Cal Football: Luc Bequette is Pac-12 Defensive Player of the Week

After the Cal football team beat USC for the first time in 15 tries, defensive end Luc Bequette was named the Pac-12 Defensive Player of the Week

For the first time since 2003, the Cal football team can call themselves winners against USC. Another fantastic defensive performance boosted the Bears past the Trojans, moving them to 6-4 on the season and getting them to bowl eligibility. For his efforts in the victory, defensive Luc Bequette is the Pac-12 Defensive Player of the Week.

The redshirt junior had the best day of his collegiate career on Saturday against USC. He set career-highs with eight tackles, 2.5 tackles for loss, and two sacks, and also recorded his second career forced fumble.

Bequette’s first sack against Trojans’ quarterback J.T. Daniels came in the second quarter, and it was worth an 11-yard loss. Later in the quarter, his forced fumble was a big momentum changer for the Bears. With USC up 14-0 and heading down field trying to score before the half, Bequette knocked the ball from Amon-Ra St. Brown’s hands. That caused the turnover in the final minute, keeping the deficit at 14 points.

His second sack came in the third quarter on USC’s second drive of the half. On first down, Bequette dropped Daniels for an eight-yard loss. On the next play, Daniels threw an interception, giving Cal good field position as they scored what proved to be the game-winning touchdown.

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Bequette, one of five defensive players to start all 10 games so far for Cal, is tied for fourth on the team with 36 total tackles on the season. His 5.5 tackles for loss are fourth on the team while his four sacks are tied for the team lead with senior linebacker Jordan Kunaszyk. Bequette’s two forced fumbles are second behind Kunaszyk. With (at least) two games left to play this season, Bequette has already set personal bests in tackles, tackles for loss, sacks, and forced fumbles.

In all likelihood, Bequette wasn’t the only Golden Bear player considered for the conference’s Defensive Player of the Week. Junior cornerback Traveon Beck also had a big game on Saturday. He had the interception that set up the game-deciding score, and also added a tackle for loss and three pass breakups. Junior linebacker Evan Weaver had 13 tackles against USC, including two sacks in the fourth quarter, both coming on third downs. Kunaszyk piled up 11 tackles, one for loss, forced a fumble, and recovered a fumble.

Bequette is the second player from Cal to win this award this season. Weaver was named the Pac-12 Defensive Player of the Week two weeks ago after the Bears upset the Washington Huskies (at the time ranked 15th in the AP poll). In that game, Weaver had 11 tackles, one tackle for loss, and a pick-six that gave the Bears a lead they wouldn’t relinquish.

This is certainly a cause for celebration, but Bequette’s still looking toward the future. On twitter, the defensive end called this award “an honor…but let’s get that axe this week!”. He is, of course, referring to the Big Game this Saturday, when Cal takes on Stanford for the famed Axe trophy.

Cal hasn’t beat Stanford since 2009, an eight-game losing. They’ve already snapped one long losing streak within the conference this season, and snapping this one would be pretty, pretty awesome.