Washington Recap

(AP Photo/Elaine Thompson)

So the Bears lost. Again. This time to the tune of a 41-17 beatdown to the Washington Huskies, who in my mind will prove to be just a middle-upper middle Pac-12 team by the end of the season.

I could honestly repost last week's post on our previous loss, replacing Oregon State with Washington State, and chances are that over 90% of my thoughts would still be true. That's how repetitive this has become.

This won't be the longest post, but here are my most pressing thoughts.

Outclassed
Here's the most troubling issue: the Bears were simply outmatched last night, both on the field and on the sidelines. There were plenty of times that Cal defenders were actually in position to make plays. We simply don't have the speed or strength at key positions to defend the perimeter. There were a number of occasions when players like Dan Camporeale or Hardy Nickerson read the play properly, only to be simply beat to the edge due to their lack of speed. I can't count the number of times when our linebackers or defensive ends were chasing ball carriers from behind.

When our linebackers were actually able to diagnose run plays and take the right angles, they were simply getting blown up by pulling guards.

On top of that, because Washington was rolling the Bears with rushes to the perimeter all night, Cal's safeties had to respect the run, forcing them to have to creep up. Linebackers had to stay inside the box instead of bumping slot receivers at the line of scrimmage. That often led to single coverage on Washington's wide receivers who simply made our defensive backs look silly on a number of big passing play.

Plain and simple, Saturday's loss was not for a lack of effort. The Bears were simply outclassed physically and athletically by a upper-middle class Pac-12 team. I don't know if that's more frustrating or depressing.

Questionable Coaching Decisions
The Ugly:I was furious with the decision to pretty much wave the white flag at the end of the third quarter. Faced with a third and long, the Bears decided to run a draw play to Darren Ervin, to set up a field goal to cut into Washington's lead 38-10.

Just...why? What good does that do you? It doesn't inject any confidence into your offense. It doesn't make the game any less out of reach. It's pretty much a head coach admitting that the game is done. Now obviously the game was indeed out of reach, but I never want my head coach acknowledging it in the 3rd quarter. It's just a bad way to instill the "never say quit" attitude in a team.

The Bad:Previous to that, the staff went for an odd field goal fake play that involved WR/Holder Jackson Bouza throwing the ball out in the flat, four yards short of the first down marker. I'm not against the fake, but it was a terrible call. Dykes admitted as much in the press conference.

The Good:And on a slightly different note, I was not in an outrage with the decision to play Austin Hinder late in the game. The guy's earned it with his work ethic and team first attitude throughout the season. I don't buy into the "Kline is in the doghouse" move. There's nothing to indicate that Kline has done anything wrong. It was just the right moment to get Hinder his first collegiate snaps ever. This decision I'm okay with.

Goff Plays Ok
After winning back the starting job, Goff bounced back...a little. It was far from the sharp form he displayed at the beginning of the season, but he was leaps and bounds ahead of his previous road performances.

Goff was 32-54, for 336 yards and 1 TD. Most importantly, he had no turnovers. He made some absolutely sharp throws that show why the coaching staff continues to have so much confidence in him. Some really nice passes thrown on a frozen rope. He's still slightly jittery in the pocket however, which led him to rush through his progressions. He missed some wide open receivers at times, and was forced to check down on some critical third downs. The Bears were a miserable 7-22 on third downs, and Goff's indecision had a lot to do with it.

Ultimately, I don't think Goff played all that poorly. Still, the Bears were still sputtering on offense, managing just 7 points when the game was still in question. Like I said before, I'm not convinced Kline is the better option. But with your 1-7 team struggling to make something happen on the field offensively, why not see what he can do for you?

Worst Cal Season Ever?
As if this couldn't get more depressing, the Bears are on track to having one of the worst seasons for ever. For as outmatched as Cal has looked talent wise, no one could have convinced me that we'd be on pace for having this type of season. The Bears are looking at a winless season with the average point differential being at 21.1 points. If you take out Cal's 7 point win over FCS Portland State, the Bears have lost by an average of 25.1 points per game. The Bears haven't lost by within 2 touchdowns since their opener to Northwestern.

