What Needs to Happen: Portland State

The tough schedule that Cal is faced with is great for the fans but not all that great for a young football team trying to find its way in the CFB world.

Portland State offers one of the few reprieves from the daunting schedule this season (although there really isn't such a thing as a gimme anymore) and the Bears would be best served to get out as many kinks as they can before that other team comes to town on September 14.

With that said, a couple things I would like to see from Cal this Saturday:

• Establish a running game: No surprise here. I think we needed to give more credit to the Northwestern defensive front but overall I think even the offensive linemen themselves would agree that Cal needs to be better in this department. More runs between the tackles and less bouncing out.

  

  Freddie Tagaloa had some good moments against Northwestern. As a crew, hopefully the Cal offensive line continues to get better. (SF Chronicle)

• Generate a pass rush: Also no surprise. Chris McCain and company are still learning how to play with their hand in the ground so its more than understandable that this is going to take some time. Regardless though, it is going to be a bad, bad, sign if the Bears can't generate a consistent rush (even with four) against Portland State.
• Kline Time: Only for a couple of drives. Unlike some, I don't want Kline to play because I believe he's better than Jared Goff but more because Kline needs some actual game experience himself just in case Goff ever goes down.
• Subs on Defense: Thrown into the fire. It didn't take long for the ugly injury bug to sweep through the Bears's defense. With Avery Sebastian gone for the year, Nick Forbes (likely gone for the year), Brennan Scarlett and others still on the shelf, it's critical to get the young guys in there as much as possible before the big boys roll into town.
• Cleaner Play: Between the penalties, tipped passes, dropped balls, and missed tackles, Cal has plenty to improve on. Although Portland State isn't a complete scrub team, I don't expect the Bears to make the same mistakes that they did against Northwestern. 
• Finish: Because Ohio State isn't going to take plays off. Even though there were several encouraging signs that amounted from the Northwestern game, the bottom line is that Cal had a chance to win at the end and it didn't make the plays needed to pull out the victory. I would really like to see the Bears finish out all four quarters strongly (regardless of score).

GO BEARS!