Great win by the Bears. On another subject I recognized the end of the UCLA - OR game. Great chance to tie, or win, the game with less than min left thwarted by a Garbers pass intercepted.
First step on our six-game winning streak (seven if you count the bowl win). This will, of course propel us to a conference championship in 2022. Also a really fun day for the intimate gathering at Memorial Stadium, only us die hards there but we got a good show. Holding any opponent to three points is an achievement.
Some odd ball number crunching, this defensive performance singularly drought Cal's defensive points per game by 3.5 ppg, which moves them up in the rankings by 15 spots, and moves them from just below median to just above median in points allowed per game for college (pending the outcome of the other games today).
Nevada is averaging 36 ppg, and were held to 22.
TCU is averaging 37.2, and were held to 34.
Washington 23.1, and scored 31 (in OT).
Washington State 25.7 and were held to 21.
Oregon 33.8 and were held to 24.
Colorado 17.2 and were held to 3.
So teams are averaging, on average 6-7 points less per game. Are we being too harsh on the defense?
We started the season with Tattersall and Iosefo at Inside Linebacker, but Paster and Oladejo seem to be getting more plays recently with a fair share for Iosefo and a little of Rutchena sprinkled in. Point being, I don't know if people lost their job, if others just improved that much more over the season, or if injuries are having an impact, but the inside personnel has changed greatly.
Tattersall lost his job and others have improved: Olajedo/Rutchena & Iosefa is getting better. Paster may have the highest ceiling of all of them and should he continue to improve has a chance for the League.
Yep, I think its a combination of factors but ultimately some guys weren't getting it done and other guys earned the opportunity and have been playing better.
The biggest surprise today for me was Wilcox being aggressive at the end of the first half. He was probably so juiced up to get a comfortable enough lead to be able to shut things down at halftime, none of this feeling the need to score on the opening drive of the 2nd half before shutting it down business.
'22 class ripping to pieces. Honestly in the spring when I hope to be writing (after emails and approval of course) on WFC calling out Cal recruiting for having a bad idenity. There are literally 2 highend 3* Stars at my old high school here in the bay area and one mid 4* star and Cal didn't sniff a single one of them, like work smarter not harder
Obviously regular 24/7 vs composite is different but I default to whatever is higher.
As for why: Cal's system more than anything. My high school runs a spread run attack like UCLA does, with tons of explosive plays in the pass game. Furthermore, the QB from the class of '20 went to ASU (https://247sports.com/Player/Daylin-McLemore-46084158/high-school-234895/) and is 3rd string and a WR from my class got taken to SJSU (https://247sports.com/Player/Terence-Loville-46080936/high-school-230711/) , right from under our noses. Also Cal's identity in recruiting isn't labeled to the Bay Area which is an issue. I can't tell you the amount of pure talent that is along the Peninsula and is straight up ignored, it's an actual travesty. These examples are just from my examples, but there are programs like St.Francis, Valley Christian, and Menlo Atherton that have that talent that we are missing out on.
Mahasin maybe a miss, sure. But I wouldn’t count out the draw of P5 football. Guys go to the Mountain West to disappear.
Why would we take Elu? We hit our targets on the OL. They got a local guy in Brown And I trust our staff to decide who to pick when spots are limited.
Lampkin has two FCS offers and Fresno State. It seems not just Cal but all of D1 doesn’t rate him. That’s not a miss for Cal.
Millner was our ‘20 QB target. So I trust Musgrave to pick a QB that fits his offense. McLemore wouldn’t have come then.
Loville has zero catches in his career. Big time miss there!
My point being, football recruiting is extremely complicated and impossible to discern from a single-school perspective. The recruiting staff is literally looking through hundreds of schools just in California, let alone across the nation. They see more than any one school can.
A few things: Elu yeah I mean it is what it is some people go one way versus the other. Lampkin has had essentially everything but the cigar, getting phone calls from the likes of Michigan but with no offer. Lampkin is already a better athlete than 35% of our skill players, so yes it is a miss. Ratings are ratings, but with what Cal needs for speed, he provides everything with that. Millner was '21, '20 was Casey and Johnson, both of which have 0, so the difference between them and Mclemore is negligible. Loville is stuck behind a stacked SJSU WR core with Deese, Holiness, and Ross. Not to mention he was even further behind Bailey Gaither and Tre Walker last season, so he seems to be having the wait and see the upperclassmen go approach, so we can be negligible there too.