In addition to having the longest losing streak to FBS teams in the country (going back to last season), the Bears are looking like they're probably going to go winless in the conference. On top of that, throw in the worst statistically ranking defense in the country and an offense that's quickly sinking to those lows despite the presence of the much heralded offensive-minded duo of Sonny Dykes and Tony Franklin.

Moving Forward
A few weeks ago I got a little heat for proclaiming that Cal's program had reached its nadir following a home thrashing to Washington State. Many people point to the Holmoe era. Well it's looking like Cal could again be looking at a one win season, with all the aforementioned to boot. The biggest difference in my mind was that everyone and their mother knew that Holmoe was on his way out, which was reason enough for hope. We've JUST started the Sonny Dykes era. The only hope is that things get better next year or the year after, because we're certainly not seeing any progress this year.

I went on record in predicting that the Bears would be bowl eligible this season. Obviously, that was foolish. But few could have predicted the level of injuries and the lack of prowess by this coaching staff to prepare this team to play at the Pac-12 level. Injuries and youth only get you so far in explaining what we have. Ultimately, there's a certain level of indictment on the coaching staff in churning out one of the worst teams in FBS football.

Still cheering for these Bears though. Still looking for progress.

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Oregon State Recap

(AP Photo/Tony Avelar)

This Cal season has languished to the point where the outcome of the game is rarely ever in question. The Bears have not only been predicted to lose all but one game this season, but have been projected to lose by quite a bit. And in this regard, the Bears haven’t surprised anyone with their 1-6 record.

What has been surprising however, has been the seemingly stagnant, and in some aspects, regressed state of football play. Everyone knew the Bears would struggle this year, playing arguably the toughest schedule in the country, as well as a debilitating number of injuries to an already young football squad.

However, fans hoped for competitive play in their games. Fans pointed to Sonny Dykes’ Louisiana Tech squad that was competitive in every game last season. Moreover, they looked for progress throughout the season. This was my biggest hope I had heading into this season. And once it became clear the Bears weren’t going to surprise anyone early in the season, I really just hoped for the Bears to get better and hopefully be entertaining in the process.

And despite hearing reports that the team had its best week of practice, Saturday was again more of the same thing. The game was not entertaining, nor did I see any real signs of progress. The only silver lining was that it never really appeared that the team stopped battling. They hustled, grinded, and competed on every snap. Of course, what’s troubling about that is that they showed that despite their best efforts, they’re simply not very good right now.

Sigh.

With all that said, here are my thoughts on the game and a general state of affairs.

Offense Line in a Disarray
If you had told me at the beginning of the season that Cal’s offense would be markedly worse midseason than it was at the beginning of the season, I would have scoffed. I think everyone from the coaches to the players envisioned a bit of a rocky start for this offense, but ultimately hoping that the cogs would start clicking and churning as the season wore on.

But instead this season has taken multiple steps backwards.

Obviously, a big part of it is the set of injuries to the offensive line. Losing both starting center Chris Adcock and guard Matt Cochran has stunted the progress and improvement of the offensive line. One can’t understate the importance of developing continuity with the same players on an offensive line.

However, you had regular starters making mistakes over and over again. Players losing one-on-one matchups, or making stupid penalties like late hits, hands to the face, or holding calls.

I was on record of saying that despite giving up more sacks than any other team in the conference, that the offensive line wasn’t actually playing as poorly as some people might believe. However, Saturday’s performance was easily one of their worst performances of the season. And that’s saying something.

Quarterback Indecision
Aaaannndd…here we go: our first potential quarterback controversy of the Dykes tenure at Cal.

A few games ago, the idea that a change at quarterback might even be considered was absolutely absurd. However, Goff has had a tough stretch of games since starting conference play. After getting battered around in the pocket, he’s taken a step back in terms of his pocket awareness, and his happy feet has affected his decision making and accuracy.

And as prolific of a passer as Goff has been, he still hasn’t learned to throw to a spot on the field. He’s still waiting for his receivers to get open which is causing some indecision and explains his constant short-hopping the ball.

