The production/disruption by the defensive line is probably the best we've seen in the better part of 15 years. It shows that it's Tosh's background, similar to Wilcox's secondary.
With Tosh's ability to bring in talent, I think we have a chance to become an elite defense in the coming years. As opposed to Wilcox's over-achieving and fundamentally sound to just be a good defense.
I do miss, though, Wilcox's adherance to rugby-style tackling. We are now back to the old 'make a big hit & hope he falls down' style of tackling, resulting in soooo many missed tackles and probably 40-50 unnecessary extra yards for VT as a result.
I agree. And the "make a big hit" approach can lead to collar & helmet oriented personalities. Jack Clark, lonely Bear Nation turns it's lonely eyes too you!
Good write up Nick. Couldn't agree more on the squib kick - let your kickoff team do it's job. Having them start from the 40 almost cost them the game. Clearly Cal thought that 6 seconds left only allowed time for one more play. Bad miscalculation, as we saw. My sense is that JKS will be far more comfortable in this offense. I hope he has cleared protocols and will have this week to run it in practice. Then game time decision as to who starts.
It is a good problem to have. Once JKS returns the task will be to make sure Brousseau doesn't leave via the portal. Depth at QB is vital, as we've just seen.
If it ain't broke why fix it? JB has produced more points in 6 quarters of work and has been extremely efficient. (Yeah I know the staff will hand the ball to JKS).
Love the steadiness and consistency of the new QB....
But excited to see what JKS can do in this new offense.
I am glad to see they stopped forcing the run. Was ripping my hair out at how many times we insisted on running right down the middle when we clearly couldn't even make a hole. Some of those options helped. Mix it up. Throw a quick slant on 1st once in a while. Love how we are attacking middle of the field once in a while.
Let’s not get too far ahead of ourselves with over enthusiasm. Wake Forest is a damn good football team. They beat a very good Louisville team, absolutely clobbered Stanford (as any good team should this year) and made Miami work for the win in that game.
It’s going to be very tough for Cal to beat WF even at home, regardless of which QB gets the call to run the improved offensive scheme.
Without a run game that can truly complement whatever the passing game comes up with, it’s going to be very hard for this team to beat the likes of the next several ACC opponents.
Other than Stanford, I’m not sure where the other wins will come from to make for a bowl eligible season looking into the East Coast road trip abyss that lies beyond Saturday.
If we get Mohammed or Vargas back and if JKS feels comfortable in the new offense and if his WRs can get separation and if they can catch his throws and if we can limit the uncalled for penalties, maybe, just maybe, Cal can salvage a season that looked like a train wreck after the first few games.
I think Cal can beat Pitt with their starting QB out for the season, and I think Cal is a more talented (read: not necessarily better!) team than NC State. The version of Cal we saw on Saturday would be favorites to beat NC State on a neutral field, at least.
Wake Forest is legit scary, and I don't think we match up well with SMU, but other than those two games the schedule is full of similarly mediocre teams that Cal can absolutely beat.
I think a healthy Mohammed is key above all else (and Lopa). Jackson is good enough to roll with, especially if we get some sort of running game going.
At both the UNLV and VT games Mohammed was wearing some kind of stiff brace under his sweatpants such that he could not bend his left knee. Did not look to me like a guy about to return to the field anytime soon.
I agree that Wake is going to be our toughest game of the year. I’m less worried about all the rest though. NC State, Virginia, SMU, Stanford, and Pitt all look less formidable than they did earlier on.
I think you right. WF is a must win at home, otherwise looking at SMU, NC State and Virginia on the road is brutal (all teams ranked higher than Cal by ESPN). NC State maybe the weaker team of the lot, but they just beat Louisville. They sell out every game and it will be a challenging environment for the Bears. We beat WF or SMU and continue to make progress that could certainly change.
With OC McCann I believe we are much better positioned to win these games. Each week will see an improving offense. And that does relieve some pressure on our defense as well.
WF QB is pretty good. We need to hit him early and often (without penalties). They have several good WRs as well. Gunna trust Hutch to come up with a good game plan for the win!!
