Line was 21.5, so Cal wins by 21, Davis covers, and the only way the Old Blues make money is to have bet on the Aggies, since the O/U was 45, and the score total was 47, and no one bets the over when the Wilcox defense and offense are involved.
Ott is great and a natural talent. My only concern is his frosh body holding up over the course of the season. Some guys handle the pounding better than others. If he can keep performing at a high level during and after the Notre Dame game then it will be terrific. As Shane Vereen mentioned on the broadcast, he was even blocking when not carrying the rock. Not sure why Moore was so ineffective on the other hand. It looks like Brooks and Stredick both will be able to contribute as well.
Lots of complaints about the O-line, but after giving up sacks on each of the first two possessions (both 3 & outs), they didn't give up a sack the rest of the day. Three things pulled Cal out of its 1st quarter funk: Daniel Scott's 4th down TFL, Woodson's pick 6, and Jaydn Ott.
21 minutes of game time to score the first points and 28 minutes to take the lead. Giving up almost 400 yds to Davis was not the start to the season I had hoped for. BUT…
Plummer looked good, and Jayden Ott is going to be a star. He should be getting the 1st reps going forward. And the OLine still looks bad.
Not the most reassuring win in year 6 of the Wilcox era and as you and others have said, the OL still looks bad and that’s before the standard 2-3 injuries to it.
I never said they would be out at the same time. We will probably have 2-3 guys injured along the OL at some point this season and miss a few games.
I feel like some combination of Craig, Cindric, Daltoso and Saffell were out at the same time with non Covid related injuries in 21.
However, since you asked. Here is an an excerpt from a Mercury News article from 2019 about us losing multiple OL starters:
“When Cal plays North Texas on Saturday afternoon at Memorial Stadium, the Bears likely will be without 60 percent of the offensive line they expected to have just a week before the season opened.
Since then, starting guard Gentle Williams and starting tackle Will Craig have gone down with season-ending injuries. It seems likely also that veteran Valentino Daltoso, who has started at both guard and tackle already this season, will be on the shelf with an ankle injury when the Bears (2-0) play host to the Mean Green (1-1).”
For a game, ok, but I don't think we have ever lost even two starting O-Linemen for a season.
I honestly don't think Gentle would have been the starter had he come back. Even Will Craig played when he was injured, which was not good. The real plain fact is that we had tough kids playing their hearts out but they were terrible athletes. You can hide that inside a little at guard, but not on the edges. I loved Daltoso's heart and swiss army knife versatility on the o-line, but the fact was he was terrible at the tackle spot, especially in pass pro. Craig was a really good athlete but played hampered by injuries and so could never really show what he was capable of at the weakside tackle spot. Sometimes I question whether his heart was ever really in it; it's impossible to play at the top level of the game if your heart is not in it.
The good news now is that we have some monsters on the O-line who are decent athletes...not great, but a big step up from what we had even last year. And we have some depth for the first time! Slow progress but I'll take it. ;-)
I suppose the best thing about Plummer's hellacious first quarter was that it gave me a greater appreciation for the cans of Bread & Butter Pinot Noir that my lady and I wound up chugging for most of the first half...
...and the understanding that Jaydn Ott is now my new Golden Bear Overlord.
I am so thankful that unlike last year, Musgrave didn't pull Ott and kept giving the kid the ball while the game was in doubt.
A wobbly start, and difficulty with first half pass protection, in spite of scoring drives in the 2nd quarter. Adjustments at half time improved both pass protection and run blocking. The defense was adequate against the Aggies, but gave up considerable yardage, and our defensive backs need to improve closing on receivers jn pass protection. But all this was to be expected given our level of experience. Our freshman running back looks like he has great potential.
I wasn't super pretty, but there were some bright spots. We have big play capability but our O-Line is still a project. I just don't see our guys playing nasty and knocking the opponent around until the whistle. Pass pro was markedly better, but we need to be even better. I will say that a good running back makes the O-Line look good and Jayden Ott is our starter from here on out, IMHO. I'd like to see Ashton Hayes get coached up and play in his four games as well so we can see his abilities and his speed. Moore was disappointing; and I'm hoping he just had an off day or had to come out injured, because he has worked so hard to earn the starting job. Receivers looked good. D-Line had good moments but we need someone who can get the the opposing QB. Linebackers played well and DB's looked good. Pick 6 was a game changer. What is clear is when Ott is is in the game, we are a different team. Was happy with Plummer. His fast read passing game is much better than Garbers, but then this was the first game against Davis with a better O-Line (I think).