But what’s been most troubling has been Jared Goff’s ball security. Goff had three turnovers again last night, all in Cal’s territory. The first was an interception in which he again didn’t see the defender underneath, and the second was a sack that led to another stripped fumble. The third was again a ball that simply slipped out of Goff’s hand, this time with no defender or monsoon in sight.

Enter redshirt freshman Zach Kline with the game already out of hand and an offense looking for something. Kline immediately led the Bears to their first TD on easily the best looking offensive drive in weeks.

Kline demonstrated some good and some bad, though overall, it was more of the former. Kline provided an instant spark to the offense, throwing some zip on his passes, as well as some pretty impressive pocket mobility. He wasn't afraid to tuck it and run it, gaining 28 yards on 7 rushes.

I’ve stated earlier that Kline isn’t nearly as effective as Goff at reading the field and going through his progressions. He also is at times too confident in his arm which leads to some impressive passes into microscopic windows, but can also lead to grimace-inducing interceptions.

What I walked away most impressed with about Kline though, was his decisiveness. There was little hesitation on any of his plays. He either was going to rip the ball, and if it wasn't there, he was quick about eluding pressure in the pocket or trying to pick up yards on the ground.

So the question remains: who starts against Washington? I totally understand why the coaches want to stick with Goff. They've invested in him, and I completely trust every account that says that Goff is easily the more consistent quarterback in practice. He's also done pretty well as a true freshman, and to yank him at this point might stunt his progress.

Yet, let's not forget that the biggest reason the coaches went with Goff was because of his accuracy, ability to lead the offense to points and to protect the ball. Over the past few games, he's struggled in all of these categories.

At this point, my thought is, "Why the hell not?" Goff isn't doing what he had done as well at the beginning of the season, and though Kline hasn't been markedly better in spot duty, he's shown enough that it's worth exploring. It's not like the Bears are going to lose Pac-12 championship as a result.

I'm not saying starting Kline is going to turn the ship around. The Bears have far too many holes. But at this point, why not see what he can do with meaningful snaps? And if there's even a chance that it's going to make the team better, why wouldn't you take a shot?

Defense On Pace to Set Records
The biggest question for the defense heading into the game was going to surround the secondary's ability to handle Oregon State's prolific passing attack, namely defending arguably the nation's best receiver in Brandin Cooks.

We got our answer loud and clear, and the answer was, "not well."

It was a frustrating exercise in bad scheme and poor technique. The two scheme issues were that Andy Buh elected to (1) assign single coverage on Brandin Cooks and (2) be incredibly frugal in sending pressure. I understand that the Bears were wary of OSU's use of screens (which ultimately ended up killing the Bears anyway), but they still gave Mannion far too much time to sit in the pocket and carve up the Bears' secondary.

The biggest technique issue was that the secondary just had a poor time reading receivers' eyes. A lot of times, the DBs were actually in pretty decent position on most catches. It's not like we were constantly seeing defensive backs in really poor spots or not filling the right zones. However, there too many plays where they just a touch late, and on top of that they simply weren't looking up to locate the ball. Nearly every catch involved a decently well positioned DB with the back of their helmet to the ball, hopeless flailing their arms in hopes of breaking up the pass. And more often than not, they did not.

What's truly the shame is that I think despite giving up nearly 500 yards for three weeks straight, I do actually think the secondary is playing better than they did at the beginning of the season. They're not playing well by any means, but they actually are playing better. The problem is that the progress has been greatly stunted by a scheme that allows opposing quarterbacks all the time in the world to pass and having to play way too many snaps with the offense really struggling at this point.

Moving Forward
At this point I could honestly copy and paste what I've been writing the last few weeks for this section.

It's a "Groundhog's Day" type of feel of having to relive the same ass kicking week in and week out. What's frustrating is that I do believe certain units do actually show up and display some progress. What's rough is this occurs while other units take multiple steps backwards.

What has become clear is that I actually do think that despite the numerous injuries, I think there's enough talent on this team to be a lot better than they are. It really is the case of some players really showing their inexperience and being unable to keep up at the conference level at this point in their careers. On the other side, we've got some players that are just flat out underperforming. The common theme in both situations is that this falls on the coaches.