My main point, is that Cal does a solid job in terms of looking around the country for gems like Weaver, Goode, Deng and such. However, they do a piss poor job of evaluating bay area talent, notably along the peninsula and I will continue to stand by that. Mahasin willingly took SDSU over ASU, Colorado, and our interest. Say what you will but we've seen what the top half of the MW can do the Pac 12.
I also believe they looked at Elu as well but he was also recruited over and it was believed that he wanted a more rural school and less urban. It seems like this was a potential mismatch in terms of culture fit.
Word on the recruiting wire is that the staff might make a run at Hassan now that we have lost a lot of recruits. Seems like the lack of early interest in Hassan was due to recruiting over him, his size and his injury.
For Hassan, good luck for us trying to pry him away from SDSU, they were the only school to immediately back him up after he got hurt and he valued that the most. Couple that with my interpretation of football and the student environment when the new stadium opens along with SDSU as a whole, we should lose that battle rather convincingly.
As for Elu, yeah he definitely didn't want that big city feel. As for culture fit, he is more exuberant and outspoken and wouldn't be afraid to say how he felt. Also in terms of game fit, he probably doesn't fit Cal because he actually is great out in space.
Culture fit meant more rural vs urban culture and not Cal football program culture.
I live less than 1 mile from the new sdsu stadium and it is going to be very nice.
I understand what you mean about Hassan but you never know. Also, sdsu is playing well right now. It is funny because sdsu is basically what Wilcox wants Cal to be.
Lastly, I wouldn't be surprised to see Garbers and CBrooks transfer to sdsu to finish their careers.
Menlo Atherton has had some great players come out these last few years. Troy Franklin at Oregon (even though I'm not that high on him when my team played him at Levi's Stadium), Daniel Heimuli (ILB at UW), Noa Ngalu (DL at UW). As for the current, Jalen Moss is the best they got and is pretty slipper (https://247sports.com/Player/Jalen-Moss-46100448/). To round it out, Menlo Atherton has breeded out good talent, and have done so well recently, it is just a matter of when they hit because as a public school, they can easily go in the toilet.
In terms of penalties, I agree but Pac 12 refs are going Pac 12 ref.
I didn’t mind the 3rd down check downs in the second half, with a 20 point lead. No need to try to force something and get a pick 6 or a turnover that might let Colorado back in the game.
Sac State better than Colorado confirmed. A nice chill game where we didn't have to stress too much. Would like to see more benchwarmers in there and some better desire from some of these WR's who look a step slow. Other than that, I'm ready for a 27-24 type game against Oregon State.
Troy Taylor is objectively not a good candidate if you remove his Cal connection. We really need and can do better than former cal guys in d2 as potentials.
Agree - nothing but respect for him and what he's done...he's accomplished a lot in his time at Cal....but he's limited as a QB & there just appears to be a ceiling on what he can do under center.
The fear is he really has no idea what to do....you have to get Millner some snaps.
Yet another reason for my disappointment in this season is Wilcox letting Garbers captain this underwhelming ship, setting the roster up next year for a built-in, first time-QB-starter excuse for a 4-8 '22 team...
He is not, last season didn’t count so he has one more year of eligibility. I imagine if he wants to come back and is encouraged by the staff to do so, he will come back and be our starter….again.
Oh well…of course he’ll be back, & he’ll set all the Cal QB records, tho they’ll have an asterisk bc he played 12 seasons.
And we’re all in for another season of gut-churning dogfights, hoping the Bears make 1 more play than the other team so they can maybe finish 7-5 (4-5 P12).
I like Garbers, but he is not an NFL QB. You saw how much he struggled throwing the sideline out route from the far hash today. I wish him the best, but I don't see the pros in his future.
If I were his parents, I'd tell him to become a Grad Transfer, transfer to somewhere that needs a QB and get the easier acceptance standards and free tuition.
FWIW I think he’s a decent college QB but at best a practice squad NFL player - no zip on his throws, doesn’t see open guys we’ll enough, late on too many throws. And all this in his fourth year as a starter.
