Bruh, it's always been and continues to be about the line. Fix the line and WR drops and we got a good offense. So many plays blown up bc of protection... this has been and continues to be the problem for offense.
Brohm may have thought that with all the injuries for Cal in the secondary, including its general, Cam Sydney in the second half, Louisville would be able to dissect Cal via the pass in the fourth. No dice. Along with starters Zeke and Paco, DB’s Wagoner, Sanford et al had other ideas. Credit to all the next men up, all over the field, who stepped in to spell injured Bears. Guys like Victor, Canady, Wilkins and Hampton - this was a full team win! Go Bears.
I remember assessments in the early season saying that while this team didn't have a lot of stars, it had a lot of quality depth in the two-deep. Did this game finally exemplify that quality of this year's Bears?
JKS has made it clear that he loves playing for Wilcox. He’s going to have multiple options to transfer at the end of the season with wealthy Power 4 syndicates waving huge amounts of money (were talking millions of dollars here) at him to get him to leave Cal, amounts that Cal may not be willing or able to match.
What does Ron do when JKS says he will stay but only if Wilcox is his coach?
JKS is obviously a franchise player with Heisman Trophy and #1 NFL draft pick written all over him. If he stays, Cal can recruit the best high school and portal transfers in the country because everyone will want to play with him. JKS represents a generational opportunity for Cal football the likes of which we have not seen since Pappy Waldorf (and à very brief moment under Tedford). I make no predictions on Wilcox’s future but if keeping Wilcox means JKS will stay at Cal, it gives RR a lot to think about.
Its not a hard decision at all IMHO. You don't prioritize players over the program. While it would be a dream to have JKS for all 3 years before he gets drafted, we shouldn't put the entire program at risk over him. If he can't understand what is happening in the larger scheme of college athletics right now and why we desperately need change, he's not thinking about anyone but himself. Which is fine. But two more years of JKS isn't worth potential relegation.
I disagree. The program simply can not withstand watching another QB Hero leave to win a heisman and national championship for someone else regardless of who we bring in as Head Coach. I think we can keep him even if we let go of Wilcox but I'd only even take the chance if its absolutely necessary (which it might be if they revert back to the mean these last 2 games) I understand the argument of the fan base giving up on Wilcox and excitement in the program dying because of him but trust me it will be three times worse if JKS leaves.
The dream is to keep JKS and find a replacement, but honestly this kid is so once in a lifetime that I think that he could lead us to the playoff as a Sophomore with a good transfer class even with Wilcox at the helm as insane as that sounds. Quarterbacks almost always improve massively from their freshmen to sophomore year. The other thing you have to keep in mind is it's not just him that has another year. Outside of Uluave, our CBs, and D Line, all of our key players will be back if we keep Wilcox, and we could spend the money we would've spent on the buyout on the transfer class. It really is a tough call but if we can go 8-5 I will officially be on the retain Wilcox train. No extension though under any circumstances though. =
The program simply can not withstand watching another QB Hero leave to win a heisman and national championship for someone else regardless of who we bring in as Head Coach.
It simply can. If our program gets back to relevance, then it should be prioritized over watching a QB with Heisiman potentials being wasted on a very bad to mediocre team for two more years and another ten years of bragging that the Pro Bowl QB is a Cal product.
Agreed. But if JKS leaves so will any other players worth keeping unless RR can attract a young coach that understands the high school and portal recruiting game. I think this is an unusual situation brought on by the ridiculous nature of portal-based college football which has allowed moneyed interests to totally distort the college game into what is simply a Power4 farm team for the NFL. And you’re right. If JKS stays there’s no guarantee he’ll stay for long before turning pro, making the decision to move to the NFL for life changing wealth against playing at Cal and the risk of getting hurt. If he stays and RR gives Wilcox an extension, can Wilcox build à top 10 team in short order? I’m glad I’m not in RR’s shoes as this is one decision I would not want to make, especially if Cal ends this season with winning 9 games.
God I hate to say that one player should cause us to keep a coach. But this is an excellent point. Notwithstanding my post a few moments ago urging for change, this argument gives me pause -- not just because of JKS, but because Wilcox has finally shown some ability to change his philosphy re the offense.
