Mar 25, 2021Liked by Rob Hwang, Ruey Yen, Berkelium97, SGBear
We have decided to delete a comment that used an inaccurate term for SARS-CoV-2—i.e., the virus that causes COVID-19. The comment in question used a term that has been linked to a rise in anti-Asian rhetoric on Twitter [1] at a time when hate crimes against Asians have increased by a huge percentage [2] with countless senseless attacks on Asians—elders in particular—and the mass murder of six Asian women in Atlanta [3]. Beyond that, it's also just dumb because it's a vague and ambiguous term compared to those that actually link the virus to the relevant year and outbreak.
Tough schedule I agree. While I hope we can be 9-3 or better I am afraid it is not in the cards. 8-4 as you guys suggest is probably about the best we can do. The tendency to play close games going down to the wire benefited us in past years (wins over Washington, Sanford, and SC come to mind) but last year the pendulum swung in the opposite direction. It would be nice to not have to try to run out the clock during the entire fourth quarter.
I always find it interesting how others grade our opponents over the season and suggest which teams we should beat and which teams we may have a tough time with. Let's start with my first premise that I learned while I coached: there are no sure wins. Every coach knows this and they need to instill this belief into their players so they practice hard and prepare for the 'loser' teams the same way they prepare for the 'winner' teams. While on paper talent levels between teams may look very different, on the field its narrow enough that game results often comes down to who makes the most mistakes versus who has the better talent. Better talent is ALWAYS a benefit and sometimes forces weaker teams to make mistakes, but good teams with good talent have lost to lesser teams because of lack of preparation. Remember when we came up to play UNR and Kaepernick was there QB and we got our asses handed to us? I hope our kids are reminded of this as they prepare. TCU is going to be a challenge as an away game. Sac State we should win but they have a very innovative HC in Troy Taylor and he will come with a great game plan. Expect surprises. UW will be interesting. We've beat them the last two times we played them. Why should that change? WASU will be interesting. This is a team I would admit we should beat, but Rolovich will have a year under his belt and the kids will learn his nuances of the Air Raid and I expect them to be much improved this year. With respect to the Ducks: they have talent galore but we beat them last year and we'll beat them again. Why? We have better coaches and will come with a better game plan and schemes. I expect DeRuyter to come at Garbers with a lot of pressure because its the only way they can beat him. If Chase learns to take what the defense gives him and uses outlet passes, it could be a good day for the Bears. Colorado played well this past season. Dorrell had them playing good football. If that is a sign of things to come, it will make for an interesting match up this year. OSU scares me. I think their young head coach is amongst the best in the PAC12. His kids come ready to play and are prepared. His schemes are good and he does have decent talent. They will be a true test. Arizona I have no idea about. I would think because they have gone through a coaching change that they will struggle a bit this year. But I could be completely wrong. new coach, new culture and new discipline might be all they need to step up their game. USC: USC is like Oregon, they have great talent. But like Oregon I'm not super impressed with the preparedness of the team come game day. With good schemes we can beat USC and I'll take our coaches over theirs any day of the weak. Stanfurd is gonna be tough. Shaw is a helluva coach despite his record the last two years. He's dealt with some pretty heavy personal stuff that is now in the rear view mirror. Stanfurd continues to recruit well. Their kids are smart and their coaches are good and they will be tough. UCLA is going to be tough. Chip Kelly is recruiting better and Dorian Thompson-Robinson is playing the best football of his career. Chip Kelly knows how to call a game that ties us up in knots. I expect this game to be very tough especially as its played away. One piece of good news for us is that the former UCLA QB coach retired this year. We can win the conference and the championship with our kids. What its going to come down to is: 1. How Garbers plays will be how our season goes. 2.That means our second most important factor us Offensive line play. If they open holes for our run game then Musgraves offense should work and Garbers will have success throwing the ball. 3. Our D-line will need to be able to stop the run. IF we can clog up the middle then our linebackers have the speed and athleticism to make plays and I believe our secondary is still the strongest part of our defense. 4. Special Teams play needs to improve. If special teams plays like they did last year we will have a rough season. If we can keep from getting punts and kicks blocked and if we can get downfield to make tackles, we should be in good shape. Remember: there are no guaranteed wins. It should be a fun season because every team CAL will face knows they are facing a much improved and well coached team. The talking heads may never say it but the Bears are a legit contender for the PAC12 North. Go Bears!!
We’re going to have to buck some trends and beat teams we have not been beating (U of A, SC)...the 7-5, 6-6, range is reasonable, given that we struggle with injuries every year. If we can run Musgrave’s offense semi-efficiently, limit turnovers, make some f-ing FGs, and avoid giving games away on special teams, 8-4 is not out of cards, tho every game is gonna be a dog fight.
I’d be pleased with another bowl game as Wilcox continues to build the program after a very solid recruiting year...start becoming a yearly bowl team, and keep building. Go Bears.
