It was such a frustrating year. At times the defense looked dominant. Actually I felt the defense would have been thoroughly more successful if the Bears’ offensive running game had been even average, thereby providing the defense the rest (during clock-eating drives) it needed to still be going at full throttle in the fourth quarter of games. As it was, in several games the defense was under great pressure to hold the line just so Cal could stay in games; it faltered down the stretch from fatigue at times.
I knew we were bad because it was obvious during the season but I didn’t realize we were lash in the nation. Also surprised how bad our red zone defense was in terms of not allowing TDs, that didn’t seem as obvious to me as the 4th down defensive stops.
Thank you Nick for a good read. One thing I thought throughout the season was that we should continue to be aggressive throughout the entire game, on offense and especially defense. Some big plays happened when we were in prevent mode.
And as it turns out, too crazy to be true - I'm glad you posted this because it made me re-check the numbers and I made a transcription error. Cal allowed 24 of 38 4th down conversion attempts, not 24 of 34. I've fixed it in the article, apologies all!
It was such a frustrating year. At times the defense looked dominant. Actually I felt the defense would have been thoroughly more successful if the Bears’ offensive running game had been even average, thereby providing the defense the rest (during clock-eating drives) it needed to still be going at full throttle in the fourth quarter of games. As it was, in several games the defense was under great pressure to hold the line just so Cal could stay in games; it faltered down the stretch from fatigue at times.
Great review...the thing that jumped out for me was last in the nation on 4th down stops...wow
I knew we were bad because it was obvious during the season but I didn’t realize we were lash in the nation. Also surprised how bad our red zone defense was in terms of not allowing TDs, that didn’t seem as obvious to me as the 4th down defensive stops.
Thank you for the summary.
It matches our view of our defense. It was really good but when it mattered, we gave up conversions and touchdowns and lost many games.
Thank you Nick for a good read. One thing I thought throughout the season was that we should continue to be aggressive throughout the entire game, on offense and especially defense. Some big plays happened when we were in prevent mode.
24 of 34 twice (red zone attempts and 4th down attempts) is crazy coincidence!
And as it turns out, too crazy to be true - I'm glad you posted this because it made me re-check the numbers and I made a transcription error. Cal allowed 24 of 38 4th down conversion attempts, not 24 of 34. I've fixed it in the article, apologies all!