Excellent writeup. I do have a couple points though, which you can take or not since I'm a lurker who only surfaces about once a year:
a) I love all the writers here, but if there's one thing you suffer from, it's recency bias. See the writer predictions vs. the results this week.
b) I get the point about Wilcox's body of work, but it has very much seemed to me that according to the writers here, his future was based on this season, not written in stone before the season started. You're saying that even if we had won 10 games, you would have been calling for his head because of his body of work? It sure seemed and seems like people have been saying Wilcox ALWAYS ends up with 5 or 6 wins and is incapable of doing better than maybe if he's lucky 7. That's a different point which could be disproven this year.
Thanks again. I'm wearing my Best Stanfurd shirt today and am not sure how much I'll take it off in the coming two weeks. Though I live in Portland so people give me funny looks.
Was I a victim of recency bias? Perhaps, though whatever my bias is served me well when predicting the Virginia and Virginia Tech results, and I was only a bit more directionally wrong than those who set the Vegas lines. This performance was pretty shocking for everybody, and required a pretty significant offensive personnel shift to pull off. Glad to be very wrong though!
Re: Wilcox and his body of work - I don't want to suggest that there is/was nothing Wilcox could do to convince me that he deserves more time or has earned an extension. My framing of this season being critical is based on my interpretation of statements from Cal's decision makers, whereas in the article above I'm offering how I think Ron Rivera and other decision makers should approach the issue.
Being up front: I am VERY wary of an extension based off of one year of success. For a recent example of this kind of mistake, go to Wayne Tinkle's wikipedia page, scroll to his head coaching record at Oregon State, and ponder how the Beavers gave him a four year contract extension after the 2020-21 season.
What I would want to see in this season is something that would fundamentally reevaluate Wilcox's prior years as a coach. Maybe that means that this year shows tangible reevaluation of how he builds and manages a roster. Maybe it would mean that there is strong evidence that poor support/resources was the primary factor in holding Wilcox back. For me, I haven't seen anything so far this season that causes me to radically reconsider my evaluation. Reasonable minds could differ on that point!
The only post game thought the team and coaches should have is BEAT FURD. The rest will be what it will be...hey, see that? I'm a stoic too! Go Bears Forever!
There's something about this part of November that Old Blues feel viscerally--it's time for Big Game. Even in the best of the seasons that Cal has enjoyed, the ones I remember most are the ones in which Cal has either regained or retained the Axe.
For whatever it is worth, it's remarkable that given Big Game success, Wilcox is currently in a 3-way tie for 3rd place among Cal coaches in terms of Big Game wins. If we continue to make Palo Alto Bear Territory, Wilcox has a chance to win his 6th Big Game.
Tedford and Pappy beat Furd 7 times, while Wilcox, with his 5 wins currently, is tied with Stub Allison and Andy Smith. Not gonna lie, I'm greatful for this run, 2020 notwithstanding.
Of course, it does not excuse everything else that's so maddening about Wilcox's coaching tenure, but as milestone unicorns go, it's a damn fine one to have. At least with Big Game, he understood the assignment.
The UofL fan behind me hates Moss. And the drunk lady near us said we should take him back to CA with us, to which my son said nope, you can keep him. I kept telling the guy behind us that we are not good against the run. Brian Brohm needs to keep running the ball. Guess Brohm doesn't listen to me.
Also not sure why they didn't blitz in OT. We don't seem to have a good plan against he blitz.
Funny experience and great comment by your son. I went on the UofL football blog and read some of the post game comments and this “Brohm Theme” seems to be prevalent throughout their fan base.
A couple of years ago I would've loved to have had both Jeff and Brian Brohm. But they're from Louisville and are home so unless they get fired, they're not leaving. They were missing RB1, but their RB2 and RB3 were running through us, so why stop running? Especially with Miller Moss as your QB. Except that Moss tied for the 3rd most completions on the team so maybe they were trying to move him up on number of receptions??
One of the most frustrating things about Wilcox's regime is that it seems our talent evaluation when it comes to scouting is near elite. Our talent evaluation off the practice field seems to be non-existent. We find all the diamonds in the rough, and then bench them or put them in the wrong position until the season is effectively over.
I love how we used DeJesus last weekend. Constantly put him in match-ups where they just weren't fast enough to cover him, and if they switched coverage correctly...our tight end was usually open. It's a difficult strategy to beat with a QB that doesn't miss (think Brady / Welker / [insert TE]).
