This win gave me the confidence to purchase my away game ticket for WSU this weekend! Last time I saw a game in Pullman was the fiasco with Macilwain or however it's spelled, throwing a pick to end the game. Hoping for a better outcome this Saturday. I'm with those thinking the offensive improvements are real and not a fluke. Defense is now a worry. Game should at least be competitive. Go Bears!
Obviously it's a bit different without Leland's writeups, but are there any plans to resume the weekly Power Rankings? I guess the Roundtable segments fill a similar role, but as a compulsive ranker I miss the signature shot of homerism.
This was the best analysis of a game I've read on this board. Statistically, Washington State should allow the Cal offense to continue its performance, albeit one on the road. Defensively, Cal will need to let us know which defense is for real, the one that we saw in the 1st half, or the one we saw in the 2nd half of the Arizona game. Running the ball will be key to keeping the WSU offense off the field, and allowing our quarterback time in the pocket. Fingers crossed.
You take that starting field position for every drive, then add up how many yards an offense could gain if they scored a touchdown on every possession, then compare it with the actual yardage total
Agreed! I'm guessing there are people out there who sit around coming up with NEW ways to assess sports performances...... A) Bless them, and b) can I have that job?
I read somewhere AZ fans were blaming "bad tackling" for Ott's runs, not his supreme talent. On his two long runs it's hard to miss a tackle when you don't even get a mitt on him......
I really need more car knowledge to give better analogies. I think Cal this year might be a Tesla that seems like a pretty solid car but sometimes it shuts down and is a brick until it can be reset?
My quick take of a highlight viewing, is that while Ott ran much more decisively than against earlier teams, he was also not close to getting touched until well into positive yardage.
I also think that the WSU QB Ward is very similar to de Laura in that they are both good athletes that are mobile but are prone to interceptions as they tend to throw into coverage.
One thing not touched on in this (very good!) recap: Plummer was horrendous in the first quarter. This seems to be a trend for him: he misses a bunch of passes high early on, then settles down later on. Obviously, the ND game was an exception here, but I attribute that more to the line than to him.
Here's hoping that he can get into rhythm a little earlier as the season goes on.
Yeah, 5 passes for -2 yards. I almost wonder if Cal came out with a gameplan for if they couldn't pass block, because the few throws they tried were all really short, and then they realized . . . "hey, we can pass block against this defense, let's throw down the field!"
WSU will give us a good idea of where this offense is really at. WSUs defense shut us down last season and their defense, while it isn’t as good as NDs, it certainly isn’t as bad as Arizonas. I’m not expecting 49 points and 599 yards against WSU but if we can put up 28-35 points and about 400 yards of offense that would be very encouraging.
Interesting that Brooks + Moore got 15 carries for 63 yards and as the game went into the 3rd and 4th quarter, they more of the "the defense is now tired and we're going to pound the rock" sort of carries to finish out the game.
This is a good. We need to keep our other backs game ready and ensure they feel there is still a place for them in this team. Also, as much as we'd like to just run Ott on every play, I'd definitely be concerned about durability of a true frosh RB who has not had to sustain through a whole season.
Sorry to say it but we should probably give him no more than 15-20 carries a game depending on what kind of punishment he is taking. He is not a back who tries to run over people (e.g. Christpher Brooks) a recipe for injury but we still need to be careful.
As noted, there are good reasons to think that the offensive improvement is sustainable. We knew Cal had good talent at the skill positions coming in. The question was if the OL could give them a chance to make plays. In this game it happened, and can be attributed to a reshuffling of personnel. It also happened consistently, over multiple long drives, so it doesn't look like a fluke.
Arizona is probably not a good defense by Pac-12 standards, but if you can put up 49 on them then there is hope against the better teams too. Let's hope everyone can stay healthy.
You said the 5-1 part out loud! Theme’s Tedford era ambitions. Sweet to dream…
This win gave me the confidence to purchase my away game ticket for WSU this weekend! Last time I saw a game in Pullman was the fiasco with Macilwain or however it's spelled, throwing a pick to end the game. Hoping for a better outcome this Saturday. I'm with those thinking the offensive improvements are real and not a fluke. Defense is now a worry. Game should at least be competitive. Go Bears!
I had a much nicer experience for when I went up to Pullman for a game:
https://www.seattletimes.com/sports/wsu-cougars/cougars-no-match-sent-to-their-worst-loss-ever/
And now we have someone that looks a lot like Jahvid. Hmmm.....
And why are these posts not chronological? I just posted and it's in the middle here...
I miss the Z button
click on "new first" just below the comment box
Oh yeah, thanks.
Obviously it's a bit different without Leland's writeups, but are there any plans to resume the weekly Power Rankings? I guess the Roundtable segments fill a similar role, but as a compulsive ranker I miss the signature shot of homerism.
