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......
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.
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!
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.
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.
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.
Cal's 2022 recruiting class paying big dividends so far. I am wondering how many other programs in the Pac 12 are relying as heavily on true freshmen as Cal's is. I am guessing that Vatikani will be a starter the rest of the year if he stays healthy, and Earby is already a mainstay among the D backs. Enough said about how valuable Ott is to the team.
For the Cal historians, can anyone remember a season where true freshmen contributed so heavily? It will be interesting to see if programs are more willing to throw true freshmen into the fray out of fear of losing them to the transfer portal.
Last year had Oladejo, Rutchena, Latu, and Hearns as significant contributing true freshman, FWIW. I think a typical year will see 3 or 4 guys burn their redshirts
Off the top, Demetris Robertson was a good contributor in 2016, as was Treggs in 2012. Of course Goff in 2013 and Boller in 1999, though those teams were terrible. Of course Keenan Allen in 2010 as others have noted was maybe the best on a non-crap team.
Forget the transfer portal, if the freshman can play, let them play... The era of saving players for later when they are producing now should be over, in my opinion.
Is the transfer portal permanent? I thot it was a covid-era concept, but no one is talking about it going away. Makes me very nervous; you could make your name at one school (like, say, Cal....) and then go somewhere else in search of a conference championship or natty..... I liked the disincentive of sitting out a year because then good players are more likely to stay.
Just researched Wesley Walker because he came before my time as a Cal fan. Dude averaged more than 20 yards a catch all four years he was at Cal. Keenan Allen did not do that. Sean Dawkins did not do that. DeSean Jackson did not do that. If I could go back and time and watch him.......And he was on the same team as Chuck Muncie? How did that team not get to a Rose Bowl? Must have been an average defense.
The defense was good, though perhaps not great. Special teams players were also good and played with pride. We beat USC that year on national TV. But lost to UCLA. So we were guaranteed at least a tie for the conference championship, and if USC were to beat UCLA in the last game, we would have gone to the Rose Bowl! But USC lost. And back then, only one team in the conference could go to a bowl game. So it was another Cal-type finish! Still, we were conference champs. Steve Bartkowski, Ted Albrecht, and Steve Rivera were also on that team.
Steve Bartkowski was agent Leigh Steinberg's first client. Steinberg's story became the movie Jerry McGuire.
That was actually the first year that a second team from the conference could go to a bowl game, but U$C was picked ahead of us and UW which also finished ahead of them.
I believe you are the first person on this blog I've noted that remembers this. The UCLA-USC game was played on a Friday night, nearly a week after the Big Game, and I think during that week, at the end of which either Cal or UCLA would emerge with the Pac 8 title, the Liberty Bowl went ahead and invited the fifth place Trojans (Stanford finished ahead of the Trojans as well) to play in their game. Once UCLA beat USC, that very good Cal team had nowhere to go. I could be wrong about the timing, and it could have been that the Liberty Bowl just felt USC was a better draw than other Pac 8 also-rans, but I seem to recall that their invitation was delivered to USC before the conference title was settled. In any case, USC shut out (20-0) the Texas A&M team that had climbed I think to #2 in the nation before they blew the Southwestern title in their final conference game vs. Arkansas. Sports Illustrated had their running back, Bubba Bean, on the cover of the issue in which they lamented Cal's bad luck in a sub-section of the article covering the Aggies big win vs. Texas.
LOL....I just looked up that 1975 UCLA/USC game that sent the Bruins to the Rose Bowl instead of Cal. UCLA fumbled ELEVEN times in that game, losing eight, and still won. Let that sink in.....11 fumbles and you win. Cal is cursed for sure. I was standing on the sidelines (Arizona's side unfortunately) when DeSean Jackson turned the corner right next to me, beat all defenders and scored the go-ahead score late in a 2006 game at Tuscon that would have sent Cal to the Rose Bowl. A replay showed that Jackson's pinkie toe barely scraped the out of bounds line on I think the 40-yard line. The play was called back to the 40, Cal stalled, and no Rose Bowl that year, either.
