Sad to see Cal slipping in the rankings but such is our lot. I had OSU as a soft-circled win but now I don't give us much of a chance. If Wilcox goes 5-7 he probably is safe for now but on the hotseat next season. If we go 4-8 or worse then Knowlton may have to make a change sooner rather than later, and then the coaching carousel starts again...
Why the gap between Oregon and fUcla? Despite the final score, Oregon struggled against a very bad Zona team. They were only up 5 late into the game. And tOSU is showing cracks and may be way overrated, which sorta taints that win in some regard. Top to bottom the PAC is bad this year.
Everyone is bad this year, just the Pac-12 had some of the worst week 1 losses. The ACC is probably even worse than us but no one's really paying attention because they're all just shocked Clemson is losing games and they were the only school propping that conference up. We have two significant OOC wins even if tOSU/LSU are down this year. The SEC seems to have more high/low variance than ever, and while the Big 12 are winning all their games they don't really look the most convincing doing it -- Baylor's the only team performing like a top 20 team.
I agree with your rankings, but I disagree that Cal is better than its record. They are exactly where they should be based on what they have showed on the field. In the Nevada game, they had a fourth quarter red zone opportunity to tie the game and botched it. At TCU, they had an opportunity to get a defensive stop on TCU's last drive and could not do it. And at Washington, and when it really mattered, they could not match Washington's overtime touchdown.
A well coached team would have found a way to win at least one of those tight games. BTW, I am surprised that no one has mentioned that Sonny Dykes took down TCU over the weekend.
SMU is undefeated, receiving votes in the Top 25 polls, and ranked 6th nationally in the performance-only Colley Matrix rankings. Dykes might have found the perfect spot for him and a great DC in Jim Leavitt.
It's possible that Dykes didn't know Leavitt until after the latter coached at Colorado and then Oregon—and we probably weren't in a position to outbid Oregon.
Cal is down there in the cellar at 122 and behind powerhouses like Georgia Southern and Ball State. The good news is that they are ahead of three Pac 12 teams. The bottom half of the conference is just dreck.
That's a lot of money for a litany of bad snaps, blown 2 point conversions, and one KR for a TD. Funding that one successful special teams play probably cost Cal $150k.
One other thing I calculated was Wilcox' pay for offensive series over a season. 8 or 9 possessions in each game. If 9 over 12 games, that is 108. Given that his pay is approximately $3 million he earns $27.7k per drive no matter what happens. Meanwhile the players have to schlep for NILs.
Sad to see Cal slipping in the rankings but such is our lot. I had OSU as a soft-circled win but now I don't give us much of a chance. If Wilcox goes 5-7 he probably is safe for now but on the hotseat next season. If we go 4-8 or worse then Knowlton may have to make a change sooner rather than later, and then the coaching carousel starts again...
Hope so. I really do.
Actually we are second in the conference in total offense after OSU, which is a welcome surprise after four games....
https://www.espn.com/college-football/stats/team/_/group/9
sadly we won't have the defense to stop them.
that's the rub.
I don't like anything about being in the basement.
“which usually makes our jobs earlier”. Easier?
Thanks for catching that!
Mine, before looking:
1. Oregon.
(gap)
2. UCLA. Impressive win on the road to bounce back from getting Fresnoed.
(gap)
3. ASU. Consistently wrecking bad teams is a sign of a good team.
4. Oregon State. Stuffed SC into a locker. Is the offense legit?
5. Utah. Started awfully slow against Wazzu.
6. Furd. UCLA pushed them around much worse than score suggests. They still have the sack of Troy.
7. Washington. Improving, but still got mostly outplayed at home by a struggling team.
8. SC. Shredded again at home by another so-so team. This defense sucks.
9. Cal. Better than its record, but has still lost to three very beatable teams.
10. Arizona. Showed some fight in Eugene, but need to quit throwing picks.
11. Wazzu. Again had a 2nd half lead before wheels came off. This offense is terrible.
12. Colorado. Hung with ASU for a while. They have 20 points in 3 games against FBS.
Why the gap between Oregon and fUcla? Despite the final score, Oregon struggled against a very bad Zona team. They were only up 5 late into the game. And tOSU is showing cracks and may be way overrated, which sorta taints that win in some regard. Top to bottom the PAC is bad this year.
Everyone is bad this year, just the Pac-12 had some of the worst week 1 losses. The ACC is probably even worse than us but no one's really paying attention because they're all just shocked Clemson is losing games and they were the only school propping that conference up. We have two significant OOC wins even if tOSU/LSU are down this year. The SEC seems to have more high/low variance than ever, and while the Big 12 are winning all their games they don't really look the most convincing doing it -- Baylor's the only team performing like a top 20 team.
Pretty close to ours, but a big difference being your willingness to take Arizona out of the bottom spot.
I agree with your rankings, but I disagree that Cal is better than its record. They are exactly where they should be based on what they have showed on the field. In the Nevada game, they had a fourth quarter red zone opportunity to tie the game and botched it. At TCU, they had an opportunity to get a defensive stop on TCU's last drive and could not do it. And at Washington, and when it really mattered, they could not match Washington's overtime touchdown.
A well coached team would have found a way to win at least one of those tight games. BTW, I am surprised that no one has mentioned that Sonny Dykes took down TCU over the weekend.
SMU is undefeated, receiving votes in the Top 25 polls, and ranked 6th nationally in the performance-only Colley Matrix rankings. Dykes might have found the perfect spot for him and a great DC in Jim Leavitt.
https://www.colleyrankings.com/foot2021/rankings/rank04.html
It's possible that Dykes didn't know Leavitt until after the latter coached at Colorado and then Oregon—and we probably weren't in a position to outbid Oregon.
Leavitt is a proven DC. Just suffered as a HC.
His issues weren't related to on- field performance...
Just like TdR
Cal is down there in the cellar at 122 and behind powerhouses like Georgia Southern and Ball State. The good news is that they are ahead of three Pac 12 teams. The bottom half of the conference is just dreck.
We desperately need a new coaching staff for special teams, holy shit.
That's a lot of money for a litany of bad snaps, blown 2 point conversions, and one KR for a TD. Funding that one successful special teams play probably cost Cal $150k.
One other thing I calculated was Wilcox' pay for offensive series over a season. 8 or 9 possessions in each game. If 9 over 12 games, that is 108. Given that his pay is approximately $3 million he earns $27.7k per drive no matter what happens. Meanwhile the players have to schlep for NILs.