An excellent summary, thank you. The national media do not appreciate how strong the QB play was in the Pac12 last year. The ACC is making much of them being the conference of QB's! Gimme a break. Anyone who watched us play UW last year knows that Penix was just an astonishingly accurate passer. Our numbers looked bad because we were playing QB's who are in the NFL now. I think you are right that our objective quality of defense may not be much different, but the numbers may look much better because we aren't facing the devil's row of Pac12 teams this year.
I think you’re vastly underrating Harris and Buchanan. In the practices I’ve seen (and also based on others practice reports) they’ve been lights out. Harris has clearly established himself as the #1 corner and Buchanan is reminding a lot of people of Willard.
I agree Harris looks like the real deal ~ he passes the eye test at this level. Buchanan has a much tougher job and roll. Let's see how he does against Auburn to gauge if he has learned the play book and can perform at this level.
I was a little let down in hearing Sirmon talking about how hands off he is with the defensive position coaches. Hard to know the details from a single interview, but we’ll have to see what the approach yields this year
Pretty much every interview I see with him doesn't make me feel good. They tend to sound like either he's overthinking and out of his depth, or is preoccupied with sounding good and saying what he thinks the media and JW want to hear him say. Like it's all on paper..
I think the 4 starters at LB are the best unit we've had in a while. I am hopeful Buchanan will be a very solid ILB and Cade will be a game changing playmaker
Thanks for the write up. I wonder if Cade can slide over to OLB, in the event that Carlton or Reese become unavailable, and plug Liam Johnson as a starter in the middle.
Seems like from Sirmon his big theme for the position coaches is to identify the players "who can win games" which sounds similar to the old adage of putting your best players on the field and adjusting the scheme to fit them.
I agree but if there ends up being a serious drop off in talent on the field if an OLB starter goes down for an extended period, we might have to get creative
This seems like a realistic assessment, and somewhat disappointing. One could have hoped that the transfer portal and NIL would have produced more impact players. Then again, we are not known for defense in recent years, so persuading impact players to join us would likely be a stretch. If our defensive line is unable to control the run, and put some pressure on opposing passers, then we had best hope for a ball control offense to keep our defense off the field.
Always remember the transfer portal is generally people who *didn't* make the roster unless you're one of the few schools that people will transfer up into.
I don't know if that's true. You are correct that few schools will always get the players "transferring up" but there are so many schools in the college football pyramid. Cal will lose starters to bigger programs, but Cal is also a bigger program compared to more than half of the schools in FBS and FCS combined.
And so we feast on the lower FBS and higher FCS schools who have players that have succeeded at a lower level but are generally untested at the P5 level, or on 4* recruits out of HS who never made it on the roster of a true contender.
When we're in the P12 North and competing against multiple playoffs teams every year, we're literally using the talent that couldn't make it on their rosters to try to beat them. While our best players like Hunter transfer to them.
The transfer portal has been amazing for us as a glue to hold our roster together between seasons, but we're going to have to recruit high school better if we want to truly see improvements.
I absolutely agree that we need to recruit better out of HS.
And while I think we should be feasting more on the successful, experienced players from lower schools, we really haven't done so yet. Buchanan is a good start. I hope he can make a smooth transition to P5 competition.
We also need to hold on to talent we recruited out of HS. It's almost unbelievable that Ott stayed. I hope Uluave sticks too. Other stars in the making quickly left the program, like Sturdivant, Oladejo, KEO. I forgive Hunter because he stayed longer.
While it does appear that Buchanan will be a starter, nothing guarantees that he will be good at this level (hopefully he will be). I concur with you that he needs to make a smooth and impactful transition. Otherwise this defense that relies on ILB to make correct run fits and sure tackles will be in a world of hurt ~ especially given the lack of experience at ILB.
Which brings me to this point: what the hell has Sirmon been up to? His room (ILB) is too thin and his defenses have been regressing (opposition talent be damned) for several years now. I would say Sirmon is sitting on a real hot seat this year. Oh wait a minute, he's best buds with Wilcox, never mind.
Looks very optimistic. I think Cal will surprise those east coast bias reporters who've rated our Bears so low. By the way, I have DISH and can't get a broadcast of the Davis game. That sucks. I like to record games I go to and sort of critique it after I get home. The ACC network is another reason the demise of the PAC12 is so bad.
DISH has the ACC app but it does not broadcast any ACC alternate shows. Cal vs UCD is on the ACCNX (alternate broadcasts). It'll be rebroadcast on Tuesday night at 10pm on the regular ACC network. That sucks.
An excellent summary, thank you. The national media do not appreciate how strong the QB play was in the Pac12 last year. The ACC is making much of them being the conference of QB's! Gimme a break. Anyone who watched us play UW last year knows that Penix was just an astonishingly accurate passer. Our numbers looked bad because we were playing QB's who are in the NFL now. I think you are right that our objective quality of defense may not be much different, but the numbers may look much better because we aren't facing the devil's row of Pac12 teams this year.
I think you’re vastly underrating Harris and Buchanan. In the practices I’ve seen (and also based on others practice reports) they’ve been lights out. Harris has clearly established himself as the #1 corner and Buchanan is reminding a lot of people of Willard.