I was at CAL, and my Skyline High School teammate Charles Hill was at UW and Theotis Brown was at UCLA. Our QB, Drew Field was at ASU but they were not yet in the PAC. The big question between us was who was going to come home with a Rose Bowl ring. I remember watching replays the USC v UCLA game with a bunch of my CAL teammates. USC had the chance to tie the game at least a couple of times which would have ensure us (CAL) a trip to the Rose Bowl. The HC of USC, John McKay, went for the TD each time and failed. UCLA ended up with the same record as us but because they beat us they got the Rose Bowl. Now for anyone who remembers, Wendell Tyler was UCLA's starting running back in those days. He got injured in the 1st quarter and Theotis came in for 3 quarters, as a true freshman, and rushed for 224 yards. It was a Rose Bowl record at the time. Small world stuff. You know who came home with the ring.
Very respectfully Rugbear, I've read past posts by you about your former Titan teammate's performance in this game, but I don't believe he participated in it. He was a great running back for the Bruins the following three seasons ('76-78), but I can't find any records for him from 1975. I can believe he got a ring and all that other stuff from being part of the football program in '75, but again, I can't find any record of him playing in a game until the following season, when he, not Tyler, led UCLA in rushing (they both went for over 1,000 yards that year). As for Wendall Tyler in that Rose Bowl, I recall him scoring the late fourth quarter run (54 yards) that iced the game. This pdf file says he gained 172 yards on 21 carries. https://ohiostatebuckeyes.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/07/1975-12-UCLA.pdf
I remember Spring ball in 1976, Wesley's last Spring. The first day of Spring drills, which did not count as a practice, was 'physical fitness testing'. Ughhh. It also was the day when pro scouts showed up with stop watches to time guys like Wesley in the 40. And they tested shuttles, vertical jump and bench for reps at 225#. No combines in those days. Remember, the stadium was grass back then. When Wes's turn came up it was like he was shot out of a cannon. He ran a 4.4 on grass. Unheard of in those days. I heard assistant coach Skip Stress say under his breath that Wesley was about to be a millionaire. I looked at Coach Stress and asked him why he said that. He responded dryly, "if you can run a 4.4 forty and catch a football, you'll be a millionaire too." Welcome to the big time kid!
Yep the transfer portal does change the calculus - as a coach you don't have as much leverage to sit younger players and "wait their turn."
It will be super interesting how this goes in the long run - how many players want to move around for playing time vs the quality of the degree they get? From how much movement we've seen (and it's still early days in this transfer portal freedom), it looks like the degree means very little vs playing time.
I think for most the degree/education means little, but learning how to play football for the next level does. So you might be more patient if it is clear you are learning what you need for the NFL rather than jumping ship to somewhere you might play more.
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.
"Meanwhile, Ryan Puskas and Nate Rutchena got a lot of snaps playing ILB where we would usually see Oladejo, and had a tough assignment dealing with Arizona’s over the middle passing game. I’m hoping that Femi is back in the middle next week."
I like Oladejo at OLB very disruptive and held the edge. Against Wazzzu I like Rutchena and Paster manning the middle of the field. Haven't seen much of Paster lately so I'm not sure if he is injured but his skill set, as a former safety, will be needed this week.
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 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?
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!
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.
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
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.
“Due to some post-game miscommunication, the band played ‘Fight’ before the players could gather”
The band and mic men are especially terrible this year. One of the mic men was yelling block that punt on a PAT. Terrible.
And they were trying to get the student section to start a cheer while we were on O, as we were lining up to snap the ball!
Maybe he was trying a new cheer: "Block that PAT!"
Yeah...we may want to get that fixed before Big Game then--just saying.
Maybe he thought Arizona was attempting a drop kick for the PAT?
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.
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.
