Note that the Colley ratings had Cal at 17 this past week. But that rating doesn't really work until about 4th week when everyone gets at least one conference game in.
I agree except I don't. YEAH - start stronger next week! BUT - I also think of Wilcox not putting the game away late, but did you notice the gap widened against UCD and Jet had the dagger in the 4th vs Auburn. I have had lots of mild to moderately negative things to say about coaching but credit where it's due... the Bear is roaring in the second half... at least somewhat.
Kicking game still needs improvement, and OL is obviously a work in progress too. Tackling remains suspect at random times also. Run game decided to show up today, which is a nice plus considering Ott didn't dress.
Go Bears! Expectations were higher and that shit was ugly. 31-10 looks good so why am I complaining? To quote one of my favorite artists “What’s with humans? We’re never satisfied.”
I don’t give a shit! The jet had a great game stats look good and a 3 touchdown win with a lot of our best players out. Thank you Cal bears it’s good to have 3 weeks of not losing. Let’s take FSU to the tool shed next week. Split them booty cheeks!
SDSU is not a very good team. This felt like the Wilcox FCS experience of sloppy first half, pull away in second.
I know FSU is playing bad football but I'm not convinced we're executing well enough on offense right now to beat them. Hopefully we will get some personnel back early enough for practice.
On the plus side, snaps looked better even if there were still a few wide ones.
Maybe this was always a thing and I just didn’t notice, but Cal’s made some nice halftime adjustments in at least 2 of our first 3 games. A sign of good coaching.
I see so much potential in this team. but we still seem to be able to shoot ourselves in the foot. I see a nice win that should have been a stronger win.
First half was rough for the offense. O-Line was not getting it done. Run game was a bust and Mendoza was sacked way to many times. Halftime adjustments were made and they played much better the 2nd half, opening holes consistently for our run game. But, we really need our o-liners thinking blitz on every down and look back to the uncovered gaps beside them that allow a blitz lane. D-linemen are taught to attack gaps to draw 2 on 1 blocking thus creating open lanes. Our o-linemen need to learn to aggressively 'bump' the d-lineman inside, look back outside and be ready to close the lane open to a blitz. It's not complicated, it's just discipline and technique. Bloesch knows it and needs to teach it to Rush Reimer who tends to get way out of position, almost run blocking. Pass pro is all about patience, waiting for the opponent to come to you and putting yourself in the best position between them and the QB to thwart any attempt by them to get to the QB.
D played well enough that completed passes by SDSU were 'earned'. I have no problem with those as long as we keep them off the scoreboard. Our pass rush was excellent especially considering that SDSU had a very mobile QB. LB's and DB's played very well and our D-Line stood the test against their very good running back. We lead the country in INT's and Nohl Williams leads the way nationally. Btw, the RB for SDSU was very good and him flipping off our bench impressed me.
ST played well except for receivers on the short kickoffs. We need to figure that out.
Going forward, we cannot start this slow against opposing teams and expect to win. JW understands this.
Sometimes Cal will need Nando to go out and make plays to win the game. Sometimes Cal will just need Nando to go out and win the game. Fortunately, there is a growing body of evidence that he can do either or both.
Again, the Bears show a lack of intensity and discipline at the start of the game. It seems they need at least a quarter+ to get in any kind of rhythm and flow offensively. The ton of penalties on both teams may have something to do with it. But, even with UCD and Auburn the team didn't show any Identity until well into the 2nd quarter or 2nd half. Granted ,We haven't seen Jayden Ott play in the first 3 games, the offense must show up at the beginning of the game. Mendoza was getting hammered in the first 2-3 drives. If, they play like that against ACC teams they may fall behind early and will not be able climb out . Even against the 0-3 FSU team . Because they will come out all fired up with pride and point to prove that they are not as bad as the their record indicates.
And "roughness" in the ACC is different. We will get less "roughness" calls in the ACC play and they will hammer Nando hard, just as our guys may do. Yes, we really need the Oline to step up for the Pass protect. SDSU just showed a VERY talented FSU the way to beat us.
A very rare game for Wilcox in which we put the game away in the second half instead of making it unnecessarily close.
Let's start the game stronger next week in Tallahassee.
At the end, it looked like he was trying to run up the score, but Dyches dropped the TD.
We left minimum 10pts on the field; should've been 41-10 or so. At least we covered the spread tho
38-10 might have put Cal in Top 25 on Monday.
Ranking? Rat poison!
^^^This!
As Nick Saban says, rankings are "rat poison."
I hope we aren't ranked, it would set us up for a big fall.
We have a tough schedule, much tougher than early season calculations.
One game at a time.
We won at Auburn because we came with a chip on our shoulder.
FSU has had us circled as an easy win for months, now.
In fact, we're supposed to be a cupcake for them and Miami to pacify the anger at our acceptance to the ACC.
Most of these schools don't respect us, yet.
We need to amplify the effort made for the Auburn game.
Note that the Colley ratings had Cal at 17 this past week. But that rating doesn't really work until about 4th week when everyone gets at least one conference game in.
I agree except I don't. YEAH - start stronger next week! BUT - I also think of Wilcox not putting the game away late, but did you notice the gap widened against UCD and Jet had the dagger in the 4th vs Auburn. I have had lots of mild to moderately negative things to say about coaching but credit where it's due... the Bear is roaring in the second half... at least somewhat.
