I might be one of the few. Heck might be the only one. But I’ll give them one more game before turning on the alarms. I’ll close my eyes and chalk one game into post covid jitters.
the list TV showed included "Fremont Marriott" as well. Did they practice in the parking lot? I don't know but definitely not ideal environment but they definitely did better than Cal.
Musgrave got too cute in the 2nd and 3rd Q: trying to get Nevada guessing between run and pass when Nevada had no answers to us running out of singleback 12/13. We had 7.5 YPC. Like in fighting games against your younger cousin you just spam that one combo till they figure it out.
Our RBs averaged 7.5 yards per carry. Garbers averaged 4.7 yards per pass attempt. I’m no NFL OC retread but I think I would have called more running plays.
If you’re going to have Garbers throw 38 times, you might as well ditch the pro style offense and go to an air raid at this point.
Wilcox won’t fire Musgrave during the season. We could having a losing record after this season and Wilcox still wouldn’t fire him. I imagine Musgrave is here as long as Wilcox is.
idk about u guys but there seems to be this recurring theme over the last couple of decades where the other team has this dude they call a "tight end" who just lumbers straight down the middle of the field and then their quarterback just throws him the ball and he catches it for a 15 to 30 yard gain but then Cal decides not to stop that play ever and then also decides to never ever have that play in their offensive repertoire ever. EVER.
that Carson Strong kid was hobbled af, visibly gimping around the field, and still the d couldn't get to him. what is the defensive scheme that has Denge Goode not getting any sacks? Tevis was solid but the rest of the front 7 was underwhelming.
obviously holding those guys to 22 should net a W, so this is all on the offensive coaching, game plan, and play calling.
even before this game my Bearmigo and i had decided to not renew season tickets. instead i will be donating that money to a few charitable groups. in fact i feel quite stupid and guilty for the thousands and thousands i have given to the program over the years. trickle up economics no more.
Couldn't this team just tease us for a couple of weeks? That's all I can want or expect being a Cal fan. I'll give the defense a pass for a week, cause I think Strong is that good and this unit has earned the benefit of the doubt. But man we sure did concede the middle of the field to them. Our DBs seemed completely out matched. Offensively we haven't been this limited since the Holmoe years. We just have zero speed anywhere and our receivers are unable to get separation. Our margin for error is razor thin, which makes Musgrave's turning away from the running game in key moments malpractice. This was truly a team loss, but Musgrave gets the award for worse performance in a very competitive field.
Awful and as I said in another thread it's the worst loss of the Wilcox era. Going into year 5 with mostly his recruits he is 1-4 in his last five games. Trending downward. Hiring the aging retread Musgrave was a huge mistake, chase has regressed and lost his moxie of 2018-2019.
Exactly…great points. UNR IS a solid ball club, with an elite QB that will play on Sundays next year. This was reflected in the spread. Still, home opener after a full off-season/training camp - you’d like to see the squad better prepared.
Garbers is a serious issue….he doesn’t seem to have the chops to MAKE plays, and his decision-making leaves a lot to be desired. The final 4 & out of the night was very troubling.
Agree, but he is pretty darn good within his team's context the coaches have created. "Elite" is an over used superlative but comparative to our QB situation it applies.
Even if we continued to run and pulled off a win against Nevada, we probably cant impose our will on the ground like that against the majority of teams on our schedule. I see the QB as the main issue now, bigger picture. I'm doubtful any adjustments can be made, other than maybe green lighting Chase to scramble. That's a glaring difference in Chase's game now, that freedom to improvise and move the chains but scrambling for a 1st. It was what made many scoring drives click in the past, and opened things up when teams had to respect it. I dont think Chase is a proficient enough passer to succeed in Musgrave's system, and dont think he has enough of the "gamer" / "it" factor to make things happen and will the offense down the field using his arm, putting balls in tight windows or hitting deep balls on the right spots.
Defense has taken a couple of steps back. This offense isn’t built to make big plays and isn’t good enough to ground and pound a team down. I think the ceiling is 5 wins with a floor of 2.
Exactly…unfortunately he’s not a skilled enough thrower of the football to be strictly a pocket passer…he needs to have some semblance of a dual threat to make the plays necessary to win.