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
Cal's 2022 recruiting class paying big dividends so far. I am wondering how many other programs in the Pac 12 are relying as heavily on true freshmen as Cal's is. I am guessing that Vatikani will be a starter the rest of the year if he stays healthy, and Earby is already a mainstay among the D backs. Enough said about how valuable Ott is to the team.
For the Cal historians, can anyone remember a season where true freshmen contributed so heavily? It will be interesting to see if programs are more willing to throw true freshmen into the fray out of fear of losing them to the transfer portal.
Last year had Oladejo, Rutchena, Latu, and Hearns as significant contributing true freshman, FWIW. I think a typical year will see 3 or 4 guys burn their redshirts
Off the top, Demetris Robertson was a good contributor in 2016, as was Treggs in 2012. Of course Goff in 2013 and Boller in 1999, though those teams were terrible. Of course Keenan Allen in 2010 as others have noted was maybe the best on a non-crap team.
Treggs and Harper both were big contributiors in 2012.
Robertson also had Stovall the same freshman season
Forget the transfer portal, if the freshman can play, let them play... The era of saving players for later when they are producing now should be over, in my opinion.
Is the transfer portal permanent? I thot it was a covid-era concept, but no one is talking about it going away. Makes me very nervous; you could make your name at one school (like, say, Cal....) and then go somewhere else in search of a conference championship or natty..... I liked the disincentive of sitting out a year because then good players are more likely to stay.
The transfer portal predates Covid. It's here to stay.
I remember Wesley Walker playing as a freshman in 1973--I was there as a freshman myself! He did well, but was even better in later years.
Just researched Wesley Walker because he came before my time as a Cal fan. Dude averaged more than 20 yards a catch all four years he was at Cal. Keenan Allen did not do that. Sean Dawkins did not do that. DeSean Jackson did not do that. If I could go back and time and watch him.......And he was on the same team as Chuck Muncie? How did that team not get to a Rose Bowl? Must have been an average defense.
Ah, those memories!
The defense was good, though perhaps not great. Special teams players were also good and played with pride. We beat USC that year on national TV. But lost to UCLA. So we were guaranteed at least a tie for the conference championship, and if USC were to beat UCLA in the last game, we would have gone to the Rose Bowl! But USC lost. And back then, only one team in the conference could go to a bowl game. So it was another Cal-type finish! Still, we were conference champs. Steve Bartkowski, Ted Albrecht, and Steve Rivera were also on that team.
Steve Bartkowski was agent Leigh Steinberg's first client. Steinberg's story became the movie Jerry McGuire.
That was actually the first year that a second team from the conference could go to a bowl game, but U$C was picked ahead of us and UW which also finished ahead of them.
I believe you are the first person on this blog I've noted that remembers this. The UCLA-USC game was played on a Friday night, nearly a week after the Big Game, and I think during that week, at the end of which either Cal or UCLA would emerge with the Pac 8 title, the Liberty Bowl went ahead and invited the fifth place Trojans (Stanford finished ahead of the Trojans as well) to play in their game. Once UCLA beat USC, that very good Cal team had nowhere to go. I could be wrong about the timing, and it could have been that the Liberty Bowl just felt USC was a better draw than other Pac 8 also-rans, but I seem to recall that their invitation was delivered to USC before the conference title was settled. In any case, USC shut out (20-0) the Texas A&M team that had climbed I think to #2 in the nation before they blew the Southwestern title in their final conference game vs. Arkansas. Sports Illustrated had their running back, Bubba Bean, on the cover of the issue in which they lamented Cal's bad luck in a sub-section of the article covering the Aggies big win vs. Texas.
Thanks to all for correcting my fuzzy memories! So Bartkowski was the year before, and the conference bowl game eligibility was more complicated.
How about this memory: I think Cal led the nation in total offense that year. And it was equally split between passing and rushing.
