* oline is developing and not ready (e.g., there aren't 5 guys distancing themselves aka they're all playing below P4 level, maybe outside of Leon Bell)
* RBs are developing and not ready at P4 level and are maybe one-dimensional, so easier to predict our plays based on which RB is in (all the transfer outs are hurting us)
* WRs -- we have two serviceable WRs, which again may also cause us to be more predictable (e.g., shut down the top 2 WRs and our pass game will suffer)
* Kicker woes continue?
Excited for JKS. Hoping the o-line and skill players can help complement/supplement a true freshman!
I took it to be more optimistic, that we have solid but not spectacular talent across the board and an offensive coaching staff that is the difference, in terms of coaching them up and scheming -- whereas we've only had good individual positions coaches or a schemer (spavital for one year) in the past, but not all at once. If we fire on all pistons, the offense could be what we need, with JKS as the wild card.
Kicking - Im probably alone in thinking that having two specialized kickers is a good thing, and we're maximizing on their abilities, rather than forcing the convention of having only one. It might also mean that we can't make long field goals but the short game should be solid with who we brought in.
It's honestly so notoriously hard to find a kicker that's good at everything at the college level, there's absolutely nothing wrong with using an extra roster spot to just have two specialized kickers IMHO. It's too important in the larger scheme of the game to have your kicking down pat -- it's free yards and points.
This for sure. It also takes some of the pressure off from each situation when they are more tuned into the distance. It's been normal to have a big legged kicker boot kickoffs but not do field goals, why not have one who just likes to boot long field goals? (Not to say we have a fortune in the long game, but why not try and make the most of their relative strengths)
Hmm. You just mentioned all the negative things about your observations of all the offensive positions. I surmise that you don't care about the defense much. However, the D is where you win because it STOPS the other teams O. Simple as that.
Our HC is a defensive-minded coach, and defense has been generally okay under his tenure. What's been killing us is the lack of consistent offense, hence my focus is on that.
Some positions still up in the air, not sure if that is good or bad.The kicking situation, if you have a short kicker and long kicker, you don’t have a kicker. How many games will it cost the Bears?
I tend to disagree and think that having two kickers with different assignments might be a brilliant idea.
I don’t know if you play golf, but it would be the equivalent of asking one person to just focus on putting and chipping and asking the other player to focus on driving. Two different skills, one requiring accuracy and touch vs the other requiring technique and power.
We’ve had kickers recently with good track records who have come to Cal and been pretty shaky, so who knows. The one guy has been almost perfect under 40 yards. The other guy, by Wilcox’s report has been booming kickoffs into the end zone. If they can get a long field goal or two out of him, That will be a bonus. Placekicker seems to be I in good shape, but I’ll believe it when I see it.
Sure can't argue with that statement. What is even more frustrating to me is that we got ourselves into those close game situations so many times making ourselves dependent on a team weakness. Sitting on leads trying to run out the clock and playing prevent defense bugs me more than the kicking game frustrations. If we are more aggressive on offense and defense, throughout the entire game, we won't need to rely on kickers. I just don't think we will be playing that way this season. It doesn't work. We will know more about who this team is and who these new coaches are, after the game in Corvallis. I am looking forward to it. So are my pesky Beaver fan pals. They got some crazy reckoning thing in mind for the Bears. I don't think so.
Just a suggestion: Clearly you guys aren’t using AI for writing, but I think you can use it for cleaning up grammar/spelling, etc. You can create a project or gem (Gemini) using one of the LLMs and upload rosters with correct name spelling and use the AI to just refine the writing before you send it out.
Hey, it is only 11 1/2 days until the Beavers game and we know who the starting quarterback is! This is good.
my speculative takeaways:
* oline is developing and not ready (e.g., there aren't 5 guys distancing themselves aka they're all playing below P4 level, maybe outside of Leon Bell)
* RBs are developing and not ready at P4 level and are maybe one-dimensional, so easier to predict our plays based on which RB is in (all the transfer outs are hurting us)
* WRs -- we have two serviceable WRs, which again may also cause us to be more predictable (e.g., shut down the top 2 WRs and our pass game will suffer)
* Kicker woes continue?