His little brother appears to be a more talented thrower. Looked pretty good when DTR went down, final pick aside. I was almost thinking this was the Brady replaces an injured Bledsoe moment for UCLA -- before the interception. Tough spot to be put in!
Yeah I saw his first throw and thought “stronger arm than our Garbers”. Interception was a bad mistake though, they were close to FG range and it was only 2nd down iirc
Great win by the Bears. On another subject I recognized the end of the UCLA - OR game. Great chance to tie, or win, the game with less than min left thwarted by a Garbers pass intercepted.
First step on our six-game winning streak (seven if you count the bowl win). This will, of course propel us to a conference championship in 2022. Also a really fun day for the intimate gathering at Memorial Stadium, only us die hards there but we got a good show. Holding any opponent to three points is an achievement.
Some odd ball number crunching, this defensive performance singularly drought Cal's defensive points per game by 3.5 ppg, which moves them up in the rankings by 15 spots, and moves them from just below median to just above median in points allowed per game for college (pending the outcome of the other games today).
Nevada is averaging 36 ppg, and were held to 22.
TCU is averaging 37.2, and were held to 34.
Washington 23.1, and scored 31 (in OT).
Washington State 25.7 and were held to 21.
Oregon 33.8 and were held to 24.
Colorado 17.2 and were held to 3.
So teams are averaging, on average 6-7 points less per game. Are we being too harsh on the defense?
*that should read dropped not drought
Part of low scoring too results from the strategy to shorten games by killing clock on offense
But yes, our defense is improving. The youth at inside linebacker and corner was causing some mondo problems early in the year.
We started the season with Tattersall and Iosefo at Inside Linebacker, but Paster and Oladejo seem to be getting more plays recently with a fair share for Iosefo and a little of Rutchena sprinkled in. Point being, I don't know if people lost their job, if others just improved that much more over the season, or if injuries are having an impact, but the inside personnel has changed greatly.
Tattersall lost his job and others have improved: Olajedo/Rutchena & Iosefa is getting better. Paster may have the highest ceiling of all of them and should he continue to improve has a chance for the League.
Yep, I think its a combination of factors but ultimately some guys weren't getting it done and other guys earned the opportunity and have been playing better.
Yet coming in today, we were last in the conference in yards allowed. Quintessential bend but don’t break.
The biggest surprise today for me was Wilcox being aggressive at the end of the first half. He was probably so juiced up to get a comfortable enough lead to be able to shut things down at halftime, none of this feeling the need to score on the opening drive of the 2nd half before shutting it down business.
That was so nice!
Even when we win, we find a way to lose. Jaxson Moi flips to furd.
'22 class ripping to pieces. Honestly in the spring when I hope to be writing (after emails and approval of course) on WFC calling out Cal recruiting for having a bad idenity. There are literally 2 highend 3* Stars at my old high school here in the bay area and one mid 4* star and Cal didn't sniff a single one of them, like work smarter not harder
Who did recruit them? Why do you think Cal didn’t try?
https://247sports.com/Recruitment/Hassan-Mahasin-136357/RecruitInterests/
https://247sports.com/Recruitment/Nathan-Elu-148655/RecruitInterests/
https://247sports.com/Player/Dominique-Lampkin-46103696/
Obviously regular 24/7 vs composite is different but I default to whatever is higher.
As for why: Cal's system more than anything. My high school runs a spread run attack like UCLA does, with tons of explosive plays in the pass game. Furthermore, the QB from the class of '20 went to ASU (https://247sports.com/Player/Daylin-McLemore-46084158/high-school-234895/) and is 3rd string and a WR from my class got taken to SJSU (https://247sports.com/Player/Terence-Loville-46080936/high-school-230711/) , right from under our noses. Also Cal's identity in recruiting isn't labeled to the Bay Area which is an issue. I can't tell you the amount of pure talent that is along the Peninsula and is straight up ignored, it's an actual travesty. These examples are just from my examples, but there are programs like St.Francis, Valley Christian, and Menlo Atherton that have that talent that we are missing out on.
Mahasin maybe a miss, sure. But I wouldn’t count out the draw of P5 football. Guys go to the Mountain West to disappear.
