The overall season probably feels like a disappointment for Cal head coach Justin Wilcox, with the Bears sitting 1 win shy of bowl eligibility, but Cal at least ended the season with some momentum.

Cal won 4 of its last 6 games, including wins over a good Oregon State team, Stanford, and USC. While both of the latter were experiencing down years of their own, it’s never a bad time to beat up on Stanford or USC. And in Cal’s last 4 games, it never gave up more than 14 points.

The Pac-12 Network’s Yogi Roth thinks they could build off that close in 2022 if a couple things break right.

“To me, there’s a couple elements. One, can you get a signature win? Like, a big-time, legit signature win, which will send vibrations back to the West Coast and this conference,” Roth started. “Can the stadium be rocking? Like, can you really bring it when they need it? And then if they can find a quarterback. I don’t know if it’s Kai Millner or somebody on the roster now or someone they’ll find in the transfer portal or maybe somebody that they’ll sign.

“I think they’ve got the schedule, the way that it lays out, to make some legit noise. And, really, as we’ve seen all the movement in the Pac-12 at the coaching position, the stability of Cal—much like Oregon State—will put them in position if they can figure out the QB thing to represent the North in the Pac-12 title.”