The Cal Golden Bears’ football season is officially over, as they lost their final game of the year at the hands of the UNLV Rebels in the LA Bowl. This marks the second consecutive season in which the Bears have lost their bowl game. However, it’s hard to feel too bad about the Golden Bears’ loss in this matchup.
Bowl games feel different now with the transfer portal taking place at the end of the regular season. It appears that many teams now use them as a chance to get evaluations on players who typically didn’t get much or any playing time in the regular season. That was certainly the case in this game for the Bears, as head coach Justin Wilcox emptied the bench to get evaluations on players for next season. Still, it was a disappointing end to the season and one that many Cal fans wished the team had won.
A close first half
The Rebels started the LA Bowl with the ball after Cal deferred to the second half. It was a sluggish start for both offenses, but that was expected with coaching changes and inexperienced players. The game’s first touchdown came from a coverage breakdown when Hajj-Malik Williams delivered a strike downfield to a wide-open Kayden McGee.
KAYDEN MCGEE
3rd catch of the year for the true freshman pic.twitter.com/k9PFcs6Z6R
— CFBTalkDaily (@CFBTalkDaily) December 19, 2024
However, Cal would answer right back on their next drive. A huge pass to Jack Endries would set the offense up for a reverse to Josiah Martin from 29 yards out. That would end the first quarter with Cal up 10-7.
JOSIAH MARTIN, EVERYBODY 🫶@JosiahMartin_ gets his first career touchdown with a 29-yd rush!
📺 @espn
📲 https://t.co/zkCeY0cTVb#GoBears | #ALLIN pic.twitter.com/b7V6W8HMeV— Cal Football (@CalFootball) December 19, 2024
The second quarter started with the Rebels going three-and-out. It looked like the Bears would get off the field relatively fast, until UNLV converted a fake punt for a 52-yard gain. They would score on the next play to go back on top.
FAKE PUNT ALERTTTTT
📺: ESPN pic.twitter.com/OFkticWO8j
— UNLV Football (@unlvfootball) December 19, 2024
Cal was able to march down the field once again. However, this time they missed the field goal.
That’s been a characteristic of the team all season; and many fans wonder what this team’s record would be if they could simply convert field goal attempts.
After another defensive stop, The Bears would get the ball back and march down to the one-yard line where they failed to punch it in. They would settle for a Ryan Coe 30-yard field goal. UNLV would go into the half with a tight lead of 14-13.
UNLV pulls away
The third quarter was a defensive brawl between both teams. Each offense struggled to move the ball down the field.
Cal would switch to freshman quarterback EJ Caminong midway through the quarter after CJ Harris played most of the game. Towards the end of the quarter, Caminong threw a backward pass that was way off target that resulted in a fumble recovery for UNLV. The Rebels would score on the following play. That was all of the scoring that took place in the third quarter.
UNLV would start the fourth quarter with the ball and keep it on the ground for the majority of the drive. They would fail to score, though, as Cal linebacker Liam Johnson tipped a screen pass that was almost intercepted. Unfortunately, Cal would do nothing with the football once they got it back.
It was clear that Caminong was not ready. Although, how much do you expect from a quarterback who was 4th string to start the season? Whatever it was, it wasn’t good enough to get it done today. Cal would fail to score in the second half and lose the bowl game.
Heading into the offseason
The season is finally over, and what a season it’s been. It sounds weird, but the results on the field do not represent everything that happened surrounding the team this season. Yes, this Cal football team should have won more games. However, Cal fans did everything they could to put butts in seats and dig this program out of the graveyard into relevance again – and they should be proud of that.
Now, it’s up to the program to go out and find ball players. Cal needs to find their next quarterback and bolster the trenches. They’ve already signed a few players in the transfer portal, but they need to hit it hard before it closes.
Fans deserve a winning season and the clock is ticking on this coaching staff. I would say that most fans aren’t even asking for a 10-win season, but rather a fun winning season that shows this team is serious. We’ll see what happens, but for now, there’s a lot of question marks for this team heading into the offseason.
Cody Henderson
I root for teams that only let me down. Talking all things Las Vegas Raiders and Cal Bears football. Follow me on X where I post my dramatic takes.