California Football: Is offense good enough for Golden Bears to contend?

California Football has had some of the best defenses in the conference, but can the offense finally catch up and make the Golden Bears contenders in the PAC-12?

You might not know it, but California Football head coach Justin Wilcox is one of the most underrated coaches in the country and one of the nation’s brightest defensive minds.

Ever since he took over in Berkeley, the Golden Bears have had one of the top defenses not only in the PAC-12 but in the nation. Cal has had one of the top passing defenses recently and that can be attributed to Wilcox as well. The big question that is still surrounding this program is if the offense is ever going to improve and help California football take the next step and be serious PAC-12 North contenders.

Heading into the season in 202, Cal was thought to be one of the teams that was not getting enough love in the conference and some were picking the Golden Bears to win the North division. Cal’s season was derailed by COVID and this team never really got to show what immediate improvements, if any, that they had.

Senior quarterback Chase Garbers was making strides in 2019 and looked like he was one of the better quarterbacks that Wilcox and the program had developed, but he has struggled to consistently stay healthy and that has hurt any progress that Cal makes on offense.

I don’t think that it is hyperbole to say how much of an impact that Garbers has on the team this fall could determine whether Cal is just merely a good bowl team or if the Golden Bears could be a sneaky team that could have some upside.

The Golden Bears start off the season with non-conference games vs Nevada and TCU, but we will find out quickly if this team is to be taken seriously in the PAC-12