No clue as to what our record may be. Every year is a tough schedule for Cal in PAC 12 North. I consider this the first true year under the Musgrave offense so I expect a lot of kinks will need to be worked out and mixing and matching of personnel. Not sure what the OL will look like but still no confidence in that unit until they actually show up. If the OL isn't massively improved then you can fuggetttaboutit, Cal will be pressed to put points on the board. I, for one, will definitely have a raised eyebrow should Daltoso start at right tackle, WTF!!
DL should be significantly improved with the only caveat that we don't know the extent of the injuries. If BJ is out for most of summer conditioning and camp that won't be good (no idea the extent of his injury and wasn't aware of it until the spring game). The return (hopefully) of Maldonado would be a YUGE lift to the interior line. Linebackers should be good even with 2 new ILBs. Safeties, as well, should be solid. The youth and inexperience at corners may take some time to ease in. So, they will need to show the moxie required to play every down in a PAC 12 game prior to facing teams like $C and Wazzu. I don't expect we will see the stellar play at corner that we've been accustomed to during the Wilcox era until mid to late season.
Special teams, meh. Ragle was brought in to recruit a geographical area. It seems he spent a lot of time trying to get the AZ job and another job as well (Montana State, IIRC). So, it is not clear where his head is at.
Injuries. Welp, if Garbers goes down mid season Cal fans can kiss the baby!! All other position groups have better depth now given some stellar recruiting (how abut the staff keeping this past year's class together during the pandemic!!).
So I'll wait to see how the summer camp goes before jumping into the fray on potential record. But yeah like any other year it's a tough schedule. Two things will pique me interest during summer camp: 1) OL, OL, OL 2) Millner. Woops, I guess that is 4 things, how do I edit me post?
I don't even care at this point. I am just: a) happy at the prospect of having a regular, full season; and b) at the same place this year I am every year (until the sobering realities of mid-season come through) which is unbridled enthusiasm for a 12-0 regular season despite any evidence to the contrary.
Given the brutal road schedule I believe we need to go 5-1 at home (6-0 would be preferable). That way a split on the road leaves us at 8-4, our best regular season win total in over ten years. BTW any idea why we always end with two road games in odd years and two home games in even years? It contributes to the feast or famine nature of our odd/even year schedules.
We have decided to delete a comment that used an inaccurate term for SARS-CoV-2—i.e., the virus that causes COVID-19. The comment in question used a term that has been linked to a rise in anti-Asian rhetoric on Twitter [1] at a time when hate crimes against Asians have increased by a huge percentage [2] with countless senseless attacks on Asians—elders in particular—and the mass murder of six Asian women in Atlanta [3]. Beyond that, it's also just dumb because it's a vague and ambiguous term compared to those that actually link the virus to the relevant year and outbreak.
If you have any questions or concerns, please email us at admin@writeforcalifornia.com.
[1] https://abcnews.go.com/Health/trumps-chinese-virus-tweet-helped-lead-rise-racist/story?id=76530148
[2] https://www.nbcnews.com/news/asian-america/anti-asian-hate-crimes-increased-nearly-150-2020-mostly-n-n1260264
[3] https://www.nytimes.com/live/2021/03/17/us/shooting-atlanta-acworth
Tough schedule I agree. While I hope we can be 9-3 or better I am afraid it is not in the cards. 8-4 as you guys suggest is probably about the best we can do. The tendency to play close games going down to the wire benefited us in past years (wins over Washington, Sanford, and SC come to mind) but last year the pendulum swung in the opposite direction. It would be nice to not have to try to run out the clock during the entire fourth quarter.