I think they were much improved in pass pro. They gave Plummer a lot more time in the pocket than they did for Garbers last year. But this was Davis and not UCLA. The sack Coleman gave up was a one time mistake that he will learn from; it was because he was drawn out of position and got beat. The second sack was all on Plummer. That guy came from way outside. Plummer needs to see him and go to the hot read. Plummer learned from his experience as well,. which tells me he is a smart QB. There are QB's that never are able to make this adjustment and get hammered time after time. What was interesting with our run game is the difference between Ott and Moore. Ott was patient and waited for the gaps to open. Moore never seemed to find the gaps. Brooks did a good job as well. This tells me our o-line run game is working, but our running backs are a huge part of how effective the o-line looks. I would like to see our guys stay on blocks longer and exhibit some nasty. There was one screen where Cindo pulled and over ran the receiver and so was not able to make an effective block. But there was another defender close by and Cindo leaned to chip him. I would have love to see Cindo line the guy up and just flatten him. It's called sending a message. Hopefully we will get there.
Totally understand and accept that others may have a very different opinion and I have no objection with that...it's what makes the world go round. I can say two things to give some context: the game always looks worse than when you watch the film afterward, and I look for certain fundamental aspects of technique and execution. A play is a play, diagramed a certain way, but how each o-liner executes the assigned technique for the block on that play is critical to its success. Within the fundamentals there are a number of components, but among them are position, ass height, head positions relative to feet, hand position, and finish. Big uglies can get lazy fast, especially in hot weather. I truly believe our o-line has the size and athletic ability to be as good as Ohio State's, but the big difference between the two are the little things that Ohio State's O-line does that CAL's o-line does NOT YET do. Hopefully we will get there; it's all a process. I am encouraged by the improvement in our size and athleticism and the increased quality of our play. As long as the improvement continues then our coaches are doing their jobs.
Plummer has some rust on him after sitting for most of last season at Purdue. He came alive as the game progressed. Jadyn Ott is going to be a star. Young receiving corps can only get better. A little worried about the defense but i think it can be fixed.
Good first win. First quarter was terrible and the game went about how I thought and predicted it would.
I figured our offense wouldn’t put up a lot of points against UC Davis and would have a lot of sputtering.
The first to 21 continues to win in the Wilcox era.
The good: WRs have a lot of potential. The WRs look faster and bigger than our old WRs.
Ott is as good and talented as believed. He should be our starting RB going forward.
Plummer does look like a better passer than Garbers.
Defense got some timely turnovers which helped keep this game from being closer than it otherwise would have been. A turnover on downs deep in our territory kept 3 off the board for Davis, a pick 6 helped our a sputtering offense put points on the board, and another pick kept UC Davis from a FG attempt.
Special teams did well. Made all of our FG attempts. Punts and punt coverage were good.
The bad/ugly
The 1st quarter was ugly.
OL looked overmatched at times and struggled to pass protect against a FBS dline.
3rd down and long continued to be an issue for our defense throughout the day.
Offense only put up 27 points against Davis.
RB Moore just can’t take that next step and seems to have taken a step back. He should probably be 3rd on the depth chart at RB.
Yup - well said, tho that 1Q was brutal. Thoughts from the stands….
Jadyn Ott is a difference maker that seemed capable of taking it to the house every touch, something this team has lacked - rough for Moore but full speed ahead with the rook. Plus the receivers look bigger/stronger/faster.
As we said before the game, that tilt coulda been a real rock fight but-for the pick-6 & the RZ INT as UCD was taking it in, tho we’ll definitely take it.
Handle biz v UNLV, and we’re a third of the way to El Paso on 12/31/22….
That was fun, the ugly first quarter notwithstanding. Plummer looked solid and Ott was terrific. Defense bent but didn't break. Attendance was as expected. Glad I was in the shade. Feeling hopeful (I know, dangerous for a Cal fan to do).
College football is weird. Iowa beat South Dakota State 7-3... by scoring a FG and 2 safeties. Meanwhile, App St. scores 40 in the 4th and still loses to UNC.
Line was 21.5, so Cal wins by 21, Davis covers, and the only way the Old Blues make money is to have bet on the Aggies, since the O/U was 45, and the score total was 47, and no one bets the over when the Wilcox defense and offense are involved.
The line was 14 from what I saw?
