Thanks Nick, it's a sober assessment and matches my observations from a year of watching us play, and traveling out to fly over land to watch the bowl game. We can wish we had the talent to compete this year against the powerhouse programs with huge NIL budgets, but we didn't. But we can also look at the OSU and WSU examples that it isn't all financial. The only thing I might not have heard you mention is the relative strength of QB play, and it must be acknowledged that Cal had inconsistent and often poor QB play that cost us several games. OSU and WSU and what the hell, Arizona, had studs at QB and showed it.
Thanks for this write up. A few questions and observations
1) Is there any reason to think Reese won't get 7th year? And any ETA?
2) Do you envision Moore or Littlejohn moving out of NB and into Earby's spot?
3) Do you envision Jaedon Roberts and Ieremia Ieremia to get more interior play and will either be a factor in 2024?
Frankly, i would be very fine seeing us move to a classic Buddy Ryan 46 (Ulave in that spot) / Tampa 2 defense that requires teams to score by going to a lot of shallow crosses!
"There is something off about Cal’s talent identification...", or at least Calfans. The talent isn't as good, as deep, and as (important) varied as it needs to be to consistently math up with the wide variety of opponents they encounter over the course of a season, and sometimes a game. But when they do for a game or series, expectations automatically and immediately ratchet up to unsustainable levels with the spotty/limited talent on hand.
Gotta admit, I'm getting pretty tired of you coming here and condescending to me.
My point in the article was pretty clear: The same players, plus multiple portal additions, produced worse results. I don't think I'm being a massive homer to think that it was a somewhat surprising result.
Not really surprising to me. Bad head coaches generally don't get better with time. It's not like he is going to set up a cot in the bowels of Memorial like Tedford did to put in more late night study to make the team better. And btw, I would like to know a little bit more about the guy I am investing my fandom in. I know that Tedford lived in Danville with his wife and kids. Sonny enjoyed his wife's homespun chicken spaghetti. Where does Wilcox live? Is he in a relationship? What does he enjoy doing when not coaching? If those questions are out of bounds, then I submit an advanced apology.
Quite the contrary, you made the point (multiple times) elsewhere; the strength of opposition took an expected sizable step up, and as a result, arguable better player personnel/performance still produced worse results as far as measurables go. You can't really evaluate Cal, or anyone else, on a year over year basis without simultaneously evaluating the relative opposition encountered. Many fan bases assume experience + transfers = better performance in terms of measurables and relative rankings when it is not that one dimensional.
Perhaps I misunderstood, but my interpretation of your comments over the years is that Cal fans are naïve to ever project improvement because the level of talent on the roster is so low. Which, if I'm understanding correctly, I would find ironic coming from an Oregon State fan - if there's any team that has shown the value of good scouting and development other than Utah of late, it would be the Beavers. They cobbled together a fringe Pac-12 title contender from talent that is functionally indistinguishable from Cal by the recruiting sites.
The problem with Cal is that Cal does not have quality players to stay in the competition; however, most ACC teams are competitive equally with Cal which means Cal can win more games than in the Pac-12.
Little over a month since our season really ended and right now all of us are “so you’re saying there’s a chance” hahahah I love it hahaha
Thanks Nick, it's a sober assessment and matches my observations from a year of watching us play, and traveling out to fly over land to watch the bowl game. We can wish we had the talent to compete this year against the powerhouse programs with huge NIL budgets, but we didn't. But we can also look at the OSU and WSU examples that it isn't all financial. The only thing I might not have heard you mention is the relative strength of QB play, and it must be acknowledged that Cal had inconsistent and often poor QB play that cost us several games. OSU and WSU and what the hell, Arizona, had studs at QB and showed it.
Thanks for this write up. A few questions and observations
1) Is there any reason to think Reese won't get 7th year? And any ETA?
2) Do you envision Moore or Littlejohn moving out of NB and into Earby's spot?
3) Do you envision Jaedon Roberts and Ieremia Ieremia to get more interior play and will either be a factor in 2024?
Frankly, i would be very fine seeing us move to a classic Buddy Ryan 46 (Ulave in that spot) / Tampa 2 defense that requires teams to score by going to a lot of shallow crosses!
"There is something off about Cal’s talent identification...", or at least Calfans. The talent isn't as good, as deep, and as (important) varied as it needs to be to consistently math up with the wide variety of opponents they encounter over the course of a season, and sometimes a game. But when they do for a game or series, expectations automatically and immediately ratchet up to unsustainable levels with the spotty/limited talent on hand.
Gotta admit, I'm getting pretty tired of you coming here and condescending to me.
My point in the article was pretty clear: The same players, plus multiple portal additions, produced worse results. I don't think I'm being a massive homer to think that it was a somewhat surprising result.
Not really surprising to me. Bad head coaches generally don't get better with time. It's not like he is going to set up a cot in the bowels of Memorial like Tedford did to put in more late night study to make the team better. And btw, I would like to know a little bit more about the guy I am investing my fandom in. I know that Tedford lived in Danville with his wife and kids. Sonny enjoyed his wife's homespun chicken spaghetti. Where does Wilcox live? Is he in a relationship? What does he enjoy doing when not coaching? If those questions are out of bounds, then I submit an advanced apology.
Quite the contrary, you made the point (multiple times) elsewhere; the strength of opposition took an expected sizable step up, and as a result, arguable better player personnel/performance still produced worse results as far as measurables go. You can't really evaluate Cal, or anyone else, on a year over year basis without simultaneously evaluating the relative opposition encountered. Many fan bases assume experience + transfers = better performance in terms of measurables and relative rankings when it is not that one dimensional.
Perhaps I misunderstood, but my interpretation of your comments over the years is that Cal fans are naïve to ever project improvement because the level of talent on the roster is so low. Which, if I'm understanding correctly, I would find ironic coming from an Oregon State fan - if there's any team that has shown the value of good scouting and development other than Utah of late, it would be the Beavers. They cobbled together a fringe Pac-12 title contender from talent that is functionally indistinguishable from Cal by the recruiting sites.
I’m going to stick my fingers in my ears and just blame us having to play Penix Nix Ugaileilei and Williams
Looks like no change in defensive coaches this off season so we better hope Sirmon and others can up their coaching skills and coach up young players
thats a funny joke
The problem with Cal is that Cal does not have quality players to stay in the competition; however, most ACC teams are competitive equally with Cal which means Cal can win more games than in the Pac-12.
Things look better next season as Cal has excellent Inside linebackers (the heart of any defense) and edge rushers, commonly called Outside LB's.