Is it just me or has Garbers lost some speed and elusiveness? I think he is playing with an extra 25 pounds that he didn't used to have. I remember the 80 yard run against SC in 2018. (called back, but the USC db's couldn't catch him).
I think Musgrave’s offense has completely handcuffed his playground ball instincts. If he does run, going back to last year, it’s like he’s fearful of going past the LOS because whatever the play was supposed to do, he’s now been coached to sit there and make it happen. Hero ball from the offense was always maddening, but there was always a sense that the improv could pay off. This system of Musgrave’s has taken away the sense of improv that’s Garbers’ true strength.
I think he's not allowed to improvise in this current system, or it's been coached out of him. Either way, by the time Chase decides to move in the pocket, he's got no room to scatter about in that manner he employs to try to get open.
I believe there were a couple more throughout the game that didnt work as well. The last one being in that last failed red zone visit, but I remember at least one more earlier in the game. I think those designed QB runs typically only work when they are first respecting your passing game.
Also, I love our team for what they are but I'm looking forward to next year when we have offensive talent on the field that's actually capable of competing at a P5 level.
We have 4* receivers with height and speed and a 4* QB waiting on the depth chart. Better chances with them than our current receivers who can't break free from G5 defenders.
I feel like Wilcox should play them but he is far too cautious to do so. Wilcox should just go full youth rebuild mode at this point and try to rebuild from the roster up but he won’t.
This was a coaching failure top to bottom, but holding that offense to 22 points should have been more than enough, ESPECIALLY when you score 14 in the first quarter.
Can't wait for Garbers and Daltoso to graduate and mosy on out of here. No offensive line protection and innovation down the field until its too late along with the fact of abandoning the run at all the wrong times. Collin Gamble was the worst player on the field and the linebackers weren't far behind, and that says a lot considering our mediocre special teams was sitting right there.
Don’t blame the players. The coaching staff are paid millions to put them in positions to succeed and the coaches didn’t do that tonight (or very many nights in Wilcox’s tenure.)
Trust me blame for the coaches is there, its just not explicitly named at them but these players displayed things I didn't like to see irrespective of the inept coaching.
I don’t understand how Wilcox and his staff haven’t been able to recruit and develop a player to replace Daltoso in year 5. QB is a bit more complicated but you are telling me that in 5 years we haven’t recruited and developed one OL that is capable of replacing Daltoso?
I'll never understand but it sounds like "seniority" is the reason he starts but I'm befuddled nobody can take over for him considering he is a steaming pile of mediocre.
Perhaps last year’s 1 - 3 record was an apt record after all?
So much talk about the TE’s and yet only a handful of targets with only 1 reception.
Gamble gets a pass on his defending given it was his first meaningful experience against several guys who will likely be playing on Sundays. He looked tiny against those receivers however and U$C, among others, will exploit that.
Not taking the penalty and having UNR kick that field goal was the right decision. The distance was right at the kickers extreme, note he missed his next kick of similar (perhaps shorter) length. More importantly you did not want to give Strong another opportunity to improve field position or perhaps pick up a first down. I’m OK with the decision given the risk / reward ratio.
Garbers is who we thought he was. Marginal improvement but in the heat of the moment it is the same ole Garbers. Missing that outlet pass (overthrow) on third down is inexcusable at this point in his career. Buy hey, so was Dancy’s (??) drop to keep the last drive going, hit him right in the chest.
OL has improved a bit, but Daltoso has to go (yup, I know y’all have been hearing me say this for 2 years, but I don’t mind saying it again). Pass protection overall would get a C grade at best. Not sure what all the hype was about on Coleman, he didn’t look at all dominating albeit it is only the first game of the year.
Unfathomable why Cal only ran the ball 6 times in the 2nd and 3rd quarters. Unconscionable. Combination of both poor coaching and execution.
The two greatest coaches I have seen at Cal were Bruce Snyder and Jeff Teford. Both offensive minds. Tedford was the OC at Oregon, and Snyder the OC for the Rams. In some ways, Wilcox reminds me of Holmoe. Let's remember that Holmoe was a defensive guy who had some pretty good defenses at Cal. They just couldn't score. Holmoe's best team was 1998 when they beat Oklahoma and USC and scored a grand total of 3 points in the Big Game to miss out on a bowl opportunity. Not surprisingly, there were a lot of close games in Holmoe's tenure. Just like Wilcox.
