Cal’s Losing Streak is a sad movie that we’ve seen before

Cal’s football season has become the fascinating movie with the sad ending you’ve seen a dozen times. You know the last lines before they’re spoken, and you’re tempted to tune them out before the inevitable tragic ending comes. But you can’t turn away entirely because the plot was so enticing.

Cal’s 24-23 loss to North Carolina State on Saturday afternoon was the final showing of this film. It was the Bears’ fourth straight loss, and what makes the Bears’ 2024 football script so disappointing is the fact that all four games were ACC and the loss was only nine points in the four games combined. The last three defeats were a combined margin of just four points. It sounds almost impossible, a tragic act that movie moguls would immediately dismiss.

Afterward, Cal coach Justin Wilcox was listing off the reasons why that game got away, trying to figure out what just went wrong, when he suddenly paused and said, “That sounds like the record was broken.” Everyone has tired of hearing it; I’m tired of saying it.”

Wilcox was again extremely disappointed and seemed almost callous to the Bears’ fate. On three separate occasions, Wilcox said during his postgame press conference, “I have to do a better job as a coach.”

The endings of the last four defeats were the same, but then again the last four defeats were all different. One play in any game could have changed the outcome.

Cal was able to win all four games. In two of them, Cal led by at least 13 points early in the fourth quarter. A very makeable Cal field goal that was missed in the final two minutes resulted in two losses.

Let’s recap the carnage:

The Bears (3-4, 0-4 ACC) were in position to take the lead against Florida State when the Bears were faced with a second-and-5 at the FSU 12-yard line with 1:20 to play Minutes before the end of the game, before a penalty was called, an incompletion and a sack resulted in a 14-9 loss in a game where Cal dominated the stats.

Cal was on its way to a breakthrough victory over then-No. 1-8 Miami the next week when it held a 35-10 lead in the third quarter. The Bears failed to make the only play that would secure their victory and ended up losing 39-38 when the Hurricanes scored the game-winning touchdown with 26 seconds left.

The following week, a missed two-point conversion after Cal’s touchdown in the first quarter and Ryan Coe’s missed 40-yard field goal on a slightly bad snap with 1:50 left were the deciding points in Cal’s 17-15 loss Bears against then. NO. 22 Pitt.

And then came Saturday, when Cal led 23-10 early in the fourth quarter. Given the way Cal’s defense played, it seemed safe. But the inevitable tragic ending seemed to occur when the Wolfpack scored on touchdown drives of 75 and 80 yards to take a 24-23 lead with 6:32 to play.

But wait. The disastrous final act was apparently about to be rewritten this time, as Cal reached North Carolina State’s 10-yard line with 1:37 left. Freshman Derek Morris was about to become a hero, and what a story it would be. In his first college game after replacing Coe as the Bears’ kicker, Morris, who had turned 19 just a week earlier, had kicked field goals of 41, 26 and 24 yards, and now he was facing a chip- Shot a 28-yard field goal to give Cal the lead and perhaps end the mourning.

Morris didn’t hit it cleanly.

It fluttered far to the right.

Torture.

Four defeats in a row by a combined margin of nine points, the last three by a margin of four points.

If Cal scored a touchdown on any of its five forays inside Florida State’s 15-yard line. . .

If Cal had held a 25-point lead in the second half against Miami. . .

If Ryan Coe had made that 40-yard field goal against Pitt with less than two minutes left. . .

If Derek Morris had kicked that 28-yard field goal with 1:28 on the clock. . .

If, if, if, if. . .

“It sounds like a broken record. Everyone is tired of hearing it. I’m tired of saying it.”