I agree Harris looks like the real deal ~ he passes the eye test at this level. Buchanan has a much tougher job and roll. Let's see how he does against Auburn to gauge if he has learned the play book and can perform at this level.
I hope you're right!
I was a little let down in hearing Sirmon talking about how hands off he is with the defensive position coaches. Hard to know the details from a single interview, but we’ll have to see what the approach yields this year
Pretty much every interview I see with him doesn't make me feel good. They tend to sound like either he's overthinking and out of his depth, or is preoccupied with sounding good and saying what he thinks the media and JW want to hear him say. Like it's all on paper..
Yeah Sirmon isn't giving me much confidence either.
Awesome write up, which I am choosing to interpret as “We’re going to shut everyone out and go undefeated!!!” Pump baby pump!!!
I think the 4 starters at LB are the best unit we've had in a while. I am hopeful Buchanan will be a very solid ILB and Cade will be a game changing playmaker
My takeaway, here, is our defense is okay and Sirmon is average.
That tempts me to think we'd be better with WIlcox as DC.
I wish Sirman would use more pressure schemes in definite passing situations.
I miss TDR and his blitz packages.
Isn't Liam Johnson injured?
Yes, but expected back pretty soon.
Thanks for the write up. I wonder if Cade can slide over to OLB, in the event that Carlton or Reese become unavailable, and plug Liam Johnson as a starter in the middle.
Seems like from Sirmon his big theme for the position coaches is to identify the players "who can win games" which sounds similar to the old adage of putting your best players on the field and adjusting the scheme to fit them.
The most important LB's are the Inside LB's. They are the heart of any good defense. Cade needs to stay inside!
I agree but if there ends up being a serious drop off in talent on the field if an OLB starter goes down for an extended period, we might have to get creative
And he really doesn't have the size you need to play OLB.
This seems like a realistic assessment, and somewhat disappointing. One could have hoped that the transfer portal and NIL would have produced more impact players. Then again, we are not known for defense in recent years, so persuading impact players to join us would likely be a stretch. If our defensive line is unable to control the run, and put some pressure on opposing passers, then we had best hope for a ball control offense to keep our defense off the field.
Always remember the transfer portal is generally people who *didn't* make the roster unless you're one of the few schools that people will transfer up into.
I don't know if that's true. You are correct that few schools will always get the players "transferring up" but there are so many schools in the college football pyramid. Cal will lose starters to bigger programs, but Cal is also a bigger program compared to more than half of the schools in FBS and FCS combined.
And so we feast on the lower FBS and higher FCS schools who have players that have succeeded at a lower level but are generally untested at the P5 level, or on 4* recruits out of HS who never made it on the roster of a true contender.
When we're in the P12 North and competing against multiple playoffs teams every year, we're literally using the talent that couldn't make it on their rosters to try to beat them. While our best players like Hunter transfer to them.
The transfer portal has been amazing for us as a glue to hold our roster together between seasons, but we're going to have to recruit high school better if we want to truly see improvements.
I absolutely agree that we need to recruit better out of HS.
And while I think we should be feasting more on the successful, experienced players from lower schools, we really haven't done so yet. Buchanan is a good start. I hope he can make a smooth transition to P5 competition.
We also need to hold on to talent we recruited out of HS. It's almost unbelievable that Ott stayed. I hope Uluave sticks too. Other stars in the making quickly left the program, like Sturdivant, Oladejo, KEO. I forgive Hunter because he stayed longer.
While it does appear that Buchanan will be a starter, nothing guarantees that he will be good at this level (hopefully he will be). I concur with you that he needs to make a smooth and impactful transition. Otherwise this defense that relies on ILB to make correct run fits and sure tackles will be in a world of hurt ~ especially given the lack of experience at ILB.
Which brings me to this point: what the hell has Sirmon been up to? His room (ILB) is too thin and his defenses have been regressing (opposition talent be damned) for several years now. I would say Sirmon is sitting on a real hot seat this year. Oh wait a minute, he's best buds with Wilcox, never mind.
Yes, I would hope for better defense.
I guess we need to keep putting our money where our expectations are by giving to Cal Legends.
Looks very optimistic. I think Cal will surprise those east coast bias reporters who've rated our Bears so low. By the way, I have DISH and can't get a broadcast of the Davis game. That sucks. I like to record games I go to and sort of critique it after I get home. The ACC network is another reason the demise of the PAC12 is so bad.
I downloaded ACC Network app and wanted to select Cal for my team but it's not listed!!?
It looks like I can watch it on the ESPN app. ACC app is terrible.
You can join ESPN+, then quit after one month.
I had the opposite problem: I’m in Berkeley and my Direct TV/AT&T didn’t have the P12N, but I do get the ACCN.
DISH has the ACC app but it does not broadcast any ACC alternate shows. Cal vs UCD is on the ACCNX (alternate broadcasts). It'll be rebroadcast on Tuesday night at 10pm on the regular ACC network. That sucks.
Why can't you record it on Tuesday night and critique on Wednesday in time for WFC "Rate the game" segment?
Oh, I am recording it.