Evans Hall: JKS Demon Hunters

In this essay I will prove that Zoey would've been a Cal Bear and is best girl

We're goin' up, up, up, it's our moment
You know together we're glowing
Gonna be, gonna be golden

Credit: Rob Hwang

“I have two emotions:

Careful fear and dead devotions.” – The National. (it wouldn’t be a Piotr article without the sad depressed drunk divorced dad rock)

In this case I have 1 fear: is the current form Cal football sustainable, and 2 dead devotions: Cal football, and HUNTR/X. And here I get to leverage both, let’s tangentially use the themes from the songs to convey how I think about Cal football. And maybe I can craft a Oski-moon to protect the good vibes from the TypiCal demons.

“How It’s Done”

Fit check for my Wilcox Era.

Wilcox loves coaching defense. You can feel it in the way the defense is structured. Yards are allowed, but points come at a high cost. Over the last 2 games Oregon State and Minnesota have averaged 75 plays only to gain less than 20 points on average.

Painful isn’t just that we’re laying the wood on the offense, but making getting points a arduous endeavor. There are no big plays to save you, there is just drudgery, Cade screaming down the A gap, TJ Bush on your lap, and Zeke all over your first choice receiver. You can matriculate the ball down the field as much as you want but can you do it more than twice a game? How about 4 times a game?

Takedown

I’m about to switch up these vibes, I don’t think you’re ready for the Takedown.

Cal isn’t painful to watch on offense, opposite, every passing attempt by Jaron is a chance to see something special. The fact that Cal is averaging around 30 points a game on fewer than 60 plays isn’t due to the 3 and out rate: it’s about the passing game and how well it moves the chains and brings in an explosive passing game. These numbers aren’t opponent adjusted, so we have to keep in mind both Oregon State’s defensive issues and Minnesota’s general high competence.

This isn’t carried by the rushing game. It’s all the passing game where nearly half our passes gain efficient yards and 12% of the passing plays are the explosive type. What is surprising is the rushing explosive rate: 12.5% rate, mostly driven by the 17 rushing attempts against Minnesota driving down the denominator.

Cal offense is fun because of the passing game that keeps the team on schedule, and both are above average in explosive play rate.

Golden

You know we're gonna be, gonna be golden

Return of my favorite chart: DSR and Total TDs. Later in the season the Analytics folks and I will go into depth about what DSR is, but simply it is “how likely is Cal to convert a 1^st down on a given series of downs”. It is an good measuring stick of an offenses’ ability to stay on the field.

This chart will have a lot more changes later on in the season as more teams face their P5 peers. But Cal is in a rare position to claim that they have faced P5 opponents and be on the good side of the quadrant. This isn’t an offense where 9 of the 11 starters are new, but it is an offense that can become something special.

Conclusion

This is as special of a offensive season we have seen since Davis Webb, which is high praise. To pour some cold boba tea on the thing I can also say that this data is weighed towards Cal’s favor with the Oregon State team that got pantsed by Texas Tech, and a Minnesotta team we faced at home in unfavorable time conditions for them and we faced teams from across the country and quality before.

Yet this is where numbers fail. At no time I felt like I am about to witness something special like I do now. There is something about Jaron-Keawe Sagapolutele that makes me feel like that Senior stuck at CMS when Jared Goff took snaps as a true freshman. But at least by now at have double the wins.

The Zoey Addendum

Why? Cause I can. And Rob can’t stop me.

But if she never became an idol I bet she’d be a Berkeley gal. I mean imagine a lil gal like her learning how to ghost ride the whip from E-40, the Dwinelle Hall Breakers (shout out the OGs from the 2010-14 eras), and well she’s not into white collar crime.

Why is she best girl? Cause she’s Cal coded to the core.