My point is that the Pac 12 historically has been about the offense, baby. I would take Mike Leach's record at WSU any day. (BTW, Makai Polk had 10 catches for MSU yesterday.) I guess there have been some great defensive minds who succeeded as coaches in the conference. Dick Tomey and Pete Carroll come to mind. But at least in Carroll's case he found brilliant OC's to lead the way.
I agree with some other bloggers that Wilcox is married to Musgrave. There is no changing the path of this offense this year. There is no Polk to make the defenses respect the long ball, or even the wide receiver screen. (Did we see one of those plays yesterday?) It is glaringly clear that Clark, Remegio and Crawford are possession receivers who will struggle to get open. Opposing defenses are going to stack the box. Sigh.....
One of those throws actually hit Remigio in his bread basket. After securing the ball, he was a few easy steps to a first down along the sidelines to extend a drive. Instead, he was stripped by a Nevada defender. That led to one of the five straight punts. Most painful play of the game based on the obscenity count in my living room.
I can live with a defender making a good play occasionally and stripping the ball. Similarly, occasional missed throws happen. If we were to count drops VS misses, I'm fairly certain it would be fairly one-sided...
To your point on Nikko, on the flip side of that coin, Chase tossed a shovel/desparation pass at one point that by all means should have been intercepted, but Nikko came away with it. It is what it is..
It took Bruce Snyder three years to turn around the program from the sad sack mess he inherited from Joe Kapp. But even in those three losing years, his teams were fun to watch. I remember they beat Arizona State - the previous Rose Bowl winner - in the last game of 1987. Once he got his own players in there, his last two years were magnificent. I have little doubt that Cal would have been going to its first Rose Bowl if Bob Bockrath had not been so cheap in renewing Snyder's contract. I would take Snyder as my favorite coach - even over Tedford - because of the winning identity he transferred to his players.
I might be one of the few. Heck might be the only one. But I’ll give them one more game before turning on the alarms. I’ll close my eyes and chalk one game into post covid jitters.
Reno is also covered in smoke right now. I would assume that would affect their practices, which makes this loss even more frustrating.
Maybe we'll beat TCU and everyone will chill, but I'm guessing we didn't even get Nevada at their best.
UNR practiced at something like a half dozen different facilities including stanfurd.
maybe we should try that
didn't we do that while Memorial Stadium was under construction?
the list TV showed included "Fremont Marriott" as well. Did they practice in the parking lot? I don't know but definitely not ideal environment but they definitely did better than Cal.
BEARASSING
Musgrave got too cute in the 2nd and 3rd Q: trying to get Nevada guessing between run and pass when Nevada had no answers to us running out of singleback 12/13. We had 7.5 YPC. Like in fighting games against your younger cousin you just spam that one combo till they figure it out.
Yeah. Isn't rule 0 of coaching football something like "if I play keeps working, don't stop until they figure out how to stop it"?
Our RBs averaged 7.5 yards per carry. Garbers averaged 4.7 yards per pass attempt. I’m no NFL OC retread but I think I would have called more running plays.
If you’re going to have Garbers throw 38 times, you might as well ditch the pro style offense and go to an air raid at this point.
I wonder what overall NCAA win/loss percentage is for a team with 7.5 ypc. Does anyone have access to a database that would have this?
Just back from the game and am surprised to find out that Musgrave hasn't been fired yet.
Don’t forget Ragle and our OLine coach, too. Sirmon is also in the hot seat.
Wilcox is on the hot seat therefore the whole coaching staff is on the hot seat.
I’d like to thjnk that would happen when he wakes up from his nap.
Marcus Arroyo should be out of job soon. Maybe we hire him again
Wilcox won’t fire Musgrave during the season. We could having a losing record after this season and Wilcox still wouldn’t fire him. I imagine Musgrave is here as long as Wilcox is.