LOL....I just looked up that 1975 UCLA/USC game that sent the Bruins to the Rose Bowl instead of Cal. UCLA fumbled ELEVEN times in that game, losing eight, and still won. Let that sink in.....11 fumbles and you win. Cal is cursed for sure. I was standing on the sidelines (Arizona's side unfortunately) when DeSean Jackson turned the corner right next to me, beat all defenders and scored the go-ahead score late in a 2006 game at Tuscon that would have sent Cal to the Rose Bowl. A replay showed that Jackson's pinkie toe barely scraped the out of bounds line on I think the 40-yard line. The play was called back to the 40, Cal stalled, and no Rose Bowl that year, either.
I was at CAL, and my Skyline High School teammate Charles Hill was at UW and Theotis Brown was at UCLA. Our QB, Drew Field was at ASU but they were not yet in the PAC. The big question between us was who was going to come home with a Rose Bowl ring. I remember watching replays the USC v UCLA game with a bunch of my CAL teammates. USC had the chance to tie the game at least a couple of times which would have ensure us (CAL) a trip to the Rose Bowl. The HC of USC, John McKay, went for the TD each time and failed. UCLA ended up with the same record as us but because they beat us they got the Rose Bowl. Now for anyone who remembers, Wendell Tyler was UCLA's starting running back in those days. He got injured in the 1st quarter and Theotis came in for 3 quarters, as a true freshman, and rushed for 224 yards. It was a Rose Bowl record at the time. Small world stuff. You know who came home with the ring.
Very respectfully Rugbear, I've read past posts by you about your former Titan teammate's performance in this game, but I don't believe he participated in it. He was a great running back for the Bruins the following three seasons ('76-78), but I can't find any records for him from 1975. I can believe he got a ring and all that other stuff from being part of the football program in '75, but again, I can't find any record of him playing in a game until the following season, when he, not Tyler, led UCLA in rushing (they both went for over 1,000 yards that year). As for Wendall Tyler in that Rose Bowl, I recall him scoring the late fourth quarter run (54 yards) that iced the game. This pdf file says he gained 172 yards on 21 carries. https://ohiostatebuckeyes.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/07/1975-12-UCLA.pdf
Enjoyed watching you play. Great memories.
Did you get a Rose Bowl ring?
I remember Spring ball in 1976, Wesley's last Spring. The first day of Spring drills, which did not count as a practice, was 'physical fitness testing'. Ughhh. It also was the day when pro scouts showed up with stop watches to time guys like Wesley in the 40. And they tested shuttles, vertical jump and bench for reps at 225#. No combines in those days. Remember, the stadium was grass back then. When Wes's turn came up it was like he was shot out of a cannon. He ran a 4.4 on grass. Unheard of in those days. I heard assistant coach Skip Stress say under his breath that Wesley was about to be a millionaire. I looked at Coach Stress and asked him why he said that. He responded dryly, "if you can run a 4.4 forty and catch a football, you'll be a millionaire too." Welcome to the big time kid!
Yep the transfer portal does change the calculus - as a coach you don't have as much leverage to sit younger players and "wait their turn."
It will be super interesting how this goes in the long run - how many players want to move around for playing time vs the quality of the degree they get? From how much movement we've seen (and it's still early days in this transfer portal freedom), it looks like the degree means very little vs playing time.
I think for most the degree/education means little, but learning how to play football for the next level does. So you might be more patient if it is clear you are learning what you need for the NFL rather than jumping ship to somewhere you might play more.
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
"Meanwhile, Ryan Puskas and Nate Rutchena got a lot of snaps playing ILB where we would usually see Oladejo, and had a tough assignment dealing with Arizona’s over the middle passing game. I’m hoping that Femi is back in the middle next week."
I like Oladejo at OLB very disruptive and held the edge. Against Wazzzu I like Rutchena and Paster manning the middle of the field. Haven't seen much of Paster lately so I'm not sure if he is injured but his skill set, as a former safety, will be needed this week.
You said the 5-1 part out loud! Theme’s Tedford era ambitions. Sweet to dream…
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?
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
MaserOTTi ?
Not bad, but he might not be Italian
Life's been good to him so far.