Excited for JKS. Hoping the o-line and skill players can help complement/supplement a true freshman!
I took it to be more optimistic, that we have solid but not spectacular talent across the board and an offensive coaching staff that is the difference, in terms of coaching them up and scheming -- whereas we've only had good individual positions coaches or a schemer (spavital for one year) in the past, but not all at once. If we fire on all pistons, the offense could be what we need, with JKS as the wild card.
Kicking - Im probably alone in thinking that having two specialized kickers is a good thing, and we're maximizing on their abilities, rather than forcing the convention of having only one. It might also mean that we can't make long field goals but the short game should be solid with who we brought in.
It's honestly so notoriously hard to find a kicker that's good at everything at the college level, there's absolutely nothing wrong with using an extra roster spot to just have two specialized kickers IMHO. It's too important in the larger scheme of the game to have your kicking down pat -- it's free yards and points.
This for sure. It also takes some of the pressure off from each situation when they are more tuned into the distance. It's been normal to have a big legged kicker boot kickoffs but not do field goals, why not have one who just likes to boot long field goals? (Not to say we have a fortune in the long game, but why not try and make the most of their relative strengths)
Oh, bless your heart, sunshine pumper! :)
Hmm. You just mentioned all the negative things about your observations of all the offensive positions. I surmise that you don't care about the defense much. However, the D is where you win because it STOPS the other teams O. Simple as that.
Our HC is a defensive-minded coach, and defense has been generally okay under his tenure. What's been killing us is the lack of consistent offense, hence my focus is on that.
I like how Wilcox did not say that both QBs will play vs. OSU. We got the real QB1.
Some positions still up in the air, not sure if that is good or bad.The kicking situation, if you have a short kicker and long kicker, you don’t have a kicker. How many games will it cost the Bears?
Ugh, good point. But as Wilcox said score TDs instead FGs lol.... ;-) Let's hope they can do the job.
I tend to disagree and think that having two kickers with different assignments might be a brilliant idea.
I don’t know if you play golf, but it would be the equivalent of asking one person to just focus on putting and chipping and asking the other player to focus on driving. Two different skills, one requiring accuracy and touch vs the other requiring technique and power.
We’ve had kickers recently with good track records who have come to Cal and been pretty shaky, so who knows. The one guy has been almost perfect under 40 yards. The other guy, by Wilcox’s report has been booming kickoffs into the end zone. If they can get a long field goal or two out of him, That will be a bonus. Placekicker seems to be I in good shape, but I’ll believe it when I see it.
Cal place kickers have been awful for a long time
No one since Tavechhio.
Sure can't argue with that statement. What is even more frustrating to me is that we got ourselves into those close game situations so many times making ourselves dependent on a team weakness. Sitting on leads trying to run out the clock and playing prevent defense bugs me more than the kicking game frustrations. If we are more aggressive on offense and defense, throughout the entire game, we won't need to rely on kickers. I just don't think we will be playing that way this season. It doesn't work. We will know more about who this team is and who these new coaches are, after the game in Corvallis. I am looking forward to it. So are my pesky Beaver fan pals. They got some crazy reckoning thing in mind for the Bears. I don't think so.
I'm sad. I've completely lost interest in Cal football. Whoever destroyed the Pac12, screw you.
Just a suggestion: Clearly you guys aren’t using AI for writing, but I think you can use it for cleaning up grammar/spelling, etc. You can create a project or gem (Gemini) using one of the LLMs and upload rosters with correct name spelling and use the AI to just refine the writing before you send it out.
Good idea, especially for me!
For writing I recommend Claude or Gemini. In my experience chatGPT and Grok not so great for that. Probably better for math.
You don't even need AI, just the free version of Grammarly might suffice.