I'm going to reserve full judgment until the end of the season, but it's becoming clear that some of the assistant coaches on this staff are far more ready to coach at the Pac-12 level than others. You don't have to read in between my lines to know who they are. The results are on the field.

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UCLA Recap

(AP Photo/Mark J. Terrill)

It says a lot about the season the Bears are having when Cal’s defense happens to play its best performance of the year in the same game that Cal’s offense has its absolute worst. Scratch that—the most telling statement is that Cal’s best defensive performance of the year is one that had them still giving up 37 points in a 37-10 defeat to the Bruins in Pasadena.

Defense Not All That Terrible
Let me clarify something to start. I am by no means saying that the defense played great on Saturday night. All it takes is one look at the stat line to get that part.

UCLA’s Brett Hundley threw for over 410 yards and 3 TDs, and the defense failed force a turnover. They again showed difficulty defending the swing pass, and their struggles with open field tackling were again evident on Devin Fuller’s 18 yard score.

I will say this though: the defense played well enough to keep the Bears in the ballgame. And honestly, that’s a lot more than can be said about this unit all year. I’ll take it a step further—there were times when Cal’s defense showed some real grit.

You have to consider that the Bears’ D was facing poor field position all night and having to dig deep with the offense’s inability to sustain anything really. Of UCLA’s twelve drives, they scored TDs on just 4 of them, and held the Bruins to 3 field goals. Again, are the fantastic numbers? Absolutely not. But any time you can force punts and get red zone stops to force field goals instead of touchdowns, you are leaps and bounds better than what we’ve been used to seeing from this defense all year.

I’ve always said that statistics might lie to you, but your eyes won’t. One look at this defense, and you know that they played with better cohesion, displayed better gang tackling, and absolutely took away UCLA’s rushing attack. The Bruins were limited to just 78 yards on 34 carries for just a 2.3 ypc.

Tackles for loss? Penetration in the trenches? Goal line stands? BLOWING UP BUBBLE SCREENS?! Please sir, can I have some more?

There were of course still plenty of issues, and a lot of it still has to do with the youth and inexperience of this injury-laden team that is clearly still learning. But if I’m the defense, I’m bitter about the loss but have to think there’s quite a bit to take away from this game.

Offense Hits Lowpoint
While the defense was by no means impressive, they did do enough to keep the Bears in the ballgame. Unfortunately, the same can’t be said of Cal’s offense. The Bears continued their steady regression and hit a lowpoint in managing just 320 yards of total offense 10 points against the Bruins defense.

Cal was forced to punt on their first 5 drives to start the first half, four of which were three and outs. The rest of the game was was more or less the same issues that have plagued their offense all season: redzone struggles, anemic rushing game and turnovers.

The Bears continued to struggle in the redzone, scoring on just one of their three trips inside the 20. That’s 14 points left on the board.

Cal’s lack of a rushing attack and ability to make gains in short yardage situations was evident as they resorted to using WR Richard Rodgers as their short yardage back.

Playcalling Inside the Redzone
I’ve been a big Tony Franklin fan this season, but he hasn’t been without his mistakes. What was most troubling however was his playcalling inside the redzone on Saturday. After Rodgers had picked up the first down to put Cal inside UCLA’s 3 yard line, they stubbornly kept running Rodgers in the same formation which resulted in a total net of zero yards. To cap it off, Franklin than ran a QB draw for 185 pound Goff on fourth down.

It was just a perplexing series of calls. My only possible explanation was that Franklin was trying to drive a point home and give this running game some confidence, but I’m shocked that there wasn’t any attempt to get the ball in the endzone through the air.

Running Woes This Week on the Runningbacks
Cal’s running game this season has been a mess, and the blame is on both the runningback and offensive line units.

However, this week the blame rests more on the shoulders of the runningbacks than the offensive line. This is not to say that the offensive line blew dominated in the trenches. Far from it. However, looking at replay after replay, there were plenty of opportunities from runningbacks to be more productive than they were.

There were certainly running lanes and open holes. Not gaping holes, but they were there. Cal’s backs simply struggled to locate the running lanes quickly enough. The runningback vision simply wasn’t there.

