10 Comments

Ward looks really good, but with his overconfidence, Cal might have a lot of chances for takeaways, something we are very good at.

On the other hand, I can't see Cal defense stopping RB Martinez.

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Given the choice of allowing more time for Mendoza to pass versus more holes for Ott to work with, I'd choose the latter. If Wilcox can establish the ball-control offense to compliment our resurgent defense, then we have a decent chance of pulling the upset.

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Oct 3Liked by Christopher Helling

Simply amazing. It does great damage to my optimism to read these, but they are absolutely fantastic. I fully agree this is all about the Cal offense. Pure and simple. The D will be solid, no doubt. But that only means we hold them to 27-35. I have grave doubts about our ability to score more than 24. I'm afraid we lose by a score or two. Hoping beyond hope for a better outcome.

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Right about now would be a great time to get a breakout game from Reese.

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"Cam Ward would like to remind you that you need to be loud when they are huddling, not after they’ve broken the huddle. "

🤔 As you wish, Mr. Ward.

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So the only things we need to do are pressure the QB and score a lot of points (and not most of them in the second half)?

Someone tell Wilcox that this Saturday is national Opposite Day.

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Oct 3·edited Oct 3

Ha….ya, unfortunately none of those have been real Cal strengths in recent years, especially after the BYE week. Believe we’ve lost our last 4 post-BYE games, including the brutal L at Boulder v the literally worst P5 football team on the planet. Historically struggling despite extra prep time is troublesome.

Still, maybe after 8 years, this season is different despite yet another open-competition at the PK spot….

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author

QB pressure and scoring a ton of points has not been Cal's strength under Wilcox historically, but it is pretty much exactly what happened in last year's win over Washington State (42-39). Ward was scrambling around all game and took a ton of sacks, while Mendoza was efficient as always and Ott had a big game. And Cal really needed this bye week to rest and recover.

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Oct 3·edited Oct 3

Absolutely…and if we play that game, we definitely have a chance. Cade was a beast and the pass rush was a factor. ‘24 Miami is a better team than ‘23 Wazzu, though, and while rest and recovery was absolutely needed, the team nonetheless needs to play a clean and crisp game to win. They did so at Auburn and got the W…a similar effort is needed here. We’ll see if the staff has the team prepared and ready to play.

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Got to pressure Ward. Can't let him sit in the pocket or get outside of our edge contain. Inside backers have to make good readson O line keys to stop Martinez.

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