Tosh Lupoi doesn’t have nightmares. Of course, he doesn’t spend much time in bed.
This week, the Cal coach has one more thing to keep him up nights.
“It’s no secret I don’t sleep a lot,” he said, “and now it’s less.”
Lupoi and his staff are up late, looking for answers to cope with Gio Lopez, the dangerous dual-threat quarterback for No. 21 Wake Forest, which visits Memorial Stadium on Saturday night.
Lopez has accounted for 19 touchdowns through six games, throwing 13 (with just one interception) and running for six more.
“He’s the best quarterback we’ve faced yet,” said Lupoi, who anticipates Lopez going higher in the NFL draft than most experts expect. “They’re obviously running on all cylinders and it starts with him.”
The Demon Deacons are 5-1 overall, in second place in the ACC at 3-1. Since a 33-20 loss to Miami, they have won three in a row including a road victory over then-No. 16 Louisville, a 57-3 rout of Stanford and a 38-14 win at North Carolina State.
The Bears (3-3, 2-1) survived a talented passer last week, beating Ethan Grunkemeyer and Virginia Tech 25-20. But Grunkemeyer is all arm, no legs.
Lopez is a different threat because of his ability to run. Over four seasons at South Alabama, North Carolina and Wake, he has rushed for 952 yards and 18 touchdowns.
He single-handed wrecked Stanford two weeks ago, completing 20 of 27 passes for 265 yards and two touchdowns while rushing 12 times for 88 yards and three touchdowns. It added up to Wake’s most decisive victory since 1941.
Next up is Cal, which has struggled all season defending the run. The Bears are 122nd nationally in rushing defense, allowing 187.4 yards per game.
They have been especially vulnerable against dashes into open space by quarterbacks. Wagner’s Benjamin Newman ripped off a 23-yard run against the Bears. Clemson freshman Tait Reynolds had a 20-yard run.
But it was UNLV’s Jackson Arnold whose efforts have Lupoi worried about Lopez. Arnold rushed for 110 yards and two touchdowns in a 39-31 victory over the Bears, including a 55-yard TD romp and a 42-yard gain that set up the Rebels’ go-ahead touchdown in the fourth quarter.
Lupoi said he has watched tape of Lopez at each of his three college stops, and isn’t seeing any defensive strategies that give him comfort.
“There’s not a whole lot of evidence of that,” he said.
Cal has had success recently pressure quarterbacks with a variety of blitzes. Lupoi acknowledges that a steady diet of sending six or seven rushers won’t work in this case.
“If you see people going all out, the risk-reward of that is very costly,” Lupoi said. “That approach, you see some people do it and it doesn’t look very good.
“You can’t wholesale anything against this guy. He’s intelligent, he’s lethally accurate, he’s producing at a high level for a reason.”
Outside linebacker Solomon Williams, above, understands part of his job Saturday will be to set the edge to Lopez cannot squirt free on the outside.
“You’ve just got to be really disciplined in your rush lanes, understanding you can’t do more than your job, your 1 in 11,” Williams said. “We’ve definitely got to show him different looks. A guy like that, very explosive with his feet and his arm you’ve got to give him different looks.
“We have to collapse the pocket and contain the guy.”
Cal uses a lot of defensive players and Lupoi hopes that creates an edge by keeping fresh bodies on the field.
“The most important part is cycling through,” he said. “It’s no secret we have a high-volume defense to hopefully put him in position to not know what we’re in all the time.”
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