Cal's defense is degrading as the season progresses. Blitz packages and a lot of man to man is not the way to go. It's just too generic. On the offense side we just scored 40 points on the 5th ranked defense in the nation. Utah only scored 7. That to me is a definite big improvement. And, the O players are mostly all underclassmen.
It's so disheartening. We've been asking "What if we had some bodies on the D line? What if BRETT JOHNSON? Who is going to fill in alongside Sirmon at ILB?" It seems like we have all that (Stanley McKenzie, Ricky Correia, Nate Burrell, the aforementioned BRETT JOHNSON, KEO) plus some playmakers added in the secondary, and somehow we got worse.
I think this is all fair and pretty spot-on. I'm a little surprised to see so many grades of C and higher in the reader poll - in what world is a likely losing record (and almost assuredly yet another losing conference record) a passing grade?
I think Spav and Bloesch have done ok, and I think Bloesch's shoring up of the OL will help recruit some more bodies his way. And I agree that the defense's backslide is deeply concerning. One would think that Sirmon's job is in question, but Wilcox, as a former DC and defense-minded coach, also has to shoulder the blame. In the last 4 years, Duke has had a single 4-star recruit. Duke has a bunch of nobodies, but their defense is ranked 20th in SP+ (ours is 54th). They run crazy schemes and blitz packages and keep opponents guessing. That's coaching.
SP+ attempts to correct for strength of schedule. Duke has played "weak" ACC foes Clemson (26th ranked offense held to 7 points) and Notre Dame (16th ranked offense held to 21). We'll see how they hold up against FSU, Miami, and Louisville, but I bet they don't give up half a hundy to any of them.
Well, given the options, a C- is still a C. I teetered on the edge, but I figured a C- was fair and that's a C. Yeah, the rest of the season is probably going to such, but there's just enough glimmers that I can't bring myself to give the D.
Basketball schools are getting ranked in football in record numbers. Hell, even our winless BB partner last winter Louisville is now ranked 14 after crushing Notre Dame. Meanwhile we continue to be painfully mediocre as usual.
The positive direction of the NIL program is the key if Cal is to approach levels Old Blues and W4C Oski Disciples long for. The Bears have some quality players, and that tantalizes everyone. But the primary reason various units don't perform better (not up to some expectations, but really, fully up to most reasonable expectations) is still that Cal's overall breadth and depth and versatility of talent and experience isn't nearly sufficient. It is possible to scheme for and around the Bears' best players, and take advantage of areas of vulnerability. And if anything goes wrong, it gets exponentially more lopsided fast.
We haven't tried nearly enough schemes to take advantage of our player talents. Our plays have been as vanilla as can be while other struggling schools like ASU through every creative play out there to try to win an advantage.
Antitrust issues abound and the NCAA is going to have to be very careful and creative with its approach. But yeah, there’s a good chance we see a formal players’ union with a CBA in the coming years.
D grade.
Cal's defense is degrading as the season progresses. Blitz packages and a lot of man to man is not the way to go. It's just too generic. On the offense side we just scored 40 points on the 5th ranked defense in the nation. Utah only scored 7. That to me is a definite big improvement. And, the O players are mostly all underclassmen.
It's so disheartening. We've been asking "What if we had some bodies on the D line? What if BRETT JOHNSON? Who is going to fill in alongside Sirmon at ILB?" It seems like we have all that (Stanley McKenzie, Ricky Correia, Nate Burrell, the aforementioned BRETT JOHNSON, KEO) plus some playmakers added in the secondary, and somehow we got worse.
I think this is all fair and pretty spot-on. I'm a little surprised to see so many grades of C and higher in the reader poll - in what world is a likely losing record (and almost assuredly yet another losing conference record) a passing grade?
I think Spav and Bloesch have done ok, and I think Bloesch's shoring up of the OL will help recruit some more bodies his way. And I agree that the defense's backslide is deeply concerning. One would think that Sirmon's job is in question, but Wilcox, as a former DC and defense-minded coach, also has to shoulder the blame. In the last 4 years, Duke has had a single 4-star recruit. Duke has a bunch of nobodies, but their defense is ranked 20th in SP+ (ours is 54th). They run crazy schemes and blitz packages and keep opponents guessing. That's coaching.