Two trends that worry me:
1. It seems to take a few series for the defense to settle in and play well.
2. The offense struggles to play two halves of good football.
Kicking game still needs improvement, and OL is obviously a work in progress too. Tackling remains suspect at random times also. Run game decided to show up today, which is a nice plus considering Ott didn't dress.
In first three games Cal has allowed: 13, 14, and 10 points, while scoring 31, 21, and 31 points.
Not bad.
Our defense is back.
Thanks Rick.
Wilcox and his staff have seemingly gotten better at getting the team ready to play in the 3Q.
We're definitely a "second half" team.
This schedule gets progressively tougher, with a few trap games embedded, here and there.
Someone uploaded game highlights already: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KIsvxkMocok
Also not to jinx ourselves but FSU (0-3) is now the only winless Power 4 team left - https://www.reddit.com/r/CFB/comments/1fh3mg4/florida_state_is_now_the_only_winless_power/
Let’s pray FSU doesn’t go 1-11 this season. IYKYK
Maybe we should kick them out of ACC.
LOL. Fallen below ACC standards.
Beware. I think they are gonna' play us and the rest of their schedule like dangerous, wounded animals.
Referees were absolutely terrible tonight. Good riddance to west coast refereeing!
It seemed that they were pretty tight on holding. There were some really cheap ones called, but they were still technically holding.
Oh, they'll be back as the New Pac 12 refs.
And, here, we thought the old PAC 12 refs were bad and meddlesome.
The thing is, on most of their calls, they were, in fact, right. Endries, however, "held" no one.
Go Bears! Expectations were higher and that shit was ugly. 31-10 looks good so why am I complaining? To quote one of my favorite artists “What’s with humans? We’re never satisfied.”
I don’t give a shit! The jet had a great game stats look good and a 3 touchdown win with a lot of our best players out. Thank you Cal bears it’s good to have 3 weeks of not losing. Let’s take FSU to the tool shed next week. Split them booty cheeks!
Wood shed.
Yeah, the "tool shed" would be, uh, okay, never mind.
That was...one of the games of all time. We CANNOT be as sloppy as we were in the first half going into ACC (blerg) play.
That being said, "pass interference" and worthwhile calls in the SEC and ACC are far different, apparently, than such in the MWC.
SDSU is not a very good team. This felt like the Wilcox FCS experience of sloppy first half, pull away in second.
I know FSU is playing bad football but I'm not convinced we're executing well enough on offense right now to beat them. Hopefully we will get some personnel back early enough for practice.
On the plus side, snaps looked better even if there were still a few wide ones.
Maybe this was always a thing and I just didn’t notice, but Cal’s made some nice halftime adjustments in at least 2 of our first 3 games. A sign of good coaching.
I see so much potential in this team. but we still seem to be able to shoot ourselves in the foot. I see a nice win that should have been a stronger win.
It still feels like a typical Wilcox team.
But happy for the kids! Go Bears!
Some of the shortfalls came with 2s and 3s in the game to get them some reps.
First half was rough for the offense. O-Line was not getting it done. Run game was a bust and Mendoza was sacked way to many times. Halftime adjustments were made and they played much better the 2nd half, opening holes consistently for our run game. But, we really need our o-liners thinking blitz on every down and look back to the uncovered gaps beside them that allow a blitz lane. D-linemen are taught to attack gaps to draw 2 on 1 blocking thus creating open lanes. Our o-linemen need to learn to aggressively 'bump' the d-lineman inside, look back outside and be ready to close the lane open to a blitz. It's not complicated, it's just discipline and technique. Bloesch knows it and needs to teach it to Rush Reimer who tends to get way out of position, almost run blocking. Pass pro is all about patience, waiting for the opponent to come to you and putting yourself in the best position between them and the QB to thwart any attempt by them to get to the QB.
D played well enough that completed passes by SDSU were 'earned'. I have no problem with those as long as we keep them off the scoreboard. Our pass rush was excellent especially considering that SDSU had a very mobile QB. LB's and DB's played very well and our D-Line stood the test against their very good running back. We lead the country in INT's and Nohl Williams leads the way nationally. Btw, the RB for SDSU was very good and him flipping off our bench impressed me.
ST played well except for receivers on the short kickoffs. We need to figure that out.
Going forward, we cannot start this slow against opposing teams and expect to win. JW understands this.
Sometimes Cal will need Nando to go out and make plays to win the game. Sometimes Cal will just need Nando to go out and win the game. Fortunately, there is a growing body of evidence that he can do either or both.
Again, the Bears show a lack of intensity and discipline at the start of the game. It seems they need at least a quarter+ to get in any kind of rhythm and flow offensively. The ton of penalties on both teams may have something to do with it. But, even with UCD and Auburn the team didn't show any Identity until well into the 2nd quarter or 2nd half. Granted ,We haven't seen Jayden Ott play in the first 3 games, the offense must show up at the beginning of the game. Mendoza was getting hammered in the first 2-3 drives. If, they play like that against ACC teams they may fall behind early and will not be able climb out . Even against the 0-3 FSU team . Because they will come out all fired up with pride and point to prove that they are not as bad as the their record indicates.
And "roughness" in the ACC is different. We will get less "roughness" calls in the ACC play and they will hammer Nando hard, just as our guys may do. Yes, we really need the Oline to step up for the Pass protect. SDSU just showed a VERY talented FSU the way to beat us.
If we don't beat ourselves.
27 penalties? I'm glad I missed this one.