Nick, I think your opening paragraph is spot on. I think the other problem was that Musgrave wanted a 50/50 offense and wanted us to run the ball effectively, which is real tough to do when you constantly run into a box that has greater numbers than you have blocking on offense. Musgrave seemed to never have good audible calls for Plummer. As a result we either got stoned at the line or Plummer threw low percentage passes deep. In any event, when you have an offense that depends on precision execution, like in the pros, but you don't have pro level athletes, then you're gonna have problems. I think that was a big part of the issues they had with the o-line: they were asked to do things that they just weren't athletic enough to achieve. I think Musgrave is a smart guy but I am ready for a good spread concept offense and I think Spav will be a boost for us. Don't know if any of you watched the Fresno St./WASU bowl game, but watching the play calling for Fresno State was just fun. Not surprising with Tedford at HC (even if he doesn't call the plays anymore).
John Madden, to paraphrase, said that he would build a team from the line up. We should, now, know full well the importance and difference the linemen can make. Let's hope this becomes the priority, because football is all about the trenches.
"I think back to when Cal hired Justin Wilcox and we assumed that it would take him a couple of years to rebuild the Cal defense; as it turned out, there was talent on the roster that had been woefully mismanaged by the prior regime."
Devante Downs had a revival under Wilcox. Our LBs were so poorly utilized under Dykes. And of course, the Takers were composed primarily of Dykes recruits.
There's a fair amount of oline talent on the bench that didn't see the field for one reason or another (injury, not developed enough) Portal may provide some assistance but let's not forget what's inside the den
All roads for next season go through the O-line. Need some talent and depth from the portal plus some serious coaching up, I do think Bloesch will succeed though.
Hmmmm.....McClure had huge success at UCLA, routinely putting guys in the pros. And then he has multiple all-league guys along the O line at Nevada, where he has just been hired again, btw. He gets to Cal and he is suddenly a schmuck. I think any of these failures on offense at Cal need to be as much on Wilcox as anyone, and probably more. The man seems to have teflon underwear.
Not sure what to expect next year because it HEAVILY depends on OL improvement through scheme or personnel. I'm not expecting BEAR RAID 2.0 DROP 50 but escaping the "first to 21" curse should net us a decent number of points and (hopefully) a couple more wins, even if the conference becomes tougher overall.
Here's a great story recently aired on KTVU and the special relationship Ott has with RB coach Aristotle Thompson's son who has epilepsy.
https://www.ktvu.com/news/meet-the-11-year-old-football-fanatic-inspiring-cals-golden-bears
Could be a major factor why Ott will stay a Bear. Aristotle's sons have a foundation for other kids with epilepsy: https://helmets4helmets.com/
Nick, I think your opening paragraph is spot on. I think the other problem was that Musgrave wanted a 50/50 offense and wanted us to run the ball effectively, which is real tough to do when you constantly run into a box that has greater numbers than you have blocking on offense. Musgrave seemed to never have good audible calls for Plummer. As a result we either got stoned at the line or Plummer threw low percentage passes deep. In any event, when you have an offense that depends on precision execution, like in the pros, but you don't have pro level athletes, then you're gonna have problems. I think that was a big part of the issues they had with the o-line: they were asked to do things that they just weren't athletic enough to achieve. I think Musgrave is a smart guy but I am ready for a good spread concept offense and I think Spav will be a boost for us. Don't know if any of you watched the Fresno St./WASU bowl game, but watching the play calling for Fresno State was just fun. Not surprising with Tedford at HC (even if he doesn't call the plays anymore).
Good job Nick,
In a nutshell, “Fix the Offensive Line.”
John Madden, to paraphrase, said that he would build a team from the line up. We should, now, know full well the importance and difference the linemen can make. Let's hope this becomes the priority, because football is all about the trenches.
"I think back to when Cal hired Justin Wilcox and we assumed that it would take him a couple of years to rebuild the Cal defense; as it turned out, there was talent on the roster that had been woefully mismanaged by the prior regime."
Devante Downs had a revival under Wilcox. Our LBs were so poorly utilized under Dykes. And of course, the Takers were composed primarily of Dykes recruits.
There's a fair amount of oline talent on the bench that didn't see the field for one reason or another (injury, not developed enough) Portal may provide some assistance but let's not forget what's inside the den
All roads for next season go through the O-line. Need some talent and depth from the portal plus some serious coaching up, I do think Bloesch will succeed though.
Always insightful Nick!
Hmmmm.....McClure had huge success at UCLA, routinely putting guys in the pros. And then he has multiple all-league guys along the O line at Nevada, where he has just been hired again, btw. He gets to Cal and he is suddenly a schmuck. I think any of these failures on offense at Cal need to be as much on Wilcox as anyone, and probably more. The man seems to have teflon underwear.
OT: any chance that the WFC comment section functionality will be improved so that it's as good as the old CGB site?
Not sure what to expect next year because it HEAVILY depends on OL improvement through scheme or personnel. I'm not expecting BEAR RAID 2.0 DROP 50 but escaping the "first to 21" curse should net us a decent number of points and (hopefully) a couple more wins, even if the conference becomes tougher overall.