Good, will make it that much sweeter when we win the conference.
I don’t think you understand what’s going on here. As I’ve said before we have the best and deepest dline in conference and the best and deepest rb room.
Any other school in conference has that and we’d be saying “oh my look at them they’re gonna win the conference”
But not us. We wallow.
This team is special.
As for the o-line?
Look at the writing on the wall.
Jackson coupled with 5 rbs with starting experience and an avg YPC above 4.5, a massive platoon of slot type yac receivers, 2 massive blocking tight ends, and it’s abundantly clear to me what spavital is going to be doing.
Their will be 2 rbs at a minimum on the field at all times and I’m sorry but I’m extremely confident that whatever it is (t, wishbone, some crazy new scheme) that he runs it will be hard hard hard to stop and imho the defense will be excellent.
Every single unit on this team is better (both players and coaches) and we expect doom when we were within a single score in all but one game a season ago when their were more injuries, less talent, and awful coaching.
Honestly hoping the dude falls in his face this year (we know the balance on that nasty dog of his ain't great). Kinda hard to imagine how you can bring in so many new faces and have any semblance of team chemistry. He could have used a precision blade and not a blunt instrument
What Maestro said - assuming our OL is at least average, our QB situation is troubling. I'm hoping Mendoza takes a leap. Jackson V played the spring game like a high school spring game - great talent but often made poor decisions, afraid he'll resort to (bad) instincts under pressure until he's had another season or two of coaching. Finley hopefully will be safe & competent and not lose games as a #2 to Mendoza. We get better than expected QB play? 9th is too low.
I and no doubt some others are optimistic on Fernando. Size and attitude contribute a lot to a seemingly improved practice snaps. Yep, zero real college game snaps. Regardless we are over due for a sparkling surprise performer at QB. Count me on board till proven otherwise.
NFW that Arizona and WSU should be ranked above us. I don't argue with the others. As our surveys always show, if we get some good breaks, we crack the top 5. If we get bad breaks, this ranking is dead on. People just assume the worst for us, which isn't entirely unfair given recent history like losing to Arizona...last year.
You mean you don't cherish that memory each day when you see the "Cal football loses everything at Colorado" headline near the top of the "Most Popular" section of the W4C home page??
How long will that be readily visible… hopefully buried deep enough in the archive by mid season. I find the reminder a galling reality I care to cement over.
Not going to rag on kids being happy knowing they won't go winless that season. That's what they were working towards -- one win. We just happened to be it.
Four wins is the ceiling for this team (4-8). Contrary to what others may believe, I don't think this team is better than last year's team, and the rest of the conference has improved.
The north will be so tough this year. Washington is straight up legit. Oregon takes maybe a small step back but still very good. Oregon State finally has a QB and will be better. WSU will be on par or slightly better. Then there’s us and Stanford.
Our schedule makes even an improved team no guarantee to have a better record. I’d see us between 4 and 6 wins. 6 saves Wilcox, 5 and it’s a coin toss, 4 and I think he’s gone.
Finished watching the talk. He said he didn't want to take away anything from the student athletes and coaches by discussing the media deal. But he did remark that "the terms were getting better" by delaying the decision.
Sounds about right unfortunately, given all the new faces amongst coaches and players.
With even League-average play on O though, Cal should probably contend for, what, 5th or 6th? That’s not bad…but need to take a step forward. C’mon Spav, Bloesch & Sammy Jax V!!
After three years we got a few 4* and then everything went to shit. If he gets the same momentum and builds up to 8-9 wins in the next few years we can start getting blue chips again.
This is why I think it’s fair. We have a super tough schedule which unfortunately lines up with a make or break year for Wilcox. It would be a massive accomplishment to hit 6 wins and make any bowl.
Surely this should be, "Cal picked to finish 9th in the nation."
I like the cut of your jib
Good, will make it that much sweeter when we win the conference.
I don’t think you understand what’s going on here. As I’ve said before we have the best and deepest dline in conference and the best and deepest rb room.
Any other school in conference has that and we’d be saying “oh my look at them they’re gonna win the conference”
But not us. We wallow.
This team is special.
As for the o-line?
Look at the writing on the wall.
Jackson coupled with 5 rbs with starting experience and an avg YPC above 4.5, a massive platoon of slot type yac receivers, 2 massive blocking tight ends, and it’s abundantly clear to me what spavital is going to be doing.
Their will be 2 rbs at a minimum on the field at all times and I’m sorry but I’m extremely confident that whatever it is (t, wishbone, some crazy new scheme) that he runs it will be hard hard hard to stop and imho the defense will be excellent.
Every single unit on this team is better (both players and coaches) and we expect doom when we were within a single score in all but one game a season ago when their were more injuries, less talent, and awful coaching.
FL!
Like your optimism bro. Go Bears!
sure we lost many one score games, but to consistently lose close games shows a gap in talent, not luck
I'll have what he's having!
This is all wrong because I heard Deion has Colorado in the national championship game.
