Cal Football: Are the Bears really the team to beat in the Pac-12?

Cal football has taken the Pac-12 by storm this season. And after yet another thrilling victory, can we finally say that the Bears are the team to beat in the Pac-12?

The Cal football team has seemingly come out of absolutely nowhere this season and has surged to a 4-0 (1-0 in conference) record to begin the season.

And through the four weeks of the college football season, only one team remains unbeaten atop the Pac-12 — none other than the California Golden Bears. So that bears the question (no pun intended), are the Bears really the team to beat now in the Pac-12?

Entering the season, much of the hype in the Pac-12 surrounded the usual mainstays at the top such as Washington and Oregon. There was also preseason favorites Utah who many pegged as potential College Football Playoff candidates.

Now, through four weeks, each of those teams has suffered a loss. Utah this past week to USC — who fell to BYU a week prior — Oregon to a talented Auburn team in Week 1, and Washington to the still undefeated Bears.

Perhaps this is an early-season mirage or perhaps there’s something greater at stake. Either way, it sure has been fun.

Head coach Justin Wilcox has executed a complete turnaround for a program that for a long while resided at the bottom of the Pac-12. Now, they have a chance to potentially win their division.

Redshirt sophomore quarterback Chase Garbers has seemingly broken out in his first full season in a starting role with 835 yards, seven touchdowns, and only two interceptions so far through four weeks.

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His career highlight to this point came this week when the 20-year-old threw for 357 yards and four touchdowns in the team’s thrilling victory over Ole Miss. It was likely the best game of his career and the Cal offense looks completely transformed this year.

Last season, turnovers remained a major issue and the Bears’ passing attack was bland and uninspiring. But against Ole Miss, Cal had nine different passes go for at least 15 yards as the passing game in many ways carried the team to victory.

And despite surrendering over 500 total yards to the Rebels, Cal’s defense held when it mattered most. Evan Weaver‘s tackle — as controversial as it may have been — was indicative of the defense’s motto on Saturday.

Bend, but don’t break.

With wins over both Washington and Ole Miss in the books, Cal is out to prove that they are serious contenders, not pretenders. And they should have the opportunity to prove themselves in the coming weeks with a difficult schedule ahead.

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The Bears will travel to Tempe this week to take on an Arizona State team reeling after an upset loss to Colorado. After that, they’ll face their toughest task yet as they return home to host the currently No. 13 ranked Oregon Ducks.

They get a rest — hopefully — when they take on Oregon State in the middle of October but follow that up with back-to-back-to-back games against Utah, Washington State, and USC before finishing the season off with home games against Stanford and UCLA.

Cal has shown fight and promise so far, but the upcoming schedule should provide them a gauntlet in which they could prove themselves. Already at 4-0, a bowl game almost seems certain, but the Bears have bigger things in mind.

They want a spot in the Pac-12 Championship and a first-place finish in the north. To do so, they’ll have to finish ahead of teams like Washington and Oregon. They’ve already downed the former and they’ll get a crack at the latter in two weeks.

For now, let’s just simply sit back and enjoy what has been an incredibly fun season of Cal football.