Why would we take Elu? We hit our targets on the OL. They got a local guy in Brown And I trust our staff to decide who to pick when spots are limited.
Lampkin has two FCS offers and Fresno State. It seems not just Cal but all of D1 doesn’t rate him. That’s not a miss for Cal.
Millner was our ‘20 QB target. So I trust Musgrave to pick a QB that fits his offense. McLemore wouldn’t have come then.
Loville has zero catches in his career. Big time miss there!
My point being, football recruiting is extremely complicated and impossible to discern from a single-school perspective. The recruiting staff is literally looking through hundreds of schools just in California, let alone across the nation. They see more than any one school can.
A few things: Elu yeah I mean it is what it is some people go one way versus the other. Lampkin has had essentially everything but the cigar, getting phone calls from the likes of Michigan but with no offer. Lampkin is already a better athlete than 35% of our skill players, so yes it is a miss. Ratings are ratings, but with what Cal needs for speed, he provides everything with that. Millner was '21, '20 was Casey and Johnson, both of which have 0, so the difference between them and Mclemore is negligible. Loville is stuck behind a stacked SJSU WR core with Deese, Holiness, and Ross. Not to mention he was even further behind Bailey Gaither and Tre Walker last season, so he seems to be having the wait and see the upperclassmen go approach, so we can be negligible there too.
My main point, is that Cal does a solid job in terms of looking around the country for gems like Weaver, Goode, Deng and such. However, they do a piss poor job of evaluating bay area talent, notably along the peninsula and I will continue to stand by that. Mahasin willingly took SDSU over ASU, Colorado, and our interest. Say what you will but we've seen what the top half of the MW can do the Pac 12.
I also believe they looked at Elu as well but he was also recruited over and it was believed that he wanted a more rural school and less urban. It seems like this was a potential mismatch in terms of culture fit.
Word on the recruiting wire is that the staff might make a run at Hassan now that we have lost a lot of recruits. Seems like the lack of early interest in Hassan was due to recruiting over him, his size and his injury.
For Hassan, good luck for us trying to pry him away from SDSU, they were the only school to immediately back him up after he got hurt and he valued that the most. Couple that with my interpretation of football and the student environment when the new stadium opens along with SDSU as a whole, we should lose that battle rather convincingly.
As for Elu, yeah he definitely didn't want that big city feel. As for culture fit, he is more exuberant and outspoken and wouldn't be afraid to say how he felt. Also in terms of game fit, he probably doesn't fit Cal because he actually is great out in space.
Mahasin took an OV here yesterday
Culture fit meant more rural vs urban culture and not Cal football program culture.
I live less than 1 mile from the new sdsu stadium and it is going to be very nice.
I understand what you mean about Hassan but you never know. Also, sdsu is playing well right now. It is funny because sdsu is basically what Wilcox wants Cal to be.
Lastly, I wouldn't be surprised to see Garbers and CBrooks transfer to sdsu to finish their careers.
Menlo Atherton has had some great players come out these last few years. Troy Franklin at Oregon (even though I'm not that high on him when my team played him at Levi's Stadium), Daniel Heimuli (ILB at UW), Noa Ngalu (DL at UW). As for the current, Jalen Moss is the best they got and is pretty slipper (https://247sports.com/Player/Jalen-Moss-46100448/). To round it out, Menlo Atherton has breeded out good talent, and have done so well recently, it is just a matter of when they hit because as a public school, they can easily go in the toilet.
Chase very nearly outgained Colorado with his feet alone
Garbers/Hicks co MVP.
A complete team win. Offense, defense and special teams all played to their full potential.
Even if the opponent was Colorado, we still played well and to our potential.
My only nitpick would be we settled for to many FGs and we didn’t play the backup QB.
I have a few other complaints:
1. Too many penalties.
2. Too many check downs on third down to players with no hope of picking up the first.
3. Longhetto was great, but the rest of the special teams unit was still bad. There were no good punts, and kickoff coverage was suspect.
I agree with all of 1,2,3. I will add that while there were no good punts, there were no bad ones either. "Not bad" is the new good.
On the other hand, Colorado's punting was really good, and their special teams overall were way better than ours.
In terms of penalties, I agree but Pac 12 refs are going Pac 12 ref.
