Cal earned a big early victory Saturday with a 21-14 win over Auburn on the road at Jordan-Hare Stadium. The defense again came through with multiple turnovers while the defense had a more consistent showing with Fernando Mendoza handling most of the snaps in Saturday's game. PFF continues to think highly of the Bears, and here is this week's breakdown of the grades following Saturday's game.
OFFENSE
Top 5 overall grades
Top 5 overall grades
OFFENSE
Top 5 overall grades
- QB Fernando Mendoza - 90.2 (67 snaps | 25-36, 233 yards, 2 TD)
- WR Nyziah Hunter - 79.7 (41 snaps | 4 catches, 44 yards, 2 TD)
- RB Jaivian Thomas - 79.4 (27 snaps | 8 rushes, 53 yards, 1 TD)
- WR Mason Starling - 77.1 (13 snaps | 3 catches, 42 yards)
- WR Jonathan Brady - 74.9 (43 snaps | 4 catches, 63 yards)
- QB Fernando Mendoza - 89.6 (passing)
- RB Jaivian Thomas - 85.3 (rushing)
- OL Rush Reimer - 80.7 (pass blocking)
- OL Bastian Swinney - 79.3 (pass blocking)
- WR Nyziah Hunter - 78.8 (passing)
- LG Rush Reimer - 72 [+5]
- RT T.J. Session - 72 [+5]
- C Bastian Swinney - 72 [+5]
- RG Matthew Wykoff - 72 [+8]
- QB Fernando Mendoza - 67 [+20]
- TE Jack Endries - 48 [+10]
- WR Mavin Anderson - 46 [-]
- WR Jonathan Brady - 43 [+9]
- WR Nyziah Hunter - 41 [+13]
- LT Nick Morrow - 38 [-26]
- WR Mikey Matthews - 34 [+16]
- LT Victor Stoffel - 34 [+31]
- TE Corey Dyches - 33 [+1]
- WR Trond Grizzell - 28 [-13]
- RB Jaivian Thomas - 27 [+9]
- RB Jaydn Ott - 26 [-11]
- RB Kadarius Calloway - 18 [+17]
- WR Mason Starling - 13 [-4]
- QB Chandler Rogers - 5 [-15]
- TE J.T. Byrne - 2 [-7]
- RB Byron Cardwell - 1 [-10]
Top 5 overall grades
- DB Miles Williams - 74.9 (56 snaps | 3 tackles)
- DB Ja'ir Smith - 73.8 (25 snaps | 1 tackles, 1 sack, 1 interception)
- OLB Ryan McCulloch - 71.7 (51 snaps | 1 pass breakup)
- DB Craig Woodson - 70.9 (62 snaps | 6 tackles, 1 fumble recovery)
- DL Nate Burrell - 70.4 (32 snaps | 1 tackle, 1 tackle for loss)
- ILB Teddye Buchanan - 89.9 (run defense)
- ILB Teddye Buchanan - 85.6 (tackling)
- CB Marcus Harris - 81.6 (tackling)
- DB Miles Williams - 81.0 (tackling)
- CB Nohl Williams - 78.8 (tackling)
- ILB Teddye Buchanan - 62 [-12 from UC Davis]
- ILB Cade Uluave - 62 [-12]
- CB Nohl Williams - 62 [-8]
- DB Craig Woodson - 62 [+25]
- DB Miles Williams - 56 [+8]
- CB Marcus Harris - 53 [-16]
- OLB Ryan McCulloch - 51 [+7]
- OLB Xavier Carlton - 47 [-3]
- CB Lu-Magia Hearns - 34 [+3]
- DL Nate Burrell - 32 [-4]
- DL Aidan Keanaaina - 32 [-1]
- DL T.J. Bollers - 28 [-1]
- DB Ja'ir Smith - 25 [+20]
- OLB Cheikh Fall - 15 [-9]
- DL Stanley Saole-McKenzie - 13 [+5]
- OLB Myles Williams - 12 [-9]
- OLB Serigne Tounkara - 10 [+2]
- ILB Hunter Barth - 7 [+5]
- DB Isaiah Crosby - 6 [-20]
- DB Ryan Yaites - 4 [-16]
- DL Ricky Correia - 3 [-22]
- OLB David Reese - 3 [-6]
- DL Derek Wilkins - 3 [-7]
- I'll start with the overview through two weeks now for the Bears, and they remain among the top 25 teams in PFF's overall rankings/grades with an 89.9 overall. It's not a surprise, but the defense is leading the way right now with an overall grade of 90.2, which is good enough for 10th among all FBS teams through the first two weeks. The run defense grade (86.6) is good enough for 25th, but the coverage grade is where the Bears have received high marks from the PFF staff. Cal currently has the No. 2 coverage grade among all FBS teams through the first two weeks with a 91.0.
- Offensively, Cal is at No. 63 through two games with a 71.3 grade. The passing game does check in at No. 21, however, with an 83.3 grade. The pass blocking grade (58.5 | No. 110) and run blocking grade (60.1 | No. 86) are bringing down the overall offensive grade right now. The rushing grade is respectable at 70.3 but ranks 84th among FBS teams in the PFF grades.
- After a suspect game against UC Davis, the Bears graded out much better in the tackling category as a defense in the Auburn game. Only six of the 23 players that played defensive snaps on Saturday scored lower than a 70.0 in that category.
- The Bears were credited with 16 total pressures once again this week with 12 hurries.
- On offense, there weren't a ton of standout grades but tight ends Corey Dyches (72.9) and Jack Endries (71.3) received two of the highest grades in the pass blocking category. Endries in particular has continued to work heavily on that part of his game and Dyches is coming around in that regard, so it's a positive thing to see both players among the top group.
- No surprise here, but no offensive player received a grade higher than 61.8 in the run blocking category.
- Offensive line wise, the Bears allowed 12 pressures overall with seven of those coming from the right side.
