24 Comments

I'm terrified because...I'm hopeful because...I schizophrenic. I drove my sorry ass all the way out to Pulman last year only to see the worst offensive performance I'd ever witnessed. Until shown otherwise, no rational part of me can trust anything on offense under Wilcox, unfortunately. Hope, yes. Trust, no. We could easily lose this game by three scores. We could win by three scores. I mean that.

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It’s definitely a scary roadie for the Bears…in addition to being N Texas’ home opener, we’re also the first Power 5 team in pretty much forever to visit Denton. Sonny Dykes really F’ed us with this one…the Mean Green will be so fired up, first year HC Eric Morris knows Wilcox/Sirmon well from his Wazzu year, and their new QB is mobile & almost went to Cal.

We’re gonna have to show up to win this one, and on opening weekend, you never really know…we’ll learn a lot from week 1…

See you in Seattle.

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I'm only optimistic because I always am. I'll just be happy football is going again. I hope cal will win by more thana single score, but They find a way to make these tough.

Cal 30, North Texas 21

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This setup reminds me of Colorado last year. We’re the better team. No doubt about it…

But an early start and weird losing fanbase atmosphere with dub t energy is worrying and basically the only reason I can think of as for why UNT would win this other than if Sam Jackson completely shit’s the bed vs an extremely green (no pun intended) secondary.

I think we win 52-28 with Jackson going something like 19-32 for 205, 3 td and 2 picks; Ott goes for 160 and 3 scores; the st adds 1; and we get a fg

I don’t expect to learn much about our passing offense and line play in this game as north Texas is most likely not going to be very creative up front given their newbie secondary and spavital.

The keys in my mind will be not to abandon Ott on offense; and to use the depth up front and run stunt after stunt after stunt out of even or 2-4-5 and don’t compensate if Johnson or McKenzie get beat by Rodgers on some gimmicky slide on 1 play. It was an aberration. Johnson will eat. But not in some protective 4-3 bs

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If we don’t score 30+ points in this game then it’s going to be a long season.

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Let's not do our usual start-well-then-suck approach to offense. And by that I don't mean employ the suck-for-the-entire-game offense.

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The Wilcox Turtle Special

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The Texas kids are gonna be tough and will come out playing smash mouth football from the beginning. We better be ready to play is all I can say. We have the talent to beat them, we need the 'eye of the tiger' and the 'fire in the belly' or we're going to be real quiet on the plane ride home.

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First year QB starting the season on the road is pretty much guaranteed to produce some jitters. Wilcox actually has a good history with southern road games, winning his very first game in North Carolina and then winning at Ole Miss a couple years later.

I'm sure I'll be gritting my teeth, for sure to start the game. Prediction: the offense will have a wobble or two, but will keep their foot on the gas throughout the game. D will be solid. Adds up to a W, but should be a challenge.

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With Brett Johnson and Stanley Saole-Mckenzie back to anchor the defense, this is their time to turn it up a notch, returning to the lockdown defense Cal had pre-pandemic. That matched up with a high-octane offense could take Cal a long way. It needs to start with the first whistle in Denton.

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If we can generate any kind of pressure on opposing QB's then our DB's will have a good year. One doesn't happen without the other.

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I have no idea how this game will go. I want to say we win by two touchdowns because the defense plays like we remember before Covid, and the new offense shines with speed, skill, and force. Who the heck knows what this Cal team will do to start off the 2023 season. The one thing I know for sure is I will be tuned in to the game to find out. Go Bears!

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At this point I don't know what to think. There has been a lot of portal turn over which makes prognostication difficult. However if we can get back to having a lockdown defense which we had in the early Wilcox years I will feel a lot better.

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I will be shaking for the first quarter of this game. We will learn a lot about the team based off just the 1st Q performance but I think cal is the superior team and will win by 1 to 2 tds

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The F- You Sonny game.

It should tell us a lot about this team…opener, in the heat…I don’t think the Bears cover the 9.5, but they should make enough plays to get out of Denton with a W, 27-24.

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North texas will try to ground an pound the big question is is how is cal against the run if thy stop the run cal will win 20-14 by 6 ugly low scoring game

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I'd be happy with that. You never have to apologize for winning on the road, especially when you're coming off a 4-8 season.

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My main worry is how we handle the Texas summer heat.

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It's not that bad!

*melts into pavement*

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This will be a great test for the defense and warm up for Auburn. This offense is no joke. If they look past them, they will get killed. Final score: Cal 31 North Texas 28

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Are u kidding me cal in a new offense will be lucky to score 20 with a new qb on road in a bad offense low scoring ugly game with lots of mistakes 20-14 n.texas

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Pretty much all of the SEC media types have written off Cal in the Auburn game as a gimme for the Tigers and an automatic W because Cal is a "weak program."

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By any objective measure, Cal is a weak program.

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Oh boy I can already feel the heart palpitations

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