm. He’s a good scrambler. One thing that I noticed in our game is you really never get a hit on him. He will, kind of at the last second, he’s able to contort and adjust his body, whether he slides or he slips a tackle. He’s one of those guys that doesn’t take a big, big hit very often, because he’s got a good feel for the game. I was very, very impressed with him in our game last year. I thought he played exceptionally well. We have a ton of respect for him. And as I mentioned before, their offensive coordinator does a really good job running and throwing the ball. Everything’s very complimentary. For every run they got a complimentary pass, and they keep you off balance that way
Nonconference game in the middle of the conference season, what are you hoping to get on this break from ACC play?
Wilcox: We’re just excited to play the next game. Obviously, this last stretch of games has been incredibly disappointing and frustrating. We have a lot of guys who are very prideful players and coaches alike, and we’re not getting the not getting the results that we are seeking. We need to focus our energy, frustration, emotion, into the actions that will get us those results. So we get a chance to play this weekend against our good football team, a really well coached team with good players. So that’s what we’re looking forward to. Obviously, we are where we are right now. We have a lot of football left to play, and I believe in the guys on our team and on our staff, that we can find ways to win games.
Who is your kicker this weekend?
Wilcox: Fair question. I can’t give you the answer right now, because I don’t know. As you would imagine, very disappointing. He wants to make it (a 28-yard field goal with 1:37 left against NC State). Derek (Morris) is trying the very best that he can. We have to continue to help him. Defense can help. Offense can help. We can help. This is just part of being a kicker. It’s not easy. It’s never one play. Obviously, everybody notices. We would love to have made that one. I believe he can make it. I know he can make it, and we didn’t get it done, so we have to find ways to help. Everybody’s got to pitch in. Derek works really hard at his craft, and it was unfortunate that he didn’t get it through, but I know he’ll bounce back all right.
How have you walked the balance of changing something to win, but still being the coach you are?
Wilcox: To be honest, after the game Saturday night, Sunday, I don’t hardly sleep at all, and so spending a lot of time thinking about that. What are we emphasizing? How are we talking to the guys? How are we teaching the guys? Where’s the disconnect from knowing what to do and then and doing that in a critical moment? Is that a conditioning issue? Is that a confidence issue? It is a belief issue? Is it a scheme issue? What are the issues? Obviously the energy of the team is critically important, and when you go through tough stretches like this, individuals, people in general, whether you’re in football or any other pursuit in life, there is a little bit of a human element of some people seek some comfort. Comfort right now would be distancing yourself from the team and maybe finding some safe harbor somewhere and listening to somebody. Because there’s a obviously a lot of negativity. I mean, there’s plenty of negativity available. Just like if we had made four plays throughout the season, there’d be so much praise, both those things can become toxic if you allow them.
I think identifying that and then focusing on our what are the actions like, what do we what can we do to help fix this as coaches? What can we do better? What are we doing in practice? How are we messaging? How do we need to communicate with the players in a way where they can make have the confidence to go out there, or the wherewithal to go out there in a critical moment and make those plays that we need to make, hold them accountable to that. I think sometimes I’ve seen these situations in my history of coaching, and things aren’t going real well. Everybody kind of turns it into well, it’s got to be fun. Everybody needs to have more fun. What’s fun is winning. Winning is fun. So we’re not here to beat them down. Nobody’s doing that. We’re not in the misery Olympics. We need to find ways to help them so they can play at their best when their best is needed. Obviously, we’ve changed some things in practice. We’ve changed some things schematically. We’ve changed personnel groupings on offense and defense. We have competition in certain positions. As I said last week, not everything has to change. We’re talking about four plays, but we got to find ways to make them. And so that’s on me.
Regarding negativity from the outside, have you received any input from friends, players, coaches that’s inspiring that’s helped lift you?
Wilcox: Listen, our job as coaches, when things don’t go well, you really kind of know who’s who. I have a group of coaches that I talk to, regardless of the outcome of our games, and some of those coaches are still coaching. Some of them are in college, some are in the NFL, some are out of football now, are retired, maybe one or two is on TV. I talk to them, and I always get great feedback. If there’s something that they have that’s a nugget, that’s constructive criticism. That’s who I listen to. I understand (our fans) are disappointed. We want to give them wins so they can enjoy those wins, but they care. And there is negativity around sport when things aren’t going well, and that’s what we all sign up for. But to immerse yourself in negativity, it really doesn’t help. It doesn’t help you get you results. So I do seek counsel and small group of people that are very knowledgeable and know what they’re talking about.
Anyone from that small group offer anything this week that you thought was helpful and helped lift you up?
Wilcox: It’s not about lifting up. Yeah, it’s our job as coaches to help our teams win. We don’t have time or, I guess, luxury, to sit around in our own misery. It doesn’t help the players. So our job is to find answers and help the players perform at their best in critical moments. I don’t know if there’s any one thing. The people I talked to, I trust, and good, bad and indifferent are always going to be honest. So I guess I didn’t need to pick me up. I’ll ask them situational things and football things. If they see something that can help, they will say something. And if not, they just say, hey, keep at it and keep going. And maybe they’ll give you an anecdotal story about something they’ve been through.
— Nick Daschel covers the Oregon State Beavers. Reach him at 360-607-4824 or @nickdaschel. Listen to the Beaver Banter podcast or subscribe to the Beavers Roundup newsletter.