If only we could get to those buried bodies first, and remove that blackmail over Wilcox’s head…
Kompromat
idk about u guys but there seems to be this recurring theme over the last couple of decades where the other team has this dude they call a "tight end" who just lumbers straight down the middle of the field and then their quarterback just throws him the ball and he catches it for a 15 to 30 yard gain but then Cal decides not to stop that play ever and then also decides to never ever have that play in their offensive repertoire ever. EVER.
that Carson Strong kid was hobbled af, visibly gimping around the field, and still the d couldn't get to him. what is the defensive scheme that has Denge Goode not getting any sacks? Tevis was solid but the rest of the front 7 was underwhelming.
obviously holding those guys to 22 should net a W, so this is all on the offensive coaching, game plan, and play calling.
even before this game my Bearmigo and i had decided to not renew season tickets. instead i will be donating that money to a few charitable groups. in fact i feel quite stupid and guilty for the thousands and thousands i have given to the program over the years. trickle up economics no more.
And, as you wrote this, Ed Dickson just got open again, and scored yet another touchdown…
I need whiskey after reading that cursed name again
Ed Dickson will forever be wide open and running free through the dark recesses of our imagination...
It'd seem more fitting if Cal paid for that endowment, imho.
Why do our tight ends never seem as big and fast as opposing tight ends?
We only have 3 and 4 star tight ends. We need 5 and 6 star tight ends to compete with MWC athletes.
Let's see if we can do anything with Terry (hope he doesn't transfer)
We once had an athletic TE named Richard Rodgers. Dykes liked the passing attack so much that he decided to convert him to a RB.
Couldn't this team just tease us for a couple of weeks? That's all I can want or expect being a Cal fan. I'll give the defense a pass for a week, cause I think Strong is that good and this unit has earned the benefit of the doubt. But man we sure did concede the middle of the field to them. Our DBs seemed completely out matched. Offensively we haven't been this limited since the Holmoe years. We just have zero speed anywhere and our receivers are unable to get separation. Our margin for error is razor thin, which makes Musgrave's turning away from the running game in key moments malpractice. This was truly a team loss, but Musgrave gets the award for worse performance in a very competitive field.
We also conceded the middle of the field on offense. Did Garbers even throw to the tight end once?
The guy sitting behind me noted that Tonges was wide open several times in the middle of the field and Garbers could never find him.
He did, but only a few with typical Garbers [in]accuracy.
Awful and as I said in another thread it's the worst loss of the Wilcox era. Going into year 5 with mostly his recruits he is 1-4 in his last five games. Trending downward. Hiring the aging retread Musgrave was a huge mistake, chase has regressed and lost his moxie of 2018-2019.
Exactly…great points. UNR IS a solid ball club, with an elite QB that will play on Sundays next year. This was reflected in the spread. Still, home opener after a full off-season/training camp - you’d like to see the squad better prepared.
Garbers is a serious issue….he doesn’t seem to have the chops to MAKE plays, and his decision-making leaves a lot to be desired. The final 4 & out of the night was very troubling.
not buying the elite QB on the other side. Yeah, he's getting some hype, but at best will be a camp arm.
Agree, but he is pretty darn good within his team's context the coaches have created. "Elite" is an over used superlative but comparative to our QB situation it applies.
the final throw was on the numbers, just dropped. Some bad throws yeah, but super unfortunate Cal-like drop.
I’ve been saying that for years now. Garbers’ mechanics have always been bad. He’ll never be good, but Wilcox ignores that.
What he had going for him was an undefeated streak whenever he started, albeit his ceiling was always college QB. That's been over for a bit, though.
Garbers had one good year. That was one year Baldwin was coaching QB
Chase hasn't much improved in 4 years. Why wasn't he in the weight room building arm strength during covid lockdown?
Even if we continued to run and pulled off a win against Nevada, we probably cant impose our will on the ground like that against the majority of teams on our schedule. I see the QB as the main issue now, bigger picture. I'm doubtful any adjustments can be made, other than maybe green lighting Chase to scramble. That's a glaring difference in Chase's game now, that freedom to improvise and move the chains but scrambling for a 1st. It was what made many scoring drives click in the past, and opened things up when teams had to respect it. I dont think Chase is a proficient enough passer to succeed in Musgrave's system, and dont think he has enough of the "gamer" / "it" factor to make things happen and will the offense down the field using his arm, putting balls in tight windows or hitting deep balls on the right spots.
I agree with all this.
Defense has taken a couple of steps back. This offense isn’t built to make big plays and isn’t good enough to ground and pound a team down. I think the ceiling is 5 wins with a floor of 2.