I always find it interesting how others grade our opponents over the season and suggest which teams we should beat and which teams we may have a tough time with. Let's start with my first premise that I learned while I coached: there are no sure wins. Every coach knows this and they need to instill this belief into their players so they practice hard and prepare for the 'loser' teams the same way they prepare for the 'winner' teams. While on paper talent levels between teams may look very different, on the field its narrow enough that game results often comes down to who makes the most mistakes versus who has the better talent. Better talent is ALWAYS a benefit and sometimes forces weaker teams to make mistakes, but good teams with good talent have lost to lesser teams because of lack of preparation. Remember when we came up to play UNR and Kaepernick was there QB and we got our asses handed to us? I hope our kids are reminded of this as they prepare. TCU is going to be a challenge as an away game. Sac State we should win but they have a very innovative HC in Troy Taylor and he will come with a great game plan. Expect surprises. UW will be interesting. We've beat them the last two times we played them. Why should that change? WASU will be interesting. This is a team I would admit we should beat, but Rolovich will have a year under his belt and the kids will learn his nuances of the Air Raid and I expect them to be much improved this year. With respect to the Ducks: they have talent galore but we beat them last year and we'll beat them again. Why? We have better coaches and will come with a better game plan and schemes. I expect DeRuyter to come at Garbers with a lot of pressure because its the only way they can beat him. If Chase learns to take what the defense gives him and uses outlet passes, it could be a good day for the Bears. Colorado played well this past season. Dorrell had them playing good football. If that is a sign of things to come, it will make for an interesting match up this year. OSU scares me. I think their young head coach is amongst the best in the PAC12. His kids come ready to play and are prepared. His schemes are good and he does have decent talent. They will be a true test. Arizona I have no idea about. I would think because they have gone through a coaching change that they will struggle a bit this year. But I could be completely wrong. new coach, new culture and new discipline might be all they need to step up their game. USC: USC is like Oregon, they have great talent. But like Oregon I'm not super impressed with the preparedness of the team come game day. With good schemes we can beat USC and I'll take our coaches over theirs any day of the weak. Stanfurd is gonna be tough. Shaw is a helluva coach despite his record the last two years. He's dealt with some pretty heavy personal stuff that is now in the rear view mirror. Stanfurd continues to recruit well. Their kids are smart and their coaches are good and they will be tough. UCLA is going to be tough. Chip Kelly is recruiting better and Dorian Thompson-Robinson is playing the best football of his career. Chip Kelly knows how to call a game that ties us up in knots. I expect this game to be very tough especially as its played away. One piece of good news for us is that the former UCLA QB coach retired this year. We can win the conference and the championship with our kids. What its going to come down to is: 1. How Garbers plays will be how our season goes. 2.That means our second most important factor us Offensive line play. If they open holes for our run game then Musgraves offense should work and Garbers will have success throwing the ball. 3. Our D-line will need to be able to stop the run. IF we can clog up the middle then our linebackers have the speed and athleticism to make plays and I believe our secondary is still the strongest part of our defense. 4. Special Teams play needs to improve. If special teams plays like they did last year we will have a rough season. If we can keep from getting punts and kicks blocked and if we can get downfield to make tackles, we should be in good shape. Remember: there are no guaranteed wins. It should be a fun season because every team CAL will face knows they are facing a much improved and well coached team. The talking heads may never say it but the Bears are a legit contender for the PAC12 North. Go Bears!!
We’re going to have to buck some trends and beat teams we have not been beating (U of A, SC)...the 7-5, 6-6, range is reasonable, given that we struggle with injuries every year. If we can run Musgrave’s offense semi-efficiently, limit turnovers, make some f-ing FGs, and avoid giving games away on special teams, 8-4 is not out of cards, tho every game is gonna be a dog fight.
I’d be pleased with another bowl game as Wilcox continues to build the program after a very solid recruiting year...start becoming a yearly bowl team, and keep building. Go Bears.
No clue as to what our record may be. Every year is a tough schedule for Cal in PAC 12 North. I consider this the first true year under the Musgrave offense so I expect a lot of kinks will need to be worked out and mixing and matching of personnel. Not sure what the OL will look like but still no confidence in that unit until they actually show up. If the OL isn't massively improved then you can fuggetttaboutit, Cal will be pressed to put points on the board. I, for one, will definitely have a raised eyebrow should Daltoso start at right tackle, WTF!!
DL should be significantly improved with the only caveat that we don't know the extent of the injuries. If BJ is out for most of summer conditioning and camp that won't be good (no idea the extent of his injury and wasn't aware of it until the spring game). The return (hopefully) of Maldonado would be a YUGE lift to the interior line. Linebackers should be good even with 2 new ILBs. Safeties, as well, should be solid. The youth and inexperience at corners may take some time to ease in. So, they will need to show the moxie required to play every down in a PAC 12 game prior to facing teams like $C and Wazzu. I don't expect we will see the stellar play at corner that we've been accustomed to during the Wilcox era until mid to late season.
Special teams, meh. Ragle was brought in to recruit a geographical area. It seems he spent a lot of time trying to get the AZ job and another job as well (Montana State, IIRC). So, it is not clear where his head is at.
Injuries. Welp, if Garbers goes down mid season Cal fans can kiss the baby!! All other position groups have better depth now given some stellar recruiting (how abut the staff keeping this past year's class together during the pandemic!!).
So I'll wait to see how the summer camp goes before jumping into the fray on potential record. But yeah like any other year it's a tough schedule. Two things will pique me interest during summer camp: 1) OL, OL, OL 2) Millner. Woops, I guess that is 4 things, how do I edit me post?
I don't even care at this point. I am just: a) happy at the prospect of having a regular, full season; and b) at the same place this year I am every year (until the sobering realities of mid-season come through) which is unbridled enthusiasm for a 12-0 regular season despite any evidence to the contrary.
I’m hopeful that Wilcox is unaffected by our road history at Arizona..... dang it.....
I am most worried about the games we "should" win. That has been our biggest problem of late.
Given the brutal road schedule I believe we need to go 5-1 at home (6-0 would be preferable). That way a split on the road leaves us at 8-4, our best regular season win total in over ten years. BTW any idea why we always end with two road games in odd years and two home games in even years? It contributes to the feast or famine nature of our odd/even year schedules.