Golden Nuggets: How Injuries Are Affecting the Bears

Football

• Offensive lineman are getting hurt all over the Cal football offense, and the bad results are showing itself on the field.

Then there’s McKade Mettauer going from someone playing high school ball in Texas one season ago to dealing with larger, faster and stronger college linemen as a true freshman starting at right guard. Henry Bazakas, Valentino Daltoso and Will Craig have had their rotation of starts on the blindside at left tackle.

Arguably, Cal’s most important and talented linemen is Mike Safell…and the center has dealt with his share of ailments. How impactful is Safell? Of Cal’s six rushing touchdowns, four occurred up Safell’s side in the middle.

• Nam had difficulties thinking of Five Things the Bears can do to beat Utah, so he had to improvise.

If you’re looking for some semblance of a good sign, you could argue that Utah defensive coordinator Morgan Scalley won’t have a ton of tape of Spencer Brasch to tear through...only to quickly remember a line far less physically talented than that of Bradlee Anae and Leki Fotu sacked Modster and Brasch 9 times. Guessing they may not have too much trouble figuring out what to exploit -- and several of those sacks were just straight up losing as a big on big, being physically manhandled at the point of attack.

• Josh Yuen notes how eerily similar all of these Cal seasons have been in the Wilcox era. A good non-conference followed by a nightmare October.

Volleyball

• Learn about the latest Cal Athletics Hall of Famer from Volleyball, Holly McPeak.