Thanks Nick. As always, clear eyed and insightful. I particularly agree with this.."Ideally Cal would have installed a functional offense in the off-season. But that failure has allowed Tosh Lupoi and his staff to display a different skill: the willingness to acknowledge failure and make changes that result in improvement." Knowing when to pivot is a key element of leadership, and I'm happy to see it displayed here. Go Bears Forever Baby! Dunk the Deacons!
Thx Nick, it was great to see the spread/Air Raid O operating well on Saturday after the first few drives, with many players contributing (finally). I'm ok with <100 yards rushing with this O, plus an increasingly improving D that can make stops. Let's see this improving team play up to WF this week, and keep moving up the ACC ranks... GO BEARS!
Nick, your Big Picture point that this staff can coach competently aligned with the somewhat new positive feeling I had for most of the game. I had an unexpected tummy lightness.
Looking forward to continuous improvements on both sides of the ball, which feels new this season. The defense can clean up lane assignments and penalties, (targeting ejections down 50% from UNLV game).
To my eye, Brousseau has won the starting job. JKS has been a mess this season, and a lot of his long ball success last year was in Cal's WRs being fortunate/skilled enough to take away well over half of the 50-50 balls he threw up. Due to his lack of mobility, combined with his side arm release (which is good for a couple of knock-downs per game), I've hopped off the JKS train.
Could also count that last squib kick as a special-teams mistake: if you are squibbing you aren't supposed to kick it right at somebody! Though yes maybe that is just bad luck too.
Super write-up! I agree; we are lucky the refs didn't flag Cam Sidney on the last play. I am glad the announcers nominated Legend Journey for the College Football D1 All-Name team. ;-) ... Unleash JKS with the spread offense!
Nice work Nick, great summation, thank you! And yes, it was great to watch Cal being a mostly normal well balanced football team, with some trick plays too, and passing to all sections of the field. Geez, what a difference from the first five games. Such a satisfying final drive by Cal, so fun to watch it succeed when history tells you otherwise. But then that prevent defense stuff that doesn't prevent a damn thing was out there. That was close. But hey, take the win, it was a lovely surprise on a lovely day. Nice to be feeling better about Cal football. Sure, we have a tremendous team coming to town to play next Saturday, but now finally, it feels like we can be competitive and have a chance to win. It may be a slim one, but who knows, if we get a few key players back, we could do it. Gonna stay positive, take it when you get it. Go Bears!
No way Lupoi does that prevent defense thing again. You see that on tape once and realize how stupid it looks in hindsight. It just doesn't logically make sense to give them that much space with enough time for 2 plays. He has to have thought 6s was only long enough for 1 play, but that assumption allowed too quick of a play. Any kind of defense would have ended the game without the drama.
Our next game vs. WF will be another litmus test to assess our in-season improvement rate. WF will be our toughest test to date, probably at the level of UCLoL as a ranked opponent. It would be interesting to see how we game-plan against this very well-coached team.
Stopping their run (including their QB run) and passing attack will be a very tall order, especially when we have seen so little evidence of it this season.
Our saving grace may be our ability to exploit their pass defense. But Louisville (a pass-heavy team) wasn't able to do it...
This upcoming game will show us how competent our coaching staff is in game-calling/in-game adjustment.
Any idea why VT only rushed 4 the whole game? Was it our scheme or were they just dumb? I’m worried our OL falls apart if opponents start blitzing like unlv
Thanks Nick!
The production/disruption by the defensive line is probably the best we've seen in the better part of 15 years. It shows that it's Tosh's background, similar to Wilcox's secondary.
With Tosh's ability to bring in talent, I think we have a chance to become an elite defense in the coming years. As opposed to Wilcox's over-achieving and fundamentally sound to just be a good defense.
I do miss, though, Wilcox's adherance to rugby-style tackling. We are now back to the old 'make a big hit & hope he falls down' style of tackling, resulting in soooo many missed tackles and probably 40-50 unnecessary extra yards for VT as a result.
I agree. And the "make a big hit" approach can lead to collar & helmet oriented personalities. Jack Clark, lonely Bear Nation turns it's lonely eyes too you!