Honestly hoping the dude falls in his face this year (we know the balance on that nasty dog of his ain't great). Kinda hard to imagine how you can bring in so many new faces and have any semblance of team chemistry. He could have used a precision blade and not a blunt instrument
Nope.
I think the Bears are ranked a bit low.
However after a 2-7 conference season last year it's hard for the prognosticators to go higher.
Hopefully we'll be the Oregon State of this year and be something of a Cinderella.
What Maestro said - assuming our OL is at least average, our QB situation is troubling. I'm hoping Mendoza takes a leap. Jackson V played the spring game like a high school spring game - great talent but often made poor decisions, afraid he'll resort to (bad) instincts under pressure until he's had another season or two of coaching. Finley hopefully will be safe & competent and not lose games as a #2 to Mendoza. We get better than expected QB play? 9th is too low.
I and no doubt some others are optimistic on Fernando. Size and attitude contribute a lot to a seemingly improved practice snaps. Yep, zero real college game snaps. Regardless we are over due for a sparkling surprise performer at QB. Count me on board till proven otherwise.
Behind UA? Ouch. I wanna be upset. Can I be upset about this?
Permission granted.
After we upset Arizona
We are going to win more games than we lose this year. and it is going to be fun to watch football.
An exciting offense and a solid defense. Thats all I got right now. Go Bears!
Cal will go where it's O-line and QB play go, which are both unknowns. The ranking is fair based on those big uncertainties.
NFW that Arizona and WSU should be ranked above us. I don't argue with the others. As our surveys always show, if we get some good breaks, we crack the top 5. If we get bad breaks, this ranking is dead on. People just assume the worst for us, which isn't entirely unfair given recent history like losing to Arizona...last year.
Gotta think it’s all QB-influenced….deLaura and Cam Ward are productive, returning starters that won some games.
Though unproven, with solid OL and QB play, Cal could easily leapfrog both.
We beat Arizona last year (Ott's huge breakout game), but lost to a very bad Colorado team in OT. Our only other conference win was 'Furd.
#9 seems realistic. I've been optimistically putting us at #7, pessimistically at #10.
oh yeah. they blend.
I forgot about the Colorado game. We meekly lost while they celebrated like it was the Natty.
You mean you don't cherish that memory each day when you see the "Cal football loses everything at Colorado" headline near the top of the "Most Popular" section of the W4C home page??
How long will that be readily visible… hopefully buried deep enough in the archive by mid season. I find the reminder a galling reality I care to cement over.
Hopefully we don't replace it with "Cal football loses everything at North Texas"
If it comes to that…..
Not going to rag on kids being happy knowing they won't go winless that season. That's what they were working towards -- one win. We just happened to be it.
Four wins is the ceiling for this team (4-8). Contrary to what others may believe, I don't think this team is better than last year's team, and the rest of the conference has improved.
I hope I am wrong; Go Bears.
The north will be so tough this year. Washington is straight up legit. Oregon takes maybe a small step back but still very good. Oregon State finally has a QB and will be better. WSU will be on par or slightly better. Then there’s us and Stanford.
Our schedule makes even an improved team no guarantee to have a better record. I’d see us between 4 and 6 wins. 6 saves Wilcox, 5 and it’s a coin toss, 4 and I think he’s gone.
Even if he goes 0-12, Wilcox will still be here for a few more seasons, thanks to his >$20M buyout
His buyout is $3.75M if he’s fired during or after this season.
Wrong, his buyout is 100% of his base salary, talent fee, and retention bonus for the remainder of his contract.
https://bearinsider.com/forums/2/topics/111309
ESPN and Sports Illustrated say it’s $3.75M. I trust their interpretation of the contract.
https://www.espn.com/college-football/insider/story/_/id/35610234/college-football-coaching-hot-seat-retirement-watch-2023
https://www.si.com/college/cal/news/wilcox-contract-details
You trust their interpretation over the literal text of the contract?
Kliavkoff talking...so far not much new. "The conference is stronger than it has ever been..." Blah blah
The conference isn’t as strong as it has ever been. It is on its death bed.
Until the LA teams leave, this could be the strongest the conference has been. Instead of Furd from the early 10's, it's Utah though.
He said Big 12 poaching Pac12 teams is not a concern.
Finished watching the talk. He said he didn't want to take away anything from the student athletes and coaches by discussing the media deal. But he did remark that "the terms were getting better" by delaying the decision.
Sounds about right unfortunately, given all the new faces amongst coaches and players.
With even League-average play on O though, Cal should probably contend for, what, 5th or 6th? That’s not bad…but need to take a step forward. C’mon Spav, Bloesch & Sammy Jax V!!
I think they will be in the middle of the conference. Not great, but not bad either.
After three years we got a few 4* and then everything went to shit. If he gets the same momentum and builds up to 8-9 wins in the next few years we can start getting blue chips again.
This is why I think it’s fair. We have a super tough schedule which unfortunately lines up with a make or break year for Wilcox. It would be a massive accomplishment to hit 6 wins and make any bowl.