Cal Golden Bears eager to face college football’s top passing teams, starting with high-flying UW in Pac-12 opener

Cal’s defense, which has held up nicely through the first three games of the season, now braces for a gauntlet of high-powered Pac-12 passing attacks, starting Saturday night at No. 8 Washington.

Asked if he’s having nightmares preparing for the nation’s most prolific passing team in their Pac-12 opener, Cal defensive coordinator Peter Sirmon tried to make light of the challenge.

“Nightmares would be under the assumption I’m sleeping,” he said. “When I’m awake, I’m having nightmares.”

Cal (2-1) heads to Seattle to face the Huskies (3-0) having surrendered just 17.3 points per game. The Bears rank second in the conference in fewest passing yards allowed at 185.7.

Those numbers may get reworked after Saturday’s 7:30 p.m. kickoff at Husky Stadium.

Washington leads the FBS with 493.3 passing yards per game and is eighth nationally in scoring at 46.7 points. Quarterback Michael Penix Jr., who finished eighth in the 2022 Heisman Trophy voting, is completing 74 percent of his passes with 12 touchdowns and just one interception.

“They’re just chucking the ball all over the field,” said senior All-Pac-12 linebacker Jackson Sirmon, Peter’s son.

“It’ll be a great opportunity to see where we’re at,” Cal coach Justin Wilcox said.

Peter Sirmon suggested this might be the best offense Cal plays all season. “And that’s not a slight on anybody else.”

The anybody else he referred to is much of the rest of the Pac-12. The top five passing offenses in the country reside in the conference, and Cal will see four of them.

“That’s what we’re fixing to get into the next eight or nine weeks, facing some of the most talented offenses in America,” Peter Sirmon said. “This is what the Pac-12 is right now.”

Here’s what the Bears face in the weeks ahead:

— Fifth-ranked USC, which visits on Oct. 28, is the nation’s highest-scoring team at 59.3 points and is fourth in passing yards at 395.7 per game.

— On Nov. 4, Cal plays at No. 10 Oregon, where it must deal with an offense averaging 58 points (No. 2 nationally) and 363.3 passing yards (No. 5).

— One week later, on Nov. 11, the Bears host 21st-ranked Washington State, whose credentials include 48.3 points per game (No. 6 nationally) and 398.7 passing yards (No. 3).

The Bears catch a break not having to face Coach Prime and his No. 19 Colorado squad, the talk of college football at 3-0 after going 1-11 last season. The Buffaloes are passing for 418 yards per game (No. 2 nationally and scoring at a 41.3 clip.

There are no easy answers to harnessing these offenses.

First of all, the Huskies and their fellow aerial assault kings have not let defenses breathe on their quarterbacks. Penix has been sacked just once, and UW, USC, Oregon and WSU have allowed a total of six sacks among 470 designed pass plays.

The Huskies boast the nation’s only threesome of wideouts all averaging at least 100 receiving yards.  Rome Odunze, Jalen McMillan and Ja’Lynn Polk have totaled 55 catches for 1,030 yards and seven touchdowns . . . in three games.

And last week, tight end Jack Westover hauled in three touchdown passes in the Huskies’ 41-7 dismantling of Michigan State.

The Bears have two things on their side: They are adept at generating turnovers, and they have an encouraging recent history against UW.

Cal shares the national lead with 10 takeaways in three games — five interceptions and five recovered fumbles. The Huskies have been good but not perfect, giving up three turnovers.

The Bears know they have to add to that number in order to slow Washington. “That’s the No. 1 indicator in winning and losing,” Peter Sirmon said.

“That’s huge in every game, especially in a game like this,” said Jackson Sirmon, who began his career at UW.

Cal has split its past four games vs. Washington, all of them settled by seven points or fewer. The Bears lost in overtime in 2021 at Seattle and won 20-19 in 2019 in a game delayed for more than 2 1/2 hours by a lightning storm over Husky Stadium.

The Huskies have averaged just 22 points in those four games, including last year’s 28-21 UW victory in Berkeley.

“If you’re not excited to play this game,” Wilcox said, “you’re in the wrong sport.”