Also very lucky re: Sams' PR fumble. The ball bounced OUR way for sure!
Good write up Nick. Couldn't agree more on the squib kick - let your kickoff team do it's job. Having them start from the 40 almost cost them the game. Clearly Cal thought that 6 seconds left only allowed time for one more play. Bad miscalculation, as we saw. My sense is that JKS will be far more comfortable in this offense. I hope he has cleared protocols and will have this week to run it in practice. Then game time decision as to who starts.
It is a good problem to have. Once JKS returns the task will be to make sure Brousseau doesn't leave via the portal. Depth at QB is vital, as we've just seen.
Any question that, if healthy, it's JKS?
If it ain't broke why fix it? JB has produced more points in 6 quarters of work and has been extremely efficient. (Yeah I know the staff will hand the ball to JKS).
No question in my mind. He’s the starter unless proven otherwise.
Love the steadiness and consistency of the new QB....
But excited to see what JKS can do in this new offense.
I am glad to see they stopped forcing the run. Was ripping my hair out at how many times we insisted on running right down the middle when we clearly couldn't even make a hole. Some of those options helped. Mix it up. Throw a quick slant on 1st once in a while. Love how we are attacking middle of the field once in a while.
Let’s not get too far ahead of ourselves with over enthusiasm. Wake Forest is a damn good football team. They beat a very good Louisville team, absolutely clobbered Stanford (as any good team should this year) and made Miami work for the win in that game.
It’s going to be very tough for Cal to beat WF even at home, regardless of which QB gets the call to run the improved offensive scheme.
Without a run game that can truly complement whatever the passing game comes up with, it’s going to be very hard for this team to beat the likes of the next several ACC opponents.
Other than Stanford, I’m not sure where the other wins will come from to make for a bowl eligible season looking into the East Coast road trip abyss that lies beyond Saturday.
If we get Mohammed or Vargas back and if JKS feels comfortable in the new offense and if his WRs can get separation and if they can catch his throws and if we can limit the uncalled for penalties, maybe, just maybe, Cal can salvage a season that looked like a train wreck after the first few games.
If we're talking about getting to six wins:
I think Cal can beat Pitt with their starting QB out for the season, and I think Cal is a more talented (read: not necessarily better!) team than NC State. The version of Cal we saw on Saturday would be favorites to beat NC State on a neutral field, at least.
Wake Forest is legit scary, and I don't think we match up well with SMU, but other than those two games the schedule is full of similarly mediocre teams that Cal can absolutely beat.
I think a healthy Mohammed is key above all else (and Lopa). Jackson is good enough to roll with, especially if we get some sort of running game going.
At both the UNLV and VT games Mohammed was wearing some kind of stiff brace under his sweatpants such that he could not bend his left knee. Did not look to me like a guy about to return to the field anytime soon.
I agree that Wake is going to be our toughest game of the year. I’m less worried about all the rest though. NC State, Virginia, SMU, Stanford, and Pitt all look less formidable than they did earlier on.
I think you right. WF is a must win at home, otherwise looking at SMU, NC State and Virginia on the road is brutal (all teams ranked higher than Cal by ESPN). NC State maybe the weaker team of the lot, but they just beat Louisville. They sell out every game and it will be a challenging environment for the Bears. We beat WF or SMU and continue to make progress that could certainly change.
With OC McCann I believe we are much better positioned to win these games. Each week will see an improving offense. And that does relieve some pressure on our defense as well.
One good win, and I'm looking forward to the ACC championship game! 🤪
Go Bears!
WF QB is pretty good. We need to hit him early and often (without penalties). They have several good WRs as well. Gunna trust Hutch to come up with a good game plan for the win!!
Thanks Nick. As always, clear eyed and insightful. I particularly agree with this.."Ideally Cal would have installed a functional offense in the off-season. But that failure has allowed Tosh Lupoi and his staff to display a different skill: the willingness to acknowledge failure and make changes that result in improvement." Knowing when to pivot is a key element of leadership, and I'm happy to see it displayed here. Go Bears Forever Baby! Dunk the Deacons!