Duke plays a lot of weak teams in non conference games. And the ACC is no where as strong as the PAC-12.
SP+ attempts to correct for strength of schedule. Duke has played "weak" ACC foes Clemson (26th ranked offense held to 7 points) and Notre Dame (16th ranked offense held to 21). We'll see how they hold up against FSU, Miami, and Louisville, but I bet they don't give up half a hundy to any of them.
Well, given the options, a C- is still a C. I teetered on the edge, but I figured a C- was fair and that's a C. Yeah, the rest of the season is probably going to such, but there's just enough glimmers that I can't bring myself to give the D.
It’s a pass/fail grade based on whether we are trending for a bowl game. Based on that, we are failing miserably.
Basketball schools are getting ranked in football in record numbers. Hell, even our winless BB partner last winter Louisville is now ranked 14 after crushing Notre Dame. Meanwhile we continue to be painfully mediocre as usual.
Louisville with our former QB.
Meanwhile, we are holding tryouts for QB
And we found one. Mendoza will just get better as he plays more games. Our main weakness is the defensive coordinator
SJV should still get some reps and be worked into play, IMHO.
*held tryouts
*fingers crossed
The positive direction of the NIL program is the key if Cal is to approach levels Old Blues and W4C Oski Disciples long for. The Bears have some quality players, and that tantalizes everyone. But the primary reason various units don't perform better (not up to some expectations, but really, fully up to most reasonable expectations) is still that Cal's overall breadth and depth and versatility of talent and experience isn't nearly sufficient. It is possible to scheme for and around the Bears' best players, and take advantage of areas of vulnerability. And if anything goes wrong, it gets exponentially more lopsided fast.
A good coach makes that work, regardless.
We haven't tried nearly enough schemes to take advantage of our player talents. Our plays have been as vanilla as can be while other struggling schools like ASU through every creative play out there to try to win an advantage.
I have heard that our NIL, over all is paltry compared to the big players. How far are we from the big numbers?
Last year, pretty far. This year, probably not as far, but still far. This stuff takes time.
Time and/or money.
We got an Uncle Phil?
Michael Milken did ok for himself, but he's wasting his time on dalliances like trying to cure prostate cancer or something.
I thought Doug Goldman was our whale donor.
Damned cancer! Like that's important, pffft.
Hopefully thar' be more whales on the horizon, because here thar' be dragons.
At some point, NCAA is gonna’ need some kind of equivalent of NFL’s salary cap. This NIL stuff, right now, the sky is the limit!
Antitrust issues abound and the NCAA is going to have to be very careful and creative with its approach. But yeah, there’s a good chance we see a formal players’ union with a CBA in the coming years.
I feel like I saw him take someone down… But he's also been commanding double teams, which helps the rest of the players.
The Highest Goll Darn Academic Rankings Bowl.
How about this:
Winner of The Game (Harvard/Yale) vs Winner of the Big Game (Cal/Furd).
I like your name, HGDAR Bowl, but maybe something snappier would work better.
Semi-serious!
Evolution of Ivy League football: https://cornellsun.com/2020/10/07/the-evolution-of-ivy-league-football/#:~:text=In%20fact%2C%20seven%20Ivy%20League,most%20recent%20coming%20in%201939.
Ivy League teams actually did have championship football teams. Back in the 19th century.
We could follow in their footsteps. Maybe certain Cal administrators have this in mind.
Welp.
Right, now, it’s go big or go home. Fuck Cal admins. Do they disrespect Michigan, UNC, Texas, Wisconsin, Duke (for pity’s sake) to name a few?
Hey, how about The Bowles Bowl?
HoGDAR Bowl🧐
“Root, Hog, or die.”
Love it.
Or the Virtue SIgnal Classic:
Nobody plays, since the whole time is spent protesting.