You can sing "Jayden Ott" to the Baby Shark/Jamie Tartt song.
Jadyn Ott went to bed last night and thought "Is the game really this easy?"
Ott is great and a natural talent. My only concern is his frosh body holding up over the course of the season. Some guys handle the pounding better than others. If he can keep performing at a high level during and after the Notre Dame game then it will be terrific. As Shane Vereen mentioned on the broadcast, he was even blocking when not carrying the rock. Not sure why Moore was so ineffective on the other hand. It looks like Brooks and Stredick both will be able to contribute as well.
Lots of complaints about the O-line, but after giving up sacks on each of the first two possessions (both 3 & outs), they didn't give up a sack the rest of the day. Three things pulled Cal out of its 1st quarter funk: Daniel Scott's 4th down TFL, Woodson's pick 6, and Jaydn Ott.
Should know more two weeks from now....................
looked good against ucd, ngl
The more Ott the better
21 minutes of game time to score the first points and 28 minutes to take the lead. Giving up almost 400 yds to Davis was not the start to the season I had hoped for. BUT…
Plummer looked good, and Jayden Ott is going to be a star. He should be getting the 1st reps going forward. And the OLine still looks bad.
Not the most reassuring win in year 6 of the Wilcox era and as you and others have said, the OL still looks bad and that’s before the standard 2-3 injuries to it.
Can you tell me in the last three years 2 or three starting O-Lineman that have been out injured at the same time (non-covid)?
I never said they would be out at the same time. We will probably have 2-3 guys injured along the OL at some point this season and miss a few games.
I feel like some combination of Craig, Cindric, Daltoso and Saffell were out at the same time with non Covid related injuries in 21.
However, since you asked. Here is an an excerpt from a Mercury News article from 2019 about us losing multiple OL starters:
“When Cal plays North Texas on Saturday afternoon at Memorial Stadium, the Bears likely will be without 60 percent of the offensive line they expected to have just a week before the season opened.
Since then, starting guard Gentle Williams and starting tackle Will Craig have gone down with season-ending injuries. It seems likely also that veteran Valentino Daltoso, who has started at both guard and tackle already this season, will be on the shelf with an ankle injury when the Bears (2-0) play host to the Mean Green (1-1).”
For a game, ok, but I don't think we have ever lost even two starting O-Linemen for a season.
I honestly don't think Gentle would have been the starter had he come back. Even Will Craig played when he was injured, which was not good. The real plain fact is that we had tough kids playing their hearts out but they were terrible athletes. You can hide that inside a little at guard, but not on the edges. I loved Daltoso's heart and swiss army knife versatility on the o-line, but the fact was he was terrible at the tackle spot, especially in pass pro. Craig was a really good athlete but played hampered by injuries and so could never really show what he was capable of at the weakside tackle spot. Sometimes I question whether his heart was ever really in it; it's impossible to play at the top level of the game if your heart is not in it.
The good news now is that we have some monsters on the O-line who are decent athletes...not great, but a big step up from what we had even last year. And we have some depth for the first time! Slow progress but I'll take it. ;-)
I suppose the best thing about Plummer's hellacious first quarter was that it gave me a greater appreciation for the cans of Bread & Butter Pinot Noir that my lady and I wound up chugging for most of the first half...
...and the understanding that Jaydn Ott is now my new Golden Bear Overlord.
I am so thankful that unlike last year, Musgrave didn't pull Ott and kept giving the kid the ball while the game was in doubt.
He had to keep Ott's streak of 100 yd games alive.
A wobbly start, and difficulty with first half pass protection, in spite of scoring drives in the 2nd quarter. Adjustments at half time improved both pass protection and run blocking. The defense was adequate against the Aggies, but gave up considerable yardage, and our defensive backs need to improve closing on receivers jn pass protection. But all this was to be expected given our level of experience. Our freshman running back looks like he has great potential.
I wasn't super pretty, but there were some bright spots. We have big play capability but our O-Line is still a project. I just don't see our guys playing nasty and knocking the opponent around until the whistle. Pass pro was markedly better, but we need to be even better. I will say that a good running back makes the O-Line look good and Jayden Ott is our starter from here on out, IMHO. I'd like to see Ashton Hayes get coached up and play in his four games as well so we can see his abilities and his speed. Moore was disappointing; and I'm hoping he just had an off day or had to come out injured, because he has worked so hard to earn the starting job. Receivers looked good. D-Line had good moments but we need someone who can get the the opposing QB. Linebackers played well and DB's looked good. Pick 6 was a game changer. What is clear is when Ott is is in the game, we are a different team. Was happy with Plummer. His fast read passing game is much better than Garbers, but then this was the first game against Davis with a better O-Line (I think).