Best case scenario is we close out strong 9-4, go through a bittersweet parting of ways with Wilcox, and use the momentum to get the school to pay for a new coaching staff at a competitive salary that can act as a donation magnet and revamp our recruiting so we don't have to keep relying on unscouted players and 2* QBs to magically be way better than anyone expected for any level of success.
Nick, great article and perspective. Wilcox is a great guy and if he had been properly supported from the outset, maybe his overall record would be better. And at the same time, he was extremely slow to adapt how the offense was coached and then managed during games. How many times have we punted over the last nine years in plus or close to plus territory when we only needed a yard or three? Why didn't Wilcox understand that the only way his teams, as constructed, could meet or exceed expectations was to get creative, take risks, and be willing to plant the dagger? He deserves enormous respect for changing THIS year, but it's at least 6 years too late. The result? If you're 17 and good at the fooseball, wouldn't you have pause coming to a school that gets happy off a 7-5 record based mostly on cupcake games only to go to one of the most meaningless bowl games available, IN A GOOD YEAR? Wilcox deserved better, but his teams were owed better by him too. I have a soft spot for this Cal team -- a group of dedicated guys who don't quit and make smarter decisions than Wilcox teams past. But VaTech and Virginia are deeply flawed teams that begged us to beat them. If we were 8-2 right now, and we should be at least that (SD STATE?), this would be a different conversation.
"On the other hand, it is certainly frustrating that Cal’s coaches were unable to (apparently) identify the best offensive line grouping until the tenth game of the season. Would improved offensive line play have made the difference between victory and defeat against Virginia Tech or Virginia? It’s a question with no clear answer." - I agree with you and in the opening drive when I saw 55 was NOT on the field, that gave me a lot of hope.
One point you didn't mention was that so many of the (including the winning play) pass plays to JDJ were single read plays!
And this is just gorgeous --> "A clever man wouldn’t call his best play, because he would know that only a great fool wouldn’t prepare to stop his opponent’s best play. I’m not a great fool, so I can clearly not call my best play. But you must have known I was not a great fool; you would have counted on it, so I can clearly not call my best play!"
Easier said than done when you are at a new school with all new players that have barely played together. Lots of complicated motion in his schemes...much harder to learn quickly than simple read option stuff.
Isn't that what summer workouts are for - bonding and new play development? So, he needed 10 weeks plus a BYE week to come up with these "fun" plays. Hmmm. I see.
Maybe he should have sent us a weekly email imploring us to be patient with him as OC and that his "cleverness" will be revealed on November 8.
If he's been listening to all of the hand-wringing in the fan base over JW, I'll bet Ron rues the day he ever said an expectation of 8 or 9 wins, or whatever he said. I'm certain Ron has plenty of additional criteria in order to make his evaluation of the HC situation.
Another thing Ron said, is that Cal needs to have a transformation like Indiana, for example. Well, Indiana has been destroying opponents this season for the most part. Qualitatively, I'm sure Ron is more interested in having a HC that gets his team to destroy opponents. Records are certainly useful, but only to a point, especially in the squishy context-needed middle.
I agree and have complete trust in Ron to do the right and perhaps totally unexpected thing, like all things Cal football as exemplified by The Play.
That said, I still think there’s a big decision to be made about keeping JKS. The main reason Indiana is doing so well is they have Cal’s former QB leading the team. The QB on any team is critical to success. Period! Yes, of course, a team needs big and agile linemen and big and fast backs plus WR’s who can catch to support him, but without a great QB as the team nucleus, the team simply isn’t going to make it in this Power4 world we find ourselves in and definitely won’t be in contention for the National Championship.