I didn’t mind the 3rd down check downs in the second half, with a 20 point lead. No need to try to force something and get a pick 6 or a turnover that might let Colorado back in the game.
Sac State better than Colorado confirmed. A nice chill game where we didn't have to stress too much. Would like to see more benchwarmers in there and some better desire from some of these WR's who look a step slow. Other than that, I'm ready for a 27-24 type game against Oregon State.
That might be tough as OSU came back and beat Utah 42-34.
Yeah that was an easy read for the defense. He only went right.
Troy Taylor is objectively not a good candidate if you remove his Cal connection. We really need and can do better than former cal guys in d2 as potentials.
I don’t know. I wouldn’t go that far. I remember when everyone laughed when Stanford hired Harbaugh from D2 USD.
Sac State is D1
By winning today, Wilcox has ensured he will be retained and back next season regardless of his record this season.
It’s Cal football and athletics. So long as he doesn’t go winless in the Pac 12 and has remaining years on his contract he will be back.
I don’t hate or dislike Garbers but I kind of want him out of my life next year.
Agree - nothing but respect for him and what he's done...he's accomplished a lot in his time at Cal....but he's limited as a QB & there just appears to be a ceiling on what he can do under center.
I don’t think Wilcox knows how to quite Garbers.
The fear is he really has no idea what to do....you have to get Millner some snaps.
Yet another reason for my disappointment in this season is Wilcox letting Garbers captain this underwhelming ship, setting the roster up next year for a built-in, first time-QB-starter excuse for a 4-8 '22 team...
Well today in the 4th quarter would have been a good opportunity to get him some snaps but we didn’t.
The question isn’t whether Garbers is ready or not. The question is whether the staff wants his scholarship or not.
Isn't Garbers out of eligibility after this season? GEAT or GoldenSD?
He is not, last season didn’t count so he has one more year of eligibility. I imagine if he wants to come back and is encouraged by the staff to do so, he will come back and be our starter….again.
Oh well…of course he’ll be back, & he’ll set all the Cal QB records, tho they’ll have an asterisk bc he played 12 seasons.
And we’re all in for another season of gut-churning dogfights, hoping the Bears make 1 more play than the other team so they can maybe finish 7-5 (4-5 P12).
Yay, fun stuff.
Garbers could come back for 5 more seasons and he still won’t be drafted by an NFL team.
I’m not trying to be a negabear or mean but Garbers isn’t an NFL QB.
To answer your question, do I think Garbers plays CFB next season? My answer is yes but the bigger question is whether it is at Cal or somewhere else.
I like Garbers, but he is not an NFL QB. You saw how much he struggled throwing the sideline out route from the far hash today. I wish him the best, but I don't see the pros in his future.
If I were his parents, I'd tell him to become a Grad Transfer, transfer to somewhere that needs a QB and get the easier acceptance standards and free tuition.
I think if Garbers wants to continue to play CFB he will be at Cal next year and he will be our starting QB.
Jimmy Garoppolo 2.0
At least Jimmy G had that one really good season, won the NFC and took the Niners to the SB.
If Garbers somehow wins the Pac 12 and takes Cal to a Rose Bowl in his 12th season then the 11 previous seasons of suffering will be worth it.
College Football, not Canadian.
I thought you were talking about Croatian Football
You don’t watch Crimean Football?
The Crimean Football League is rough....land mines are scattered across the field...you really gotta want it.
I watch a lot of crappy football.
Pretty sure CFB meant college, not Canada.
FWIW I think he’s a decent college QB but at best a practice squad NFL player - no zip on his throws, doesn’t see open guys we’ll enough, late on too many throws. And all this in his fourth year as a starter.
His little brother appears to be a more talented thrower. Looked pretty good when DTR went down, final pick aside. I was almost thinking this was the Brady replaces an injured Bledsoe moment for UCLA -- before the interception. Tough spot to be put in!
Ethan was the higher recruit coming out of HS. His throwing motion also looks awkward.
Then it might be nature rather than nurture?
Yeah I saw his first throw and thought “stronger arm than our Garbers”. Interception was a bad mistake though, they were close to FG range and it was only 2nd down iirc
Garbers used to have a strong arm. He hasn’t since that vague shoulder injury 2018 and the collarbone break in 2019.
CFL