Preview of Cal vs. Nevada Football Game

Cal Football is back and the team is preparing to play its first game in the newly renovated Memorial Stadium against Nevada. While playing in the new stadium should bring excitement to the Bears there should also be some sense of wanting revenge against Nevada. It was only two years ago that the Nevada Wolf Pack destroyed Cal in Reno. It was a game that Cal was expected to win and the the time of that game, Cal was ranked in the nation. After that loss however, Cal went on to have one of its worse seasons under coach Jeff Tedford while Nevada went on to have its best season in school history in which they ranked in the top 20 in the nation.

            The good news for Cal is that Colin Kaepernick is no longer Nevada’s quarterback.  Kaepernick was the main reason that Cal was defeated in Reno. Kaepernick ran circles around the Cal defense and scored touchdowns with his arm and legs.  He was unstoppable.  The other good news is that Cal is playing at home this time and recent history shows that non conference opponents that Cal loses to on the road, Cal gets their revenge by beating them at home later on.

            However, Cal should not get too comfortable with its first opponent this season. While Kaepernick may no longer be Nevada’s quarterback, they have a young good quarterback in sophomore Cody Fajardo who was named the WAC conference freshmen of the year. He can run the ball too in Nevada’s high powered pistol offense and has a good arm too. Fajardo may not be that known around the nation but that could be a problem for Cal. Kaepernick was not well known to the nation prior to Cal’s game against Nevada in 2010. It wasn’t until after he beat Cal and Boise State that he became a known player to the nation and NFL scouts.  Cal was not prepared against Kaepernick. They should not make the same mistake against Fajardo.

            So what will it take for Cal to beat Nevada this Saturday? There are two keys: one is that coach Tedford has got to outcoach Nevada head coach Chris Ault.  The second key is that Cal quarterback Zack Maynard needs to outperform Fajardo. Those were the two keys that cost Cal its game against Nevada in Reno. I remember watching the game in Reno and seeing how many bad decisions Tedford made. It may have been the biggest reason why Cal lost. Tedford had the team run the ball when they should have passed it and they passed the ball when they should have ran it. Every move Tedford made seem to cost the team and while Tedford seem to make all the wrong moves, Ault seem to make all the right moves. That cannot happen again. If Tedford wants to keep his job safe with Cal, he will need to coach better against Nevada then he did the last time.

            As far as Maynard, he will need to perform better than he did last year.  He will need to outperform Fajardo. Cal is not going to be able to shut down Nevada’s pistol offense. Nevada will score a lot of points as their system is effective in college and they have been one of the highest scoring teams in football in the past few years.  That is why it is important that Maynard scores a lot of points as they will be needed to outdo Nevada’s offense. While Maynard showed signs of being a good quarterback in some games last season, in other games he lost to teams he should have beaten. That is why Cal did not have as a good of a season as the team would have liked.  A team cannot get far if its quarterback struggles. Plus, the last Cal quarterback to play against Nevada did not have a good game and that was why Nevada was able to have a big spread on the scoreboard.

            Overall, everyone is picking Cal to beat Nevada this Saturday. On paper, Cal should beat Nevada. However, Cal’s biggest problem over the years has been losing games against teams they should have beaten.  Cal tends to overlook opponents and it comes back to bite them.  Two years ago everyone had Cal beating Nevada also. That didn’t turn out so great.  However, Cal is opening up there renovated stadium when they face Nevada. The team will be pumped, the fans will be pumped and the team will feed off the fans excitement.  The last thing Cal wants to do is lose their home opener and let Nevada rain on Cal’s parade. If Cal can’t be motivated to win this game, I don’t know what will motivate them. If Tedford can’t have his team play well in this atmosphere, then his job should be on the line.  I don’t know who is going to win this game because with Cal every game is unpredictable.