Daniel Lasco was looking like Cal’s best back until he looked like he dislocated his shoulder. And that’s Cal for you.

Penalties Sink Bears
Cal has been a mistake-free team this season, but their sloppiness on Saturday really cost the Bears some opportunities from really competing in the game.

The Bears were flagged nine times for 87 yards. And they were dumb penalties too. Late hits, roughing the passer, just the type of stuff you can’t do. Especially when you’re behind enough as it is.

Special Teams Holds Steady
Other than the Oregon debacle, Cal’s special teams is playing like the most composed, focused and disciplined unit by far.

It makes you truly wonder how much of Cal’s negative play with the other units is a reflection of the coaching from those groups.

Vincenzo D’Amato has been an absolute revelation for the Bears. We’ve seen the lightbulb go off for senior kickers before, but D’Amato is having himself a very special season. D’Amato nailed a 51 yard field goal to bring his total to 12 of 13 field goals made this season. His 12 FGs put him right up there at 3rd in the nation, and his 92.3% FG percentage is 14th best.

Punter Cole Leininger is also averaging 42.62 yards per punt right now, after averaging 43.4 yards on seven punts Saturday night. He hasn’t shown quite the leg as Bryan Anger, but his punts have had plenty of boom and he’s been arguably the most consistent punter the Bears have had in years.

Cal’s coverage teams also continued to play well holding the Bruins to just a 5.7 yard average on punt returns and no big returns in the kickoff return game.

The only consistent drawback on special teams this year has been the lack of any return game, particularly on punt returns. Cal has been getting close to nothing on these returns. For as athletic as Bryce Treggs is, he’s strangely really hesitant on punt returns. He’s averaging just 3.38 yards per return on the season. For a team that’s struggling to get things going, a spark from special teams could be huge.

However, this is still a minor gripe for a special teams unit that has by and large played pretty well this season. My general theory about special teams is this: You don’t have to win the games, but for the love of all that is good, don’t lose the game for the team. And so far, Tommerdahl’s led special teams is doing that.

Goff Struggles
I thought Goff actually had his worst performance in his young career for the Bears. I know, I know, worse than Oregon? Worse than Oregon. I almost can’t count the Oregon game because of how weird the game was and how little he actually played in it.

But it simply wasn’t what we’ve been used to seeing from Goff this season. He felt pressured even when there was more space and time in the pocket than he probably thought. This led to some hurried and inaccurate throws.

On top of that, his interception was flat out bad. He simply didn’t see safety Randall Goforth hiding behind the line and threw what should have been a pick six had it not been some hustle from RB Daniel Lasco.

Goff has been solid so far this season, but he needs to show that he can stay more poised than he has been on the road this season. His next shot? At 20th ranked Washington.

Moving Forward
Despite losing by 27 points, Cal showed some progress in some areas. For the first time all season, Cal’s defense was typically in position to make plays, even if they had the occasional gaffe and gave up the big play every now and then.

Cal’s special teams has returned to being solid and has kept games from becoming even more nightmarish than they could be.

Cal’s offense has been in a bit of a headscratching regression the past few weeks, but here’s hoping that they don’t give up on trying to develop a rushing attack because that will likely be the key to becoming more efficient in the redzone.

The Bears are pretty much playing for next season. I’m not trying to take on a defeatist approach. I’m simply stating that bowl eligibility is all but out of the picture, and many of Cal’s projected starters are probably not going to see the field this year. This time will likely be spent really coaching up some players who probably haven’t ever played a whole lot before.

Don’t get me wrong. It sucked watching the Bears get walloped by the Bruins. But it at least gave me pause enough to get back to remembering that this season is all likely about making sure that this team is better at the end of the season than they were in week one.

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Washington State Recap

There’s no other way to really sugarcoat it.

This team is a mess right now. And while a lot of our issues are self-inflicted, you have to recognize that a lot of our issues are the result of some majorly bad luck.

But in any case, the result is still a bad football team. Cal has dropped nine straight games to FBS opponents going back to last season, which is the longest streak in the nation. Though many of those opponents were quality opponents, you know the program has reached its nadir when it gets blown out by Washington State at home 44-22.