Exactly…unfortunately he’s not a skilled enough thrower of the football to be strictly a pocket passer…he needs to have some semblance of a dual threat to make the plays necessary to win.
correction: he's not a skilled enough thrower of the football to be a p12 qb.
designed QB run could have worked. I think we only had one tonight.
Is it just me or has Garbers lost some speed and elusiveness? I think he is playing with an extra 25 pounds that he didn't used to have. I remember the 80 yard run against SC in 2018. (called back, but the USC db's couldn't catch him).
I think Musgrave’s offense has completely handcuffed his playground ball instincts. If he does run, going back to last year, it’s like he’s fearful of going past the LOS because whatever the play was supposed to do, he’s now been coached to sit there and make it happen. Hero ball from the offense was always maddening, but there was always a sense that the improv could pay off. This system of Musgrave’s has taken away the sense of improv that’s Garbers’ true strength.
True. But that hero ball beat USC, Washington, and Stanford. With Chase as a pure pocket passer who can't improvise, we're screwed.
I think he's not allowed to improvise in this current system, or it's been coached out of him. Either way, by the time Chase decides to move in the pocket, he's got no room to scatter about in that manner he employs to try to get open.
I believe there were a couple more throughout the game that didnt work as well. The last one being in that last failed red zone visit, but I remember at least one more earlier in the game. I think those designed QB runs typically only work when they are first respecting your passing game.
LOL. I think you're correct.
What an infuriating game. We should not have lost that game, but the offensive play-calling was absolutely atrocious quarters 2-4.
Also, I love our team for what they are but I'm looking forward to next year when we have offensive talent on the field that's actually capable of competing at a P5 level.
Where are you seeing this talent?
We have 4* receivers with height and speed and a 4* QB waiting on the depth chart. Better chances with them than our current receivers who can't break free from G5 defenders.
I feel like Wilcox should play them but he is far too cautious to do so. Wilcox should just go full youth rebuild mode at this point and try to rebuild from the roster up but he won’t.
We really need to win season openers. Amazing student section today, but half of them wont return because they are disappointed by Cal's performance.
This was a coaching failure top to bottom, but holding that offense to 22 points should have been more than enough, ESPECIALLY when you score 14 in the first quarter.
Can't wait for Garbers and Daltoso to graduate and mosy on out of here. No offensive line protection and innovation down the field until its too late along with the fact of abandoning the run at all the wrong times. Collin Gamble was the worst player on the field and the linebackers weren't far behind, and that says a lot considering our mediocre special teams was sitting right there.
Don’t blame the players. The coaching staff are paid millions to put them in positions to succeed and the coaches didn’t do that tonight (or very many nights in Wilcox’s tenure.)
Trust me blame for the coaches is there, its just not explicitly named at them but these players displayed things I didn't like to see irrespective of the inept coaching.
Millions and millions and now Wilcox has an endowed chair. El Stinko
I don’t understand how Wilcox and his staff haven’t been able to recruit and develop a player to replace Daltoso in year 5. QB is a bit more complicated but you are telling me that in 5 years we haven’t recruited and developed one OL that is capable of replacing Daltoso?
I'll never understand but it sounds like "seniority" is the reason he starts but I'm befuddled nobody can take over for him considering he is a steaming pile of mediocre.
injuries
Perhaps last year’s 1 - 3 record was an apt record after all?
So much talk about the TE’s and yet only a handful of targets with only 1 reception.
Gamble gets a pass on his defending given it was his first meaningful experience against several guys who will likely be playing on Sundays. He looked tiny against those receivers however and U$C, among others, will exploit that.
Not taking the penalty and having UNR kick that field goal was the right decision. The distance was right at the kickers extreme, note he missed his next kick of similar (perhaps shorter) length. More importantly you did not want to give Strong another opportunity to improve field position or perhaps pick up a first down. I’m OK with the decision given the risk / reward ratio.
Garbers is who we thought he was. Marginal improvement but in the heat of the moment it is the same ole Garbers. Missing that outlet pass (overthrow) on third down is inexcusable at this point in his career. Buy hey, so was Dancy’s (??) drop to keep the last drive going, hit him right in the chest.
