Brandon McIlwain

If an upset is going to happen, the Bears need to win at least two of the three facets — offense, defense, special teams.

Shutting down the Beavers' above-average offense is an accomplishment on paper, but the Bears were able to do it in such blasé fashion that it felt like an inevitability right from the get-go.

After beginning 3-0, it was fair to be optimistic that this year’s edition could do better than last year’s 2-7 finish. If the Bears can’t shake the specter of road Pac-12 games and nab a win in Corvallis this weekend, finishing the season 5-7 would look like a miracle rather than a disappointing benchmark.

Whether you support Cal or Stanford, wins are never a given — it doesn’t matter if it’s a top-10 team or a program still searching for its first win. Shoutout to UCLA this weekend.

Desperately trying to will his team back into the game, McIlwain was forced into dire situations, throwing two interceptions and surrendering the ball to the defense twice, including a scoop-and-score that put the Bears down by 30 points.

When you have to look at a team’s punter as the highlight of the game, it is likely that something has gone wrong. Nonetheless, have a day, Steven Coutts — somebody had to.

Check out previews for homecoming weekend games in football, volleyball, men's water polo, field hockey and cross country.

Because Bunting seems to have not made a crisp turn and the linebacker is breaking toward him, McIlwain has to overcorrect and put the throw toward the sideline to give Bunting a shot.

“Every game is important,” McIlwain said. “The way you attack every game and the way you attack every day should be exactly the same. We’re really focused on ourselves and continuing to get better and continuing to fix the things, the problems, that we have.”

Let’s be honest — playing it safe in any facet of life isn’t fun. The same goes for Wilcox’s play-calling. I personally love the bold and aggressive calls — the only problem is that I don’t think he’s got a disciplined-enough team to pull off some of the calls. That being said, they’ve got the potential to get there.