I think they were much improved in pass pro. They gave Plummer a lot more time in the pocket than they did for Garbers last year. But this was Davis and not UCLA. The sack Coleman gave up was a one time mistake that he will learn from; it was because he was drawn out of position and got beat. The second sack was all on Plummer. That guy came from way outside. Plummer needs to see him and go to the hot read. Plummer learned from his experience as well,. which tells me he is a smart QB. There are QB's that never are able to make this adjustment and get hammered time after time. What was interesting with our run game is the difference between Ott and Moore. Ott was patient and waited for the gaps to open. Moore never seemed to find the gaps. Brooks did a good job as well. This tells me our o-line run game is working, but our running backs are a huge part of how effective the o-line looks. I would like to see our guys stay on blocks longer and exhibit some nasty. There was one screen where Cindo pulled and over ran the receiver and so was not able to make an effective block. But there was another defender close by and Cindo leaned to chip him. I would have love to see Cindo line the guy up and just flatten him. It's called sending a message. Hopefully we will get there.
Totally understand and accept that others may have a very different opinion and I have no objection with that...it's what makes the world go round. I can say two things to give some context: the game always looks worse than when you watch the film afterward, and I look for certain fundamental aspects of technique and execution. A play is a play, diagramed a certain way, but how each o-liner executes the assigned technique for the block on that play is critical to its success. Within the fundamentals there are a number of components, but among them are position, ass height, head positions relative to feet, hand position, and finish. Big uglies can get lazy fast, especially in hot weather. I truly believe our o-line has the size and athletic ability to be as good as Ohio State's, but the big difference between the two are the little things that Ohio State's O-line does that CAL's o-line does NOT YET do. Hopefully we will get there; it's all a process. I am encouraged by the improvement in our size and athleticism and the increased quality of our play. As long as the improvement continues then our coaches are doing their jobs.
Plummer has some rust on him after sitting for most of last season at Purdue. He came alive as the game progressed. Jadyn Ott is going to be a star. Young receiving corps can only get better. A little worried about the defense but i think it can be fixed.
Roll on you Bears!!
Good first win. First quarter was terrible and the game went about how I thought and predicted it would.
I figured our offense wouldn’t put up a lot of points against UC Davis and would have a lot of sputtering.
The first to 21 continues to win in the Wilcox era.
The good: WRs have a lot of potential. The WRs look faster and bigger than our old WRs.
Ott is as good and talented as believed. He should be our starting RB going forward.
Plummer does look like a better passer than Garbers.
Defense got some timely turnovers which helped keep this game from being closer than it otherwise would have been. A turnover on downs deep in our territory kept 3 off the board for Davis, a pick 6 helped our a sputtering offense put points on the board, and another pick kept UC Davis from a FG attempt.
Special teams did well. Made all of our FG attempts. Punts and punt coverage were good.
The bad/ugly
The 1st quarter was ugly.
OL looked overmatched at times and struggled to pass protect against a FBS dline.
3rd down and long continued to be an issue for our defense throughout the day.
Offense only put up 27 points against Davis.
RB Moore just can’t take that next step and seems to have taken a step back. He should probably be 3rd on the depth chart at RB.
Yup - well said, tho that 1Q was brutal. Thoughts from the stands….
Jadyn Ott is a difference maker that seemed capable of taking it to the house every touch, something this team has lacked - rough for Moore but full speed ahead with the rook. Plus the receivers look bigger/stronger/faster.
As we said before the game, that tilt coulda been a real rock fight but-for the pick-6 & the RZ INT as UCD was taking it in, tho we’ll definitely take it.
Handle biz v UNLV, and we’re a third of the way to El Paso on 12/31/22….
That was fun, the ugly first quarter notwithstanding. Plummer looked solid and Ott was terrific. Defense bent but didn't break. Attendance was as expected. Glad I was in the shade. Feeling hopeful (I know, dangerous for a Cal fan to do).
New QB looked good, defense was solid.
Good win
College football is weird. Iowa beat South Dakota State 7-3... by scoring a FG and 2 safeties. Meanwhile, App St. scores 40 in the 4th and still loses to UNC.
Lol reminds me of the Cheez-Int bowl
I thought we all agreed to never speak of that again