Leland, Piotr, do you have an opinion on where Stovall and Robertson would rank in the list of Cal's current roster of WRs? In your eyes, are they as good/better? Understand that's hard with them playing so little recently but thought to ask your expert opinion.
I wonder what SID voted Cal at 25th? And for that matter, which SID cast the sole 25th place vote for Stanford? (Maybe next door neighbor San Jose St.?)
6 of the 12 Pac-12 schools have a vote, Colorado, Arizona, Utah, USC, Washington, & WSU this year.
Given Musgrave's resume, the expectation should be that his offense scores 28 - 38 points per game. I feel that that is a reasonable expectation. Simple.
Unless.. (to beat a dead horse), he is only allowed to try to run out the clock whenever we have a one score lead in the 2nd half. Maybe there will even be some new delayed kneel-down wrinkles added to the victory formation set!!!
When we cruise to a 12+ point victory over Nevada that isn't even in doubt for most of the 4th quarter, we'll probably ranked #3 or #4 in the country going into Week 2. Then it'll really be gut-check time, and we'll see how this team responds to those heightened expectations.
Nevada can beat us if we are the least bit cocky. They have a good team, a stud QB and will come out gunning to beat their PAC12 P5 opponent. We need to treat them as we would any other team on our schedule. Remember what Kaepernick did to us?
I remember what Cody Fajardo, another Nevada quarterback, did to Cal on their home turf in Tedford's last season. The Cal defensive lineman were so gassed in the fourth quarter they could not make plays to stop Nevada's game winning drive. Don't think that performance would have happened earlier in Tedford's career.
Honestly, the single greatest QB performance I have ever witnessed. Never seen deception like that before. Could barely keep track of the ball. Nevada is always a trap game.
I'd bet that upset of Nevada will result in something more like a ranking of 34th. Which will still represent highly heightened expectations heading to TCU.
Despite their crummy record over the past several years, I think that Chip Kelly and his UCLA team deserve to be ranked ahead of Cal at the moment. I watched most of UCLA's games last year - including the way they shredded Cal - and admired how they started to move the ball in big chunks. Every one of their losses was high scoring and close.
Cal has not shown that ability under Wilcox, and defense can only take you so far. Put me down as worried about this year's UCLA game.
CAL's offense is not meant to be a high octane offense like Chip Kelly's offense. CAL's philosophy is for a balanced game and for our defense to limit opposing offenses. Unfortunately for us, Chip Kelly has schemed brilliantly when they played us. Also, our Pro Style offense install wasn't close to being done last year and we played UCLA with one day's notice (as I recall). Running a spread offense without practice is easy, because its a fairly simple offense that you run every week. Musgrave's playbook is big and so he chooses plays for concepts and schemes each week to best beat the opponent. Also, Chips defense is not as stout as our defense. They depend on scoring a lot of points to win. If our defense is decent this year and can prevent their offense from running away with it and if our offense can execute Musgrave's system, it should make for a real good game. Two brilliant offensive minds going at it against each other, and one really good defense (us).
That word "balanced" kind of scares me. I think of all of the great Cal teams over the last 30 years - the 1990 and 91 teams, the 2004 and 2006 teams - and all of them had explosive offenses that lit up the scoreboards and crushed the will of opposing teams. I think you are right, by the way, that Cal's offense won't be high octane with the personnel on the field. The scary part comes into play because a tightly controlled game against good teams usually means a lot of close scores that can go either way. Kind of like the Oregon and Stanford games last year. I am already starting to get heartburn just thinking about it.
Leland, Piotr, do you have an opinion on where Stovall and Robertson would rank in the list of Cal's current roster of WRs? In your eyes, are they as good/better? Understand that's hard with them playing so little recently but thought to ask your expert opinion.
The journey of a 25 ranking spots, begins with a single step.
I wonder what SID voted Cal at 25th? And for that matter, which SID cast the sole 25th place vote for Stanford? (Maybe next door neighbor San Jose St.?)