I have not been a big fan of JW or many of the coaches who preceded him — I even played briefly for Ray Willsey when Craig Morton was QB. But Cal is once again in a situation of having a truly great QB leading the team. Think about building on that — recruiting a big OL to protect him, getting some really fast WR’s and several Chuck Muncie type running backs that make getting a 1st down on 4th and 1 a foregone conclusion. With JKS as QB and a Heisman/ NFL #1 draft pick, Wilcox and this coaching staff should be able to recruit whatever players they need from the portal and out of high school. The key to Cal’s near term football success is keeping JKS. Without him, we’ve got several years of rebuilding and more mediocre football. At this point if keeping JKS means giving Wilcox an extension, then I’m fine with that. The coaching staff now knows full well what players they need to recruit to support JKS on both sides of the ball and at this point that stability and keeping JKS has a greater probability of success than losing JKS and trying to recruit a new HC who, once again, will have to build a team from portal and high school recruits to play for a program with a mediocre record and that just let go a generational player who could very likely lead some other team to a national championship. It’s a big bet, but at least Cal is in a position to take it. Not since the days of Pappy Waldorf has Cal been in a position to put together a team of that caliber. It’s a once in a lifetime opportunity for Cal football and as one who sat in the stands in 1959 to watch Cal lose to Iowa in Cal’s only Rose Bowl appearance in my lifetime, I’d like just this once to see Cal reach the same heights in football as it does in academics! Go Bears and beat the crap out if Stanford!
I respect Justin Wilcox as a man and a coach. But I look at the number of teams Cal has played that have changed coaches and improved during the Wilcox era, while Cal continues to be mediocre. Cal played TCU, Illinois, Texas Tech and UNLV in bowl games coached by Wilcox. Since we played them TCU made the National Championship game, Texas Tech is currently ranked in the top 10, Illinois has been ranked in the top 25 multiple times, and UNLV is 7-2 this year. A few years ago, Cal was Arizona's only victory. They went on to a top 25 ranking a few years later and are currently 6-3.
OCs Brian Brohm and Bryan Harsin both had the chance to play "run the same play until proven they can stop us". Harsin won.
Bruh, it's always been and continues to be about the line. Fix the line and WR drops and we got a good offense. So many plays blown up bc of protection... this has been and continues to be the problem for offense.
Brohm may have thought that with all the injuries for Cal in the secondary, including its general, Cam Sydney in the second half, Louisville would be able to dissect Cal via the pass in the fourth. No dice. Along with starters Zeke and Paco, DB’s Wagoner, Sanford et al had other ideas. Credit to all the next men up, all over the field, who stepped in to spell injured Bears. Guys like Victor, Canady, Wilkins and Hampton - this was a full team win! Go Bears.
Credit also to the coaching staff who had these guys ready to play at a high level.
I remember assessments in the early season saying that while this team didn't have a lot of stars, it had a lot of quality depth in the two-deep. Did this game finally exemplify that quality of this year's Bears?
On paper, the matchup did not look great…but as the old axiom says “that’s why you play the game.”
Great write up as usual.
JKS has made it clear that he loves playing for Wilcox. He’s going to have multiple options to transfer at the end of the season with wealthy Power 4 syndicates waving huge amounts of money (were talking millions of dollars here) at him to get him to leave Cal, amounts that Cal may not be willing or able to match.
What does Ron do when JKS says he will stay but only if Wilcox is his coach?
JKS is obviously a franchise player with Heisman Trophy and #1 NFL draft pick written all over him. If he stays, Cal can recruit the best high school and portal transfers in the country because everyone will want to play with him. JKS represents a generational opportunity for Cal football the likes of which we have not seen since Pappy Waldorf (and à very brief moment under Tedford). I make no predictions on Wilcox’s future but if keeping Wilcox means JKS will stay at Cal, it gives RR a lot to think about.
Its not a hard decision at all IMHO. You don't prioritize players over the program. While it would be a dream to have JKS for all 3 years before he gets drafted, we shouldn't put the entire program at risk over him. If he can't understand what is happening in the larger scheme of college athletics right now and why we desperately need change, he's not thinking about anyone but himself. Which is fine. But two more years of JKS isn't worth potential relegation.
I disagree. The program simply can not withstand watching another QB Hero leave to win a heisman and national championship for someone else regardless of who we bring in as Head Coach. I think we can keep him even if we let go of Wilcox but I'd only even take the chance if its absolutely necessary (which it might be if they revert back to the mean these last 2 games) I understand the argument of the fan base giving up on Wilcox and excitement in the program dying because of him but trust me it will be three times worse if JKS leaves.
