The California Golden Bears (7-5) and Justin Wilcox take on Gary Patterson and the TCU Horned Frogs (6-6) in the 2018 Cheez-It Bowl, a game that should be a very low scoring affair as it features two of the best defenses in the entire country.
The game takes place tonight at Chase Field, home of the Arizona Diamondbacks at 9:00 p.m. ET and will be televised on ESPN.
TCU has had to play three quarterbacks throughout the season as Shawn Robinson, and Michael Collins went down with injuries and now Grayson Muehlstein is leading them to this matchup with the Cal Bears. The fifth-year senior quarterback is full of confidence as he led Cal to victory in their last two games to get them to bowl eligibility.
Both teams will try to focus on not hurting themselves as they’ve struggled with giveaways all season long. Turnover wise TCU is -6 on the season, while the Bears were slightly better with their total at -2.
With both defenses ranked inside the top 26 in the nation, most of the stars on these teams are on the defensive side of the ball. For the Bears, it begins with first-team All-PAC-12 linebacker Jordan Kunaszyk, and second-team All-PAC-12 linebacker Evan Weaver.
Those two players form one of the most lethal linebacking duos in the entire country and are complemented with the likes of the very skilled Elijah Hicks, Ashtyn Davis, and Cameron Bynum in the secondary to form a very big-time defense that will make it very tough on the Horned Frogs to move the ball.
But for someone to win this game someone will have to be able to generate something on offense. The Bears will rely on the arm of quarterback Chase Garbers, who will need to not only connect with his wide receivers but find a way to put the ball in the hands of running back Patrick Laird, who had 50 catches on the season.
Laird, who also had 932 rushing yards in 2018, was one of the most dynamic players on the Golden Bears’ offense. He was tied for the team lead in receptions with wide receiver Vic Wharton III and ranked fourth in the team in receiving yards (291).
With so much talent on the defensive side of the ball this very physical game will come down to which team can generate one or two plays on offense to make the difference on the scoreboard.
