Evans Hall: Football 50: #Drop50 is Back in Session

Cal scored the most points in a game in the Wilcox era

WE ARE BACK

PROF PIOTR IS BACK IN SESSION AND HE IS HYPED FOR THE SEASON

And the Golden Bears came into the series finale of the Pac-12 with a bang. 58 points is the most Cal has ever scored under the Wilcox administration, with the 2nd slot occupied by Cal’s 2018 beatdown of Oregon State at Cornwallis.

To begin with let’s look:

Cal Offense was Largely Efficient

We can see here that we kept the ball moving explosively on the ground and via the air with several 1st down plays on early downs both through the air and on the ground. Something worth noting is that despite the fact that there weren’t many 2nd down conversions on the ground we gain enough yards to make 3rd downs palpable. I am a tad worried with the over reliance on the pass even on 3rd and < 5. Despite the 80% conversion rate it is still preferable for the team to just run the damn ball.

We can see here that we were middle of the FBS pack in down to go stats. This is an amazing improvement in 1 year over the 2022 overall trend where we were the team with the 2nd longest 3rd to go distance.

This is what an efficient 1st and 2nd down offense does for a team. Instead of having to rely on a 989 deep passing route concept to get a 1st down on 3rd and 9 we have the option of running it or passing it. Now that is what I call tactical ambiguity on 3rd downs.

Please note that the values will change on both lines since the sample size will only increase till it stabilizes for both the blue all-FBS line and the Golden Cal line. Considering that the vast majority of FBS teams played FCS/G5 counterparts so us being in line with the rest of the nation is quite comforting.

This is the fun chart. Cal effectively gained 1st down on 85% sets of downs, this translated to a high number of TDs, slightly higher than the current FBS correlation between the two values. Auburn was just about the same with 1 fewer TD.

Cal Defense was Dominant

I don’t even know what else to post. It’s all you need to know.

Cal did not have data in the 4th quarter because it was already considered garbage time. Otherwise, Cal had the most dominant defensive 3rd quarter of Week 1 football.