The dream is to keep JKS and find a replacement, but honestly this kid is so once in a lifetime that I think that he could lead us to the playoff as a Sophomore with a good transfer class even with Wilcox at the helm as insane as that sounds. Quarterbacks almost always improve massively from their freshmen to sophomore year. The other thing you have to keep in mind is it's not just him that has another year. Outside of Uluave, our CBs, and D Line, all of our key players will be back if we keep Wilcox, and we could spend the money we would've spent on the buyout on the transfer class. It really is a tough call but if we can go 8-5 I will officially be on the retain Wilcox train. No extension though under any circumstances though. =
The program simply can not withstand watching another QB Hero leave to win a heisman and national championship for someone else regardless of who we bring in as Head Coach.
It simply can. If our program gets back to relevance, then it should be prioritized over watching a QB with Heisiman potentials being wasted on a very bad to mediocre team for two more years and another ten years of bragging that the Pro Bowl QB is a Cal product.
Agreed. But if JKS leaves so will any other players worth keeping unless RR can attract a young coach that understands the high school and portal recruiting game. I think this is an unusual situation brought on by the ridiculous nature of portal-based college football which has allowed moneyed interests to totally distort the college game into what is simply a Power4 farm team for the NFL. And you’re right. If JKS stays there’s no guarantee he’ll stay for long before turning pro, making the decision to move to the NFL for life changing wealth against playing at Cal and the risk of getting hurt. If he stays and RR gives Wilcox an extension, can Wilcox build à top 10 team in short order? I’m glad I’m not in RR’s shoes as this is one decision I would not want to make, especially if Cal ends this season with winning 9 games.
Not many other players to be stressed about, other than JKS. Everyone else is replaceable.
God I hate to say that one player should cause us to keep a coach. But this is an excellent point. Notwithstanding my post a few moments ago urging for change, this argument gives me pause -- not just because of JKS, but because Wilcox has finally shown some ability to change his philosphy re the offense.
But he's been given so many chances and betrayed us every single time....
Excellent writeup. I do have a couple points though, which you can take or not since I'm a lurker who only surfaces about once a year:
a) I love all the writers here, but if there's one thing you suffer from, it's recency bias. See the writer predictions vs. the results this week.
b) I get the point about Wilcox's body of work, but it has very much seemed to me that according to the writers here, his future was based on this season, not written in stone before the season started. You're saying that even if we had won 10 games, you would have been calling for his head because of his body of work? It sure seemed and seems like people have been saying Wilcox ALWAYS ends up with 5 or 6 wins and is incapable of doing better than maybe if he's lucky 7. That's a different point which could be disproven this year.
Thanks again. I'm wearing my Best Stanfurd shirt today and am not sure how much I'll take it off in the coming two weeks. Though I live in Portland so people give me funny looks.
Was I a victim of recency bias? Perhaps, though whatever my bias is served me well when predicting the Virginia and Virginia Tech results, and I was only a bit more directionally wrong than those who set the Vegas lines. This performance was pretty shocking for everybody, and required a pretty significant offensive personnel shift to pull off. Glad to be very wrong though!
Re: Wilcox and his body of work - I don't want to suggest that there is/was nothing Wilcox could do to convince me that he deserves more time or has earned an extension. My framing of this season being critical is based on my interpretation of statements from Cal's decision makers, whereas in the article above I'm offering how I think Ron Rivera and other decision makers should approach the issue.
Being up front: I am VERY wary of an extension based off of one year of success. For a recent example of this kind of mistake, go to Wayne Tinkle's wikipedia page, scroll to his head coaching record at Oregon State, and ponder how the Beavers gave him a four year contract extension after the 2020-21 season.
What I would want to see in this season is something that would fundamentally reevaluate Wilcox's prior years as a coach. Maybe that means that this year shows tangible reevaluation of how he builds and manages a roster. Maybe it would mean that there is strong evidence that poor support/resources was the primary factor in holding Wilcox back. For me, I haven't seen anything so far this season that causes me to radically reconsider my evaluation. Reasonable minds could differ on that point!
The only post game thought the team and coaches should have is BEAT FURD. The rest will be what it will be...hey, see that? I'm a stoic too! Go Bears Forever!
There's something about this part of November that Old Blues feel viscerally--it's time for Big Game. Even in the best of the seasons that Cal has enjoyed, the ones I remember most are the ones in which Cal has either regained or retained the Axe.
For whatever it is worth, it's remarkable that given Big Game success, Wilcox is currently in a 3-way tie for 3rd place among Cal coaches in terms of Big Game wins. If we continue to make Palo Alto Bear Territory, Wilcox has a chance to win his 6th Big Game.