Thx Nick, it was great to see the spread/Air Raid O operating well on Saturday after the first few drives, with many players contributing (finally). I'm ok with <100 yards rushing with this O, plus an increasingly improving D that can make stops. Let's see this improving team play up to WF this week, and keep moving up the ACC ranks... GO BEARS!
Nick, your Big Picture point that this staff can coach competently aligned with the somewhat new positive feeling I had for most of the game. I had an unexpected tummy lightness.
Looking forward to continuous improvements on both sides of the ball, which feels new this season. The defense can clean up lane assignments and penalties, (targeting ejections down 50% from UNLV game).
No excuse for not reducing the targeting penalties at this point. The team should know this by now.
To my eye, Brousseau has won the starting job. JKS has been a mess this season, and a lot of his long ball success last year was in Cal's WRs being fortunate/skilled enough to take away well over half of the 50-50 balls he threw up. Due to his lack of mobility, combined with his side arm release (which is good for a couple of knock-downs per game), I've hopped off the JKS train.
Don't forget JKS was laboring under Somerville's confusing approach, while Brousseau had the benefit of OC McCann's simplified system.
Well said Nick, as usual!
GO BEARS!
Make Wake Forest miserable in Berkeley.
Agree we need to beat Wake at home to have a realistic chance of becoming bowl eligible. One step at a time. Let's do it.
And strut, and strut, and strut, and strut! Yes, let’s hit it!
The defensive penalties have been impactful but also the kind of penalties that are part of playing aggressively.
I like Hutchins blitz-heavy game plan, the zero blitzes were so effective and Grunkemeyer had nothing for it.
Could also count that last squib kick as a special-teams mistake: if you are squibbing you aren't supposed to kick it right at somebody! Though yes maybe that is just bad luck too.
Super write-up! I agree; we are lucky the refs didn't flag Cam Sidney on the last play. I am glad the announcers nominated Legend Journey for the College Football D1 All-Name team. ;-) ... Unleash JKS with the spread offense!
Nice work Nick, great summation, thank you! And yes, it was great to watch Cal being a mostly normal well balanced football team, with some trick plays too, and passing to all sections of the field. Geez, what a difference from the first five games. Such a satisfying final drive by Cal, so fun to watch it succeed when history tells you otherwise. But then that prevent defense stuff that doesn't prevent a damn thing was out there. That was close. But hey, take the win, it was a lovely surprise on a lovely day. Nice to be feeling better about Cal football. Sure, we have a tremendous team coming to town to play next Saturday, but now finally, it feels like we can be competitive and have a chance to win. It may be a slim one, but who knows, if we get a few key players back, we could do it. Gonna stay positive, take it when you get it. Go Bears!
On an other site, a poster did a frame by frame analysis of the play and concluded that it was not a PI.
FWIW
I would have called it…. We were super lucky.
I think the biggest fail, worse than the squib, was the goal line “prevent (nothing)” set. If we’d lost THATS what I would have blamed….
I think I saw that and I concur!
No way Lupoi does that prevent defense thing again. You see that on tape once and realize how stupid it looks in hindsight. It just doesn't logically make sense to give them that much space with enough time for 2 plays. He has to have thought 6s was only long enough for 1 play, but that assumption allowed too quick of a play. Any kind of defense would have ended the game without the drama.
Take when you get it is indeed good advise.
Our next game vs. WF will be another litmus test to assess our in-season improvement rate. WF will be our toughest test to date, probably at the level of UCLoL as a ranked opponent. It would be interesting to see how we game-plan against this very well-coached team.
Stopping their run (including their QB run) and passing attack will be a very tall order, especially when we have seen so little evidence of it this season.
Our saving grace may be our ability to exploit their pass defense. But Louisville (a pass-heavy team) wasn't able to do it...
This upcoming game will show us how competent our coaching staff is in game-calling/in-game adjustment.
Any idea why VT only rushed 4 the whole game? Was it our scheme or were they just dumb? I’m worried our OL falls apart if opponents start blitzing like unlv
They're super injured, and honestly 4 was enough to rush our OL at the start of the season tbf.
Thought I heard that VT had a few D-line starters out on Sat.