OL has improved a bit, but Daltoso has to go (yup, I know y’all have been hearing me say this for 2 years, but I don’t mind saying it again). Pass protection overall would get a C grade at best. Not sure what all the hype was about on Coleman, he didn’t look at all dominating albeit it is only the first game of the year.
Unfathomable why Cal only ran the ball 6 times in the 2nd and 3rd quarters. Unconscionable. Combination of both poor coaching and execution.
Were there any bright spots at all?
Coaching - ZERO!
OLine - nope
DLine - meh
Linebackers - nope
DBs - nope
WR/TE - no idea, ball was never there
RB - what happened to Brooks?
IMHO, worst coached game I’ve ever seen by Cal. Every single coach should be ashamed of himself for such an embarrassing showing.
I’ve always been a Wilcox fan, but no more. Same mistakes (Garbers, Ragle, OC, poor choices with the ball), too conservative, bad game management.
Fix this!
DeCarlos or Christopher Brooks? They only had 5 carries combined.
They both played well. DeCarlos had one carry for 40 yards.
I thought Brooks played well.
He played great, but we never saw him in the 2nd half. I’m assuming he was injured, but there’s been no mention of it.
oh okay, you were asking in terms of why we didn't see him more? I couldn't see which RB was actually on the field because we kept passing.
The two greatest coaches I have seen at Cal were Bruce Snyder and Jeff Teford. Both offensive minds. Tedford was the OC at Oregon, and Snyder the OC for the Rams. In some ways, Wilcox reminds me of Holmoe. Let's remember that Holmoe was a defensive guy who had some pretty good defenses at Cal. They just couldn't score. Holmoe's best team was 1998 when they beat Oklahoma and USC and scored a grand total of 3 points in the Big Game to miss out on a bowl opportunity. Not surprisingly, there were a lot of close games in Holmoe's tenure. Just like Wilcox.
My point is that the Pac 12 historically has been about the offense, baby. I would take Mike Leach's record at WSU any day. (BTW, Makai Polk had 10 catches for MSU yesterday.) I guess there have been some great defensive minds who succeeded as coaches in the conference. Dick Tomey and Pete Carroll come to mind. But at least in Carroll's case he found brilliant OC's to lead the way.
I agree with some other bloggers that Wilcox is married to Musgrave. There is no changing the path of this offense this year. There is no Polk to make the defenses respect the long ball, or even the wide receiver screen. (Did we see one of those plays yesterday?) It is glaringly clear that Clark, Remegio and Crawford are possession receivers who will struggle to get open. Opposing defenses are going to stack the box. Sigh.....
Only if Polk had 10 catches for Cal last night
I understand why Polk transferred now. He wasn’t afraid of completion, he was afraid of wasting his time and talent at Cal.
Idk, they could spot us Keenan Allen and Marvin Jones Jr and those 3rd down balls-into-the-dirt would still be incompletes...
One of those throws actually hit Remigio in his bread basket. After securing the ball, he was a few easy steps to a first down along the sidelines to extend a drive. Instead, he was stripped by a Nevada defender. That led to one of the five straight punts. Most painful play of the game based on the obscenity count in my living room.
I can live with a defender making a good play occasionally and stripping the ball. Similarly, occasional missed throws happen. If we were to count drops VS misses, I'm fairly certain it would be fairly one-sided...
To your point on Nikko, on the flip side of that coin, Chase tossed a shovel/desparation pass at one point that by all means should have been intercepted, but Nikko came away with it. It is what it is..
Good point. Wilcox is closer to Holmoe 2.0 than he is to Tedford 2.0.
Oh yeah Troy Taylor...I've heard that a few times before - he's be better than Musgrave
I think I've heard of his name before too. Forgot where I heard it.
It took Bruce Snyder three years to turn around the program from the sad sack mess he inherited from Joe Kapp. But even in those three losing years, his teams were fun to watch. I remember they beat Arizona State - the previous Rose Bowl winner - in the last game of 1987. Once he got his own players in there, his last two years were magnificent. I have little doubt that Cal would have been going to its first Rose Bowl if Bob Bockrath had not been so cheap in renewing Snyder's contract. I would take Snyder as my favorite coach - even over Tedford - because of the winning identity he transferred to his players.
Lack-of-speed
I, for one, did not enjoy that game.