Tedford and Pappy beat Furd 7 times, while Wilcox, with his 5 wins currently, is tied with Stub Allison and Andy Smith. Not gonna lie, I'm greatful for this run, 2020 notwithstanding.
Of course, it does not excuse everything else that's so maddening about Wilcox's coaching tenure, but as milestone unicorns go, it's a damn fine one to have. At least with Big Game, he understood the assignment.
Nick, you always write great stuff, but when you get to analyze a win like this, it’s magnificent!
The UofL fan behind me hates Moss. And the drunk lady near us said we should take him back to CA with us, to which my son said nope, you can keep him. I kept telling the guy behind us that we are not good against the run. Brian Brohm needs to keep running the ball. Guess Brohm doesn't listen to me.
Also not sure why they didn't blitz in OT. We don't seem to have a good plan against he blitz.
Funny experience and great comment by your son. I went on the UofL football blog and read some of the post game comments and this “Brohm Theme” seems to be prevalent throughout their fan base.
A couple of years ago I would've loved to have had both Jeff and Brian Brohm. But they're from Louisville and are home so unless they get fired, they're not leaving. They were missing RB1, but their RB2 and RB3 were running through us, so why stop running? Especially with Miller Moss as your QB. Except that Moss tied for the 3rd most completions on the team so maybe they were trying to move him up on number of receptions??
One of the most frustrating things about Wilcox's regime is that it seems our talent evaluation when it comes to scouting is near elite. Our talent evaluation off the practice field seems to be non-existent. We find all the diamonds in the rough, and then bench them or put them in the wrong position until the season is effectively over.
I love how we used DeJesus last weekend. Constantly put him in match-ups where they just weren't fast enough to cover him, and if they switched coverage correctly...our tight end was usually open. It's a difficult strategy to beat with a QB that doesn't miss (think Brady / Welker / [insert TE]).
Best case scenario is we close out strong 9-4, go through a bittersweet parting of ways with Wilcox, and use the momentum to get the school to pay for a new coaching staff at a competitive salary that can act as a donation magnet and revamp our recruiting so we don't have to keep relying on unscouted players and 2* QBs to magically be way better than anyone expected for any level of success.
I do actually think that 9-4 warrants an extension and 6-7 does not.
Nick, great article and perspective. Wilcox is a great guy and if he had been properly supported from the outset, maybe his overall record would be better. And at the same time, he was extremely slow to adapt how the offense was coached and then managed during games. How many times have we punted over the last nine years in plus or close to plus territory when we only needed a yard or three? Why didn't Wilcox understand that the only way his teams, as constructed, could meet or exceed expectations was to get creative, take risks, and be willing to plant the dagger? He deserves enormous respect for changing THIS year, but it's at least 6 years too late. The result? If you're 17 and good at the fooseball, wouldn't you have pause coming to a school that gets happy off a 7-5 record based mostly on cupcake games only to go to one of the most meaningless bowl games available, IN A GOOD YEAR? Wilcox deserved better, but his teams were owed better by him too. I have a soft spot for this Cal team -- a group of dedicated guys who don't quit and make smarter decisions than Wilcox teams past. But VaTech and Virginia are deeply flawed teams that begged us to beat them. If we were 8-2 right now, and we should be at least that (SD STATE?), this would be a different conversation.
It's great the JKS had his own personal (de)Jesus for this game.
What a write-up!
"On the other hand, it is certainly frustrating that Cal’s coaches were unable to (apparently) identify the best offensive line grouping until the tenth game of the season. Would improved offensive line play have made the difference between victory and defeat against Virginia Tech or Virginia? It’s a question with no clear answer." - I agree with you and in the opening drive when I saw 55 was NOT on the field, that gave me a lot of hope.
One point you didn't mention was that so many of the (including the winning play) pass plays to JDJ were single read plays!
And this is just gorgeous --> "A clever man wouldn’t call his best play, because he would know that only a great fool wouldn’t prepare to stop his opponent’s best play. I’m not a great fool, so I can clearly not call my best play. But you must have known I was not a great fool; you would have counted on it, so I can clearly not call my best play!"
indeed...gorgeous. But another example of why I say WFC has some of the smartest writing around. Thanks to all you WFC folks!