6 of the 12 Pac-12 schools have a vote, Colorado, Arizona, Utah, USC, Washington, & WSU this year.
I deleted my comment before I embarrass myself.
How do they decide on the list of voters?
They have to be related to Mack Brown and vote for his team when he cries.
Given Musgrave's resume, the expectation should be that his offense scores 28 - 38 points per game. I feel that that is a reasonable expectation. Simple.
On point Taco.
Unless.. (to beat a dead horse), he is only allowed to try to run out the clock whenever we have a one score lead in the 2nd half. Maybe there will even be some new delayed kneel-down wrinkles added to the victory formation set!!!
If we can do that the season will be a success.
When we cruise to a 12+ point victory over Nevada that isn't even in doubt for most of the 4th quarter, we'll probably ranked #3 or #4 in the country going into Week 2. Then it'll really be gut-check time, and we'll see how this team responds to those heightened expectations.
Nevada can beat us if we are the least bit cocky. They have a good team, a stud QB and will come out gunning to beat their PAC12 P5 opponent. We need to treat them as we would any other team on our schedule. Remember what Kaepernick did to us?
I remember what Cody Fajardo, another Nevada quarterback, did to Cal on their home turf in Tedford's last season. The Cal defensive lineman were so gassed in the fourth quarter they could not make plays to stop Nevada's game winning drive. Don't think that performance would have happened earlier in Tedford's career.
DOOM...
Yes, was at that game. Sorry that I attended looking back on it.
100% - I'm not overlooking Nevada for a second and see it as much of a challenge as almost any game on the schedule.
Honestly, the single greatest QB performance I have ever witnessed. Never seen deception like that before. Could barely keep track of the ball. Nevada is always a trap game.
Carson Strong has the ability to shred us - it’s going to be a dogfight, bc they ALL are.
I'd bet that upset of Nevada will result in something more like a ranking of 34th. Which will still represent highly heightened expectations heading to TCU.
I hope we win the After-Dark match-up.
Love being a 'dog'. Makes it that much sweeter when you prove the fuckers wrong. ;-)
Despite their crummy record over the past several years, I think that Chip Kelly and his UCLA team deserve to be ranked ahead of Cal at the moment. I watched most of UCLA's games last year - including the way they shredded Cal - and admired how they started to move the ball in big chunks. Every one of their losses was high scoring and close.
Cal has not shown that ability under Wilcox, and defense can only take you so far. Put me down as worried about this year's UCLA game.
CAL's offense is not meant to be a high octane offense like Chip Kelly's offense. CAL's philosophy is for a balanced game and for our defense to limit opposing offenses. Unfortunately for us, Chip Kelly has schemed brilliantly when they played us. Also, our Pro Style offense install wasn't close to being done last year and we played UCLA with one day's notice (as I recall). Running a spread offense without practice is easy, because its a fairly simple offense that you run every week. Musgrave's playbook is big and so he chooses plays for concepts and schemes each week to best beat the opponent. Also, Chips defense is not as stout as our defense. They depend on scoring a lot of points to win. If our defense is decent this year and can prevent their offense from running away with it and if our offense can execute Musgrave's system, it should make for a real good game. Two brilliant offensive minds going at it against each other, and one really good defense (us).
That word "balanced" kind of scares me. I think of all of the great Cal teams over the last 30 years - the 1990 and 91 teams, the 2004 and 2006 teams - and all of them had explosive offenses that lit up the scoreboards and crushed the will of opposing teams. I think you are right, by the way, that Cal's offense won't be high octane with the personnel on the field. The scary part comes into play because a tightly controlled game against good teams usually means a lot of close scores that can go either way. Kind of like the Oregon and Stanford games last year. I am already starting to get heartburn just thinking about it.
Think Bama, The Ohio State University, Oklahoma....those are balanced teams.
soooo, you're saying there's a chance....