This one is right down there with the awful, "Cal loses everything at Colorado, Changes have to be made. The Bears can't keep doing this." game in October 2022. Even so, I really like our QB.
If Cal ever wants to have a competitive team in this NIL environment, it’s going to have to do what SMU did. Raise a ridiculous amount of money in a syndicate of boosters who are committed to building a great football program and then go out and compete for the best players and the best coach that money can buy. If Cal wants to play with the Big Boys and ever get ranked again, it’s all about the money now in this new NIL era which, just by the way, is ruining college sports. Otherwise, let’s rejoin the new Pac12 and be done with it all!
Coaching would have to be at the top of the list together with a poor game plan on both sides of the ball. That said, I don’t know what can be done about the running game given the current personnel. If there are other backs that haven’t been given any game time, maybe now is the time to give them a shot. With the potential passing game Cal has, a complementary running game is a must! Where is Chuck Muncie when we need him?
The analysis rather speaks for itself. I fully agree that if something doesn’t change, Cal is doomed to field mediocre, “representative” teams that will only fill Memorial Stadium for the Big Game. Kids like our star freshman QB either won’t come in the first place or will portal out the first chance they
get. Mendoza and Ott along with the rest of the portalistas left because they did not have faith in the program to produce a nationally ranked team that would give them the kind of exposure needed to make it to the NFL draft. D1 college football has become nothing more than a big farm team for the NFL. And so, again, it’s all about the NIL money and a coaching staff that can recruit, hold on to, and build talented players into a solid winning program. Cal is nowhere near that level today.
Berkelium, love this analysis. Is there any PFF way to measure/assess our running backs versus the Dykes days of Muhammad, Enwere, Watson? To my eye, these three are less fast, bruising, balanced than those three.
Looking over the PFF stats for running backs, there are a few that could provide some insight: yards after contact, missed tackles forced, and breakaway runs. Here are those stats for the 2025 and 2024 teams, and for a few other useful points of comparison. The tl;dr is that the 2025 running backs are about as elusive as previous backs, but they're less bruising and much less likely to break off long runs.
I think we were 100x worse than these statistics.
I'm surprised this one didn't just crash the program. The computer program. And maybe the football program.
This one is right down there with the awful, "Cal loses everything at Colorado, Changes have to be made. The Bears can't keep doing this." game in October 2022. Even so, I really like our QB.
If Cal ever wants to have a competitive team in this NIL environment, it’s going to have to do what SMU did. Raise a ridiculous amount of money in a syndicate of boosters who are committed to building a great football program and then go out and compete for the best players and the best coach that money can buy. If Cal wants to play with the Big Boys and ever get ranked again, it’s all about the money now in this new NIL era which, just by the way, is ruining college sports. Otherwise, let’s rejoin the new Pac12 and be done with it all!
Coaching would have to be at the top of the list together with a poor game plan on both sides of the ball. That said, I don’t know what can be done about the running game given the current personnel. If there are other backs that haven’t been given any game time, maybe now is the time to give them a shot. With the potential passing game Cal has, a complementary running game is a must! Where is Chuck Muncie when we need him?
Are you implying that SDSU had a significant advantage in terms of talent? At this rate we will be bottom feeders in even the new pac12
The analysis rather speaks for itself. I fully agree that if something doesn’t change, Cal is doomed to field mediocre, “representative” teams that will only fill Memorial Stadium for the Big Game. Kids like our star freshman QB either won’t come in the first place or will portal out the first chance they
get. Mendoza and Ott along with the rest of the portalistas left because they did not have faith in the program to produce a nationally ranked team that would give them the kind of exposure needed to make it to the NFL draft. D1 college football has become nothing more than a big farm team for the NFL. And so, again, it’s all about the NIL money and a coaching staff that can recruit, hold on to, and build talented players into a solid winning program. Cal is nowhere near that level today.
We all understand the bigger picture and the problems Cal faces in this new NIL environment. None of it explains losing 34-0 to San Diego State.
It's not about NIL, that's the point. Mendoza and Ott left for lower pay in order to compete at ranked contenders
Is this right about pay? Source?
Berkelium, love this analysis. Is there any PFF way to measure/assess our running backs versus the Dykes days of Muhammad, Enwere, Watson? To my eye, these three are less fast, bruising, balanced than those three.
Looking over the PFF stats for running backs, there are a few that could provide some insight: yards after contact, missed tackles forced, and breakaway runs. Here are those stats for the 2025 and 2024 teams, and for a few other useful points of comparison. The tl;dr is that the 2025 running backs are about as elusive as previous backs, but they're less bruising and much less likely to break off long runs.
2025 (YAC, missed tackles, % breakaway runs)
Johnson: 2.57, 5/23 (21.7%), 0%
Raphael: 2.88, 12/49 (24.5%), 14.9%
2024
Thomas: 3.11, 17/100 (17%), 51.4%
Ott: 1.94, 12/116 (10.3%), 49.9%
2023
Ott: 3.39, 55/277 (19.8%), 38.4%
2019
Brooks: 3.35, 57/206 (27.7%), 30.7%
2017
Laird: 3.28, 39/191 (20.4%), 40.6%
2015
Enwere: 3.36, 33/106 (31.1%), 40.2%
Watson: 2.80, 24/89 (30.0%), 37.0%
Muhammad: 3.60, 20/87 (23.0%), 51.2%
Fantastic and thank you! How could I leave at Brooks and Laird! And man, those % breakaway runs so far are NOT promising...
One word to describe my Cal-mood: Despondent... And October is coming...