Pretty pleased with harsin he ran some fun and effective stuff
But where was that "fun and effective stuff" earlier in the season? And why wait until the 10th game of the season to revamp the O-Line?
I'm guessing you're not going to trust the team with a flea flicker when they're reliably dropping screens and slants that hit them in the chest.
Easier said than done when you are at a new school with all new players that have barely played together. Lots of complicated motion in his schemes...much harder to learn quickly than simple read option stuff.
Isn't that what summer workouts are for - bonding and new play development? So, he needed 10 weeks plus a BYE week to come up with these "fun" plays. Hmmm. I see.
Maybe he should have sent us a weekly email imploring us to be patient with him as OC and that his "cleverness" will be revealed on November 8.
Fair criticism....so, what's the reason then?
He did look a lot more enganged this week. Did he see his own impeding doom and finally wake up?
They could have at least put Swinney at center earlier when Ruffins was struggling with snaps.
If he's been listening to all of the hand-wringing in the fan base over JW, I'll bet Ron rues the day he ever said an expectation of 8 or 9 wins, or whatever he said. I'm certain Ron has plenty of additional criteria in order to make his evaluation of the HC situation.
Another thing Ron said, is that Cal needs to have a transformation like Indiana, for example. Well, Indiana has been destroying opponents this season for the most part. Qualitatively, I'm sure Ron is more interested in having a HC that gets his team to destroy opponents. Records are certainly useful, but only to a point, especially in the squishy context-needed middle.
In Ron, I trust.
I agree and have complete trust in Ron to do the right and perhaps totally unexpected thing, like all things Cal football as exemplified by The Play.
That said, I still think there’s a big decision to be made about keeping JKS. The main reason Indiana is doing so well is they have Cal’s former QB leading the team. The QB on any team is critical to success. Period! Yes, of course, a team needs big and agile linemen and big and fast backs plus WR’s who can catch to support him, but without a great QB as the team nucleus, the team simply isn’t going to make it in this Power4 world we find ourselves in and definitely won’t be in contention for the National Championship.
I have not been a big fan of JW or many of the coaches who preceded him — I even played briefly for Ray Willsey when Craig Morton was QB. But Cal is once again in a situation of having a truly great QB leading the team. Think about building on that — recruiting a big OL to protect him, getting some really fast WR’s and several Chuck Muncie type running backs that make getting a 1st down on 4th and 1 a foregone conclusion. With JKS as QB and a Heisman/ NFL #1 draft pick, Wilcox and this coaching staff should be able to recruit whatever players they need from the portal and out of high school. The key to Cal’s near term football success is keeping JKS. Without him, we’ve got several years of rebuilding and more mediocre football. At this point if keeping JKS means giving Wilcox an extension, then I’m fine with that. The coaching staff now knows full well what players they need to recruit to support JKS on both sides of the ball and at this point that stability and keeping JKS has a greater probability of success than losing JKS and trying to recruit a new HC who, once again, will have to build a team from portal and high school recruits to play for a program with a mediocre record and that just let go a generational player who could very likely lead some other team to a national championship. It’s a big bet, but at least Cal is in a position to take it. Not since the days of Pappy Waldorf has Cal been in a position to put together a team of that caliber. It’s a once in a lifetime opportunity for Cal football and as one who sat in the stands in 1959 to watch Cal lose to Iowa in Cal’s only Rose Bowl appearance in my lifetime, I’d like just this once to see Cal reach the same heights in football as it does in academics! Go Bears and beat the crap out if Stanford!
You and I might be in just a handful of people still around that saw Cal in it's last Rose Biwl appearance in 1959.
If there were a trophy for enduring the longest stretch of disappointment with Cal football, we’d definitely be in the running for it!
I respect Justin Wilcox as a man and a coach. But I look at the number of teams Cal has played that have changed coaches and improved during the Wilcox era, while Cal continues to be mediocre. Cal played TCU, Illinois, Texas Tech and UNLV in bowl games coached by Wilcox. Since we played them TCU made the National Championship game, Texas Tech is currently ranked in the top 10, Illinois has been ranked in the top 25 multiple times, and UNLV is 7-2 this year. A few years ago, Cal was Arizona's only victory. They went on to a top 25 ranking a few years later and are currently 6-3.