Cal Football Stats & Analysis - Evans Hall: The Forwards Pass Was a Mistake
In 1905, President Theodore Roosevelt set in motion the idea that has failed the Golden Bears in 2023
I am putting these charts in because it is not the data that needs to be scanned or analyzed. The beatdown by UW was so sever that we have no data after the 2nd quarter. That’s how severe the beat down was. Both the passing game on defense and offense were putrid, with the Cal offense yielding negative PPA/EPA on 13 passing plays in 1 half and forcing only 3 on defense.
The forward pass was a mistake…
We only had 8 passes before garbage time that converted for a 1st down with only 3 runs doing so, all on 3rd and short. Otherwise it was a pretty dismal performance across the line We can see below Cal slowly creeping towards the line of being average at DSR note that this isn’t garbage time adjusted.
I mean, c’mon man, even adjusted for the garbage time scoring against UW we’re just not great on offense or defense on a per play basis. The only salve is that Stanford is worse.
PAIN.
On defense it isn’t as if we have done much better. The 3 1st down passes is all they needed to make the difference, UW only faced 3 3rd downs and converted 2 of them. UW had too much success with the passing game I am amazed they even attempted so many runs at all.
I am not sure what to say, there is not much to figure out from 2 quarters of data, we were crap, the offense since UNT has been crap, and it all starts with the passing game.
To be fair, Cal rejected the forward pass in 1905-6 and continued to play rugby instead of “American football.” This held for about 15 years, I believe.
But for as long as I can remember, the mantra at Cal has been “we just can’t get the passers, they go to Stanford (or UCLA or USC).” So Cal installs, the wing T or struggles to get by with Morton, Kapp, Bartkowski, Rodgers, Goff or whoever. Dunno, maybe an offensive line would help?
Notice the depth chart now has
Bhaghani as the #1 PK.
Darius Long is finally on the depth chart in the 3rd position