Uniforms and game captains for Cal–Oregon State

With less than two weeks until Halloween, the California Golden Bears will be visiting the Halloween-colored Oregon State Beavers.

The Beavers are trying to drum up hype by busting out some retro uniforms when we visit on their Homecoming, to which I say a whooping who cares?

We’re interested in what the Bears will be wearing, which will be white jerseys on blue pants.

In what has turned to more somber news, our game captains perhaps reflect a dark facet of the 2018 Golden Bears. For the first time this year, we don’t have a game captain representing the offense.

(Stunningly, we don’t have access to any picture of either player; the one picture tagged with Rusty Becker is actually Rick Wade, who also wears #90, but for the UC Los Angeles Bruins from the Cal–UC L.A. nightmare. Whoever was responsible for writing captions for those pictures evidently can’t distinguish real bears from baby bears.)

Currently pursuing his master’s degree in public health, P Steven Coutts has had a journeyman career with three prior universities or colleges. Coutts has punted for us 29 times this year, 18 of which forced the opponent within the 20-yard-line and four were over 50 yards; his longest punt this year (and for his whole Cal career) was a whopping 73 yards.

DE Rusty Becker is a redshirt-senior and his stats won’t exactly scream out at you, but that’s not uncommon for defensive linemen. Becker has 12 total tackles on the year and his most productive game this year was against Oregon, in which he had five total tackles, 0.5 tackles for loss, and a fumble recovery. Nonetheless, the worth of stellar D-linemen in our scheme often lies more in their ability to occupy the offensive line and open up opportunities for the linebackers—not to mention any contributions by Becker in the locker room.

Good luck and congrats to Steven and Rusty!