Ditto!!! I knew something was missing this season......
This was the best analysis of a game I've read on this board. Statistically, Washington State should allow the Cal offense to continue its performance, albeit one on the road. Defensively, Cal will need to let us know which defense is for real, the one that we saw in the 1st half, or the one we saw in the 2nd half of the Arizona game. Running the ball will be key to keeping the WSU offense off the field, and allowing our quarterback time in the pocket. Fingers crossed.
Big award(s) win for Ott this week
I don't know what this means: "the offense that gained 599 out of 747 possible yards (80%!!!) on Saturday"
Am I just being dense (don't answer that......)?
You take that starting field position for every drive, then add up how many yards an offense could gain if they scored a touchdown on every possession, then compare it with the actual yardage total
I've never thought of that method of looking at it, but it's a really interesting way to see how well the offense is clicking.
Agreed! I'm guessing there are people out there who sit around coming up with NEW ways to assess sports performances...... A) Bless them, and b) can I have that job?
Well. I completed my victory lap. That was a fun 24 hours going through the comments of AZ fans backtracking their comments and name-calling.
I was in the box and not with the guys, but I imagine Nick had a grand ol time yelling one of Larry's favorite phrases.
ALWAYS RUN.
I read somewhere AZ fans were blaming "bad tackling" for Ott's runs, not his supreme talent. On his two long runs it's hard to miss a tackle when you don't even get a mitt on him......
We were all yelling "RUN THE BALL"
Rob, I haven't checked on the AZ sites, but I sure hope you rubbed their noses in your prediction!
So...four games in, are we ready to leave behind the Tercel metaphor for the offense and claim that we may now have at least a V6 Camry?
I really need more car knowledge to give better analogies. I think Cal this year might be a Tesla that seems like a pretty solid car but sometimes it shuts down and is a brick until it can be reset?
Ott the Maserati that does 185
Life's been good to him so far.
MaserOTTi ?
Not bad, but he might not be Italian
My quick take of a highlight viewing, is that while Ott ran much more decisively than against earlier teams, he was also not close to getting touched until well into positive yardage.
My recommendation would be to watch the game. He had some very impressive 3 yard runs mixed in there
Yup, he's making people miss in the backfield too. Getting positive yards on plays that should be negative.
The most exciting thing for me is that Stanford's defense is probably worse than Arizona's. We've got a shot at #Drop50 in the Big Game
I also think that the WSU QB Ward is very similar to de Laura in that they are both good athletes that are mobile but are prone to interceptions as they tend to throw into coverage.
And they pulled Best after that run with 11:03 left in the third quarter. What would it have been if they kept going after the records?
Yep he was on pace to get 500 IIRC
One thing not touched on in this (very good!) recap: Plummer was horrendous in the first quarter. This seems to be a trend for him: he misses a bunch of passes high early on, then settles down later on. Obviously, the ND game was an exception here, but I attribute that more to the line than to him.
Here's hoping that he can get into rhythm a little earlier as the season goes on.
Yeah, 5 passes for -2 yards. I almost wonder if Cal came out with a gameplan for if they couldn't pass block, because the few throws they tried were all really short, and then they realized . . . "hey, we can pass block against this defense, let's throw down the field!"
Looking back at the play-by-play game log it does look like Plummer started very slow.
WSU will give us a good idea of where this offense is really at. WSUs defense shut us down last season and their defense, while it isn’t as good as NDs, it certainly isn’t as bad as Arizonas. I’m not expecting 49 points and 599 yards against WSU but if we can put up 28-35 points and about 400 yards of offense that would be very encouraging.
Interesting that Brooks + Moore got 15 carries for 63 yards and as the game went into the 3rd and 4th quarter, they more of the "the defense is now tired and we're going to pound the rock" sort of carries to finish out the game.
This is a good. We need to keep our other backs game ready and ensure they feel there is still a place for them in this team. Also, as much as we'd like to just run Ott on every play, I'd definitely be concerned about durability of a true frosh RB who has not had to sustain through a whole season.
Yeah especially if we are up big like we were this week, take Ott out
Sorry to say it but we should probably give him no more than 15-20 carries a game depending on what kind of punishment he is taking. He is not a back who tries to run over people (e.g. Christpher Brooks) a recipe for injury but we still need to be careful.
Hayes got 14 yards Stredick got 6. I read somewhere that Street has an injury
As noted, there are good reasons to think that the offensive improvement is sustainable. We knew Cal had good talent at the skill positions coming in. The question was if the OL could give them a chance to make plays. In this game it happened, and can be attributed to a reshuffling of personnel. It also happened consistently, over multiple long drives, so it doesn't look like a fluke.
Arizona is probably not a good defense by Pac-12 standards, but if you can put up 49 on them then there is hope against the better teams too. Let's hope everyone can stay healthy.