Golden Nuggets: Post-Game Reaction and More From Saturday’s Big Win

• I don’t have post-game Youtube videos right now (late night road games often take a while, or don’t show up on Cal’s Youtube page at all), but Cal Bears Maven has some videos from Justin Wilcox, Evan Weaver, Chase Garbers and Brandon McIlwain.
• The videos aren’t very long, but this recap by CBM seems to suggest Wilcox went with Garbers and McIlwain for their running abilities, and this doesn’t mean Bowers is out of the rotation. In the same article, Evan Weaver pleads for Cal fans to attend more home games.

Coach Justin Wilcox said the staff made the decision that the combination of Garbers and McIlwain, who both provide running threats, was the best course of action against a BYU defense that is stout against the run.

He said this was no knock on 2017 starter Ross Bowers, who watched the entire game from the sidelines, wearing a baseball cap and head phones. But Garbers and McIlwain, he said, simply were a better fit for this assignment.

“I’m proud of how they competed. This is a really good run defense and when you can create the element of the quarterback being a threat to run the ball, it stresses defenses. It changes the math.

“Chase had some nice throws. He was very calm and operated well. Even after the interception, he’s fine. He just kept playing.

“Then Brandon coming in and giving us a little different dimension there,” he continued. “At the end of the game, the run to seal it. That’s huge.”

• Published before the game, find out how the defense gained a lot of confidence during the UNC win.
• Jon Wilner’s Top Five lessons from the weekend includes predicting that Cal will be a solid second tier team and that the North is showing its supremacy over the South.

Misc.

• Cal Bears Maven remembers Jason Kidd’s greatest games with the Golden Bears. Don’t forget to watch his Hall of Fame speech as well.

• Savannah Rennie is healthy again. If you don’t recall, you can read about all she’s been through the past few seasons and how she overcame it. This article was written before this weekend’s action, which saw her make her season debut and first appearance since 2016.

Go Bears!