It’s not difficult to understand how this Cal team lost the game. A young team devastated by injuries. 5 turnovers and 11 penalties. Missed tackles. Red zone struggles. It’s been the same story for most of the season.

But actually watching it happen was brutal.

There are a few big (but painful) stories here, so let’s get to them.

Injuries
So this is worth addressing. I hate the excuse game of complaining that injuries are the reason a team is struggling.

But the sheer number of injuries sustained by this team is unbelievable.

Cal lost both Jalen Jefferson, Stefan McClure, Joel Willis on Saturday to go along with Chris Adcock who’s out for the season from an ACL injury sustained on Wednesday.

We’re at a point where 8 of the 11 projected starters from the Spring are out, and most of them are likely out for the season. Simply incredible.

It’s hard to really get into full out rant mode when you’re having to play with 8 new starters. Even beyond that, a lot of key reserves are out as well. Our starting secondary is down to our 3rd string CB, a walk on, a true freshman playing a new position, and a junior.

So while I don’t try to wallow in the whole, “Woe is me” injury talk, how much can you really be rip into players and coaches when you’re dealing with players who are simply haven’t played or are physically outmatched out there? We seriously are at a point where you can’t even yell out, “Why is he still in the game?” because the answer sadly is, “Because there’s no one left.”

Turnovers Sink Bears
The Bears coughed the ball over five times compared to WSU’s lone interception, but the most painful ones were clearly the first two.

The Bears fumbled on twice inside their own five yard line, the first of which was a Daniel Lasco fumble on an awkward exchange, and the second was Brendan Bigelow’s fumble after he failed to punch it in on three straight attempts from a yard out of the endzone.

Dykes couldn’t have said it any better than he did during his press conference, you can’t win many ball games doing that.

Red Zone Woes/Running Game
But beyond just the turnovers, Cal continues to be awful inside the redzone, and a lot of it has to do with Cal’s anemic running game. At this point it’s an identity for the Bears—they simply are not a good running football team.

Playcalling in the red zone is difficult as it is, but it becomes twice as difficult when you can’t run the ball. I’ve already examined the issues before, and it’s no surprise that the problems begin with the o-line, and continue with the inability by any of Cal’s backs at this point to be a consistent running threat. They’re struggling to find running lanes, but more frustratingly, are having a difficult time finishing runs. They’re not running around or through defenders. And given what we’ve seen from Cal’s backs the past decade, we’re in a ridiculously unfamiliar place.

A quick word on Brendan Bigelow. It doesn’t take a sports therapist to know that this guy is emotionally battered right now. He’s nowhere close to the back that we’ve seen in bursts from him last year, and his fumble problems right now are just compounding the woes. Bigelow wears his emotions on his sleeves, and all it takes is one look at him to know that he isn’t right.

It’s tough because the only thing that can help him is continued encouragement and more touches, but it’s tough to play a back that can’t hold onto the ball.

Makeshift Offensive Line Struggles
Cal’s offensive line had one of their rougher performances during the season. The Bears are already down two starters in Chris Adcock and Matt Cochran, but Cal’s most glaring problems were when WSU sent just three pass rushers. These perplexing gaffes have come up quite often this season.

One the first sack, Freddie Tagaloa and Steven Moore barely got a hand on their respective defensive ends. On the second, Alejandro Crosthwaite couldn’t pull in time to block out his defender.

The offensive line as a whole was under duress given the heat that WSU was sending at Goff. Throw in a few penalties that negated a few big plays, and that about sums up the afternoon for the Bears line in a nutshell.

Secondary Struggles
Cal’s secondary is a battered patchwork unit of players desperately looking for answers. Cal allowed a one-hipped Connor Halliday to throw for a whopping 521 yards, 3 TDs and just 1 pick. We know that Cal had their hands full against WSU’s air raid, but very few in their worst nightmares could have envisioned Halliday going for over half a thousand yards.

