Thank you for this. I got the sense some headlines and comments alike have been overrating how easily we won. Game minutiae understandably glossed over by the breakout of JKS. But I remember feeling nervous with the game still feasibly in doubt during the 4th quarter. (Granted I had a big bet riding on it)
I'm with you. In hindsight, it looks easy, but in the moment, I did not breathe easily until the 4th quarter. That late 2nd quarter field goal put us back up 14, helped. It's Cal, so we always expect to grab a loss out of the jaws of victory. But that's why I wrote elsewhere that it was cathartic in so many ways.
I was also surprised that the pass pro grade was so low. Berkelium mentioned QB 8 hurries, and I don't recall that many (three were very memorable, though).
Pass protection was good, not perfect, but so much better than last year. I think the OL did well. The timing on the running game and blocking needs work, and I bet they are working on it right now. This was the first game in several seasons where after the first quarter, I was not worried about losing the game.
rewatched last year's oregon state game and our then crappy oline was also solid. Trying hard to curb my expectations. Been burned too many times by strong starts against weak opponents.
Very insightful read. Loved the plots and graphs. Will be looking forward to these weekly.
The run game was subpar but I wasn’t sure if the run blocking stunk or if the Beaver’s run D was good. Rivera today on KNBR mentioned the RBs bounced outside too many times and felt they should have been north/south more often. I’m sure that’ll be a theme this week in practice
I love that Cal is turning into DB University.
Will be interested to see how D-line will perform playing from behind. Easy to pin your ears back and get after it when opponent has to pass more after spotting Cal 14 points
I’m in love with de Jesus on punt returns. Any PFF grades on the ST? He’s def scoring a punt returns TD this year.
Truly challenging to understand the explanation. I was at the game and it was a satisfying one but without those first 14 early points it was much closer.
OSU missed a tackled once every 15.75 snaps, on average. So this was a much bigger problem for Cal than OSU.
I'm in the process of compiling all the Odds and Ends stats over the course of Wilcox Era so we can have a better basis for comparing each game's stats. But something that stands out to me is that opponents often tackle well against Wilcox's teams. Slippery players who forced missed tackles are rare over the last decade.
Don't get too excited about statistics. Final scores are the best stats.
Thank you for this. I got the sense some headlines and comments alike have been overrating how easily we won. Game minutiae understandably glossed over by the breakout of JKS. But I remember feeling nervous with the game still feasibly in doubt during the 4th quarter. (Granted I had a big bet riding on it)
I'm with you. In hindsight, it looks easy, but in the moment, I did not breathe easily until the 4th quarter. That late 2nd quarter field goal put us back up 14, helped. It's Cal, so we always expect to grab a loss out of the jaws of victory. But that's why I wrote elsewhere that it was cathartic in so many ways.
Did Cal give up zero sacks? That's amazing. And the pass protection grade is this low?
Yeah, I find this a bit confusing, as I thought pass pro looked good in this game.
Could also be that I'm comparing this to the awful performance from the last two years and therefore a middling effort looks amazing.
I'm very surprised at the low pass pro grade. JKS had time to think about all his life's choice on almost every snap.
Same…. Help us understand that?
I was also surprised that the pass pro grade was so low. Berkelium mentioned QB 8 hurries, and I don't recall that many (three were very memorable, though).
Pass protection was good, not perfect, but so much better than last year. I think the OL did well. The timing on the running game and blocking needs work, and I bet they are working on it right now. This was the first game in several seasons where after the first quarter, I was not worried about losing the game.
rewatched last year's oregon state game and our then crappy oline was also solid. Trying hard to curb my expectations. Been burned too many times by strong starts against weak opponents.
Agreed, from what I remember the Oregon State game was basically the only game last year where the O line wasn’t a disaster.
Very insightful read. Loved the plots and graphs. Will be looking forward to these weekly.
The run game was subpar but I wasn’t sure if the run blocking stunk or if the Beaver’s run D was good. Rivera today on KNBR mentioned the RBs bounced outside too many times and felt they should have been north/south more often. I’m sure that’ll be a theme this week in practice
I love that Cal is turning into DB University.
Will be interested to see how D-line will perform playing from behind. Easy to pin your ears back and get after it when opponent has to pass more after spotting Cal 14 points
I’m in love with de Jesus on punt returns. Any PFF grades on the ST? He’s def scoring a punt returns TD this year.
Truly challenging to understand the explanation. I was at the game and it was a satisfying one but without those first 14 early points it was much closer.
I just don’t get how pass pro scored so poorly. Do people expect zero hurries?
I love these posts. By chance, do you know OSU's tackling rate? If it's bad due to being game 1, OSU would have a similarly bad rate.
OSU missed a tackled once every 15.75 snaps, on average. So this was a much bigger problem for Cal than OSU.
I'm in the process of compiling all the Odds and Ends stats over the course of Wilcox Era so we can have a better basis for comparing each game's stats. But something that stands out to me is that opponents often tackle well against Wilcox's teams. Slippery players who forced missed tackles are rare over the last decade.