At the safety positions, I thought both Cameron Walker and Michael Lowe had some pretty good games. Walker made some nice plays on the ball and with the exception of a play when he didn’t wrap up on the receiver, allowing the WSU receiver to run untouched afterwards for a long TD. Lowe also notched the first Cal interception in forever, but then followed it up with an inexplicable decision to flip into the endzone, despite his knee clearly touching the field on the return. But I feel slightly better about these positions than I do at the cornerback spots.

First off, Cal had to play with a gimpy Kam Jackson who didn’t make it through the game, and Stefan McClure looks like he might be out for a little while after getting up gimpy. On top of all that, Joel Willis had to be carted off the field after a kickoff return in which the returnman never actually returned the ball. Just process that for a second.

Then there was Isaac Lapite. Poor, poor Isaac Lapite.

I’m not even mad. It became clear that the walk on DB was busting his tail off, but he just looked way over his head out there. Lapite was getting burned for long TDs, drawing all sorts of pass interference penalties, and capped off his torturous afternoon by getting simply thrown down by a Coug receiver for a TD. I very rarely, if ever rip on players in posts, and it’d be ridiculous to start now. It’s really the instance of a player trying his best but looking simply outmatched against Pac-12 receivers. You can’t knock a guy for that, but just hope there’re some other defenders ready to step up.

Speaking of which, I thought Adrian Lee looked okay in his most significant minutes in his time as a Bear. There were clearly a few technical issues here and there, but he showed nice grit, making two key plays with two breakups in Cal’s territory to limit the Cougars to just a FG.

The only silver lining here is that Cal’s secondary will at least be pretty seasoned by the time the season ends. They may continue to get torched, but at least we’ll head into next season with nearly every cornerback on the team having started at least one game.

Perplexed by Lack of Pressure
I said in my keys to the game that Cal had to send pressure at Connor Halliday. He’s a completely different passer when he gets a hand in his face and feels pressure in the pocket. But yesterday, you could count the number of blitzes on one hand. And the very first blitz of the game led to an interception directly into the hands of Michael Lowe.

I understand given the speed at which the ball gets out on top of the number of receivers in Leach’s offense that you can’t afford to send the house, but the lack of pressure was truly perplexing and frustrating. Cal had their hands full as it was, but dug their own hole by giving Halliday free time and space to shred up Cal’s battered defense.

Special Teams Returns
Special Teams returned to being the most solid unit on the field for the Bears. D’Amato continues to play like one of the best kickers in the nation, while Cole Leininger also continues his very solid sophomore campaign.

In addition, the Bears limited Washington State to a 16.3 average on kickoff returns and just 5.3 yards on their punt returns.

It’s still early, but I’m still hoping that last week’s special teams performance against Oregon was more of an anomaly than a sign of more breakdowns to come.

Final Bright Spots
Really it was just Jared Goff and Chris Harper on Offense. I actually don’t think it was Jared Goff’s best game this season, but it was a nice bounceback after the debacle at Oregon. Goff broke Pat Barnes’ single game record by throwing for 504 yards, 2 TDs and an interception. The good feelings around the record is nullified a bit by Cal’s poor running attack and lack of points, but it’s still amazing that a true freshman has become the first player in Cal history to throw for over 400 yards three times in a game.

Goff still throws the ball up for grabs a bit when pressured. Goff launched another ball into double coverage for the third interception of this type this season. Again, Goff is the least of our worries right now, but a quarterback can’t continually make the same mistakes, so that’s a little concerning.

Finally, you can’t say enough about Chris Harper’s performance yesterday. Harper hauled in 14 passes for 216 yards and a score. We all knew Chris Harper was good, but yesterday was the first time I thought, “This guy could be really, REALLY good.” It’s been exciting to watch.

Moving Forward
I know it sounds like I’m venting, but a lot of my frustration is that I really believed that each week, the team was buying in little by little. That regardless of the outcomes of the games, the team was slowly making progress into becoming a better team. I was willing to accept the idea that this season would be a rebuilding one if it meant that the team that played in Week 13 would be markedly better than the team that played during Week 1.

Right now, that looks like very difficult scenario to imagine. In all but a few categories, it looks like the team is not only getting unhealthier but also regressing in many regards.

I don’t know what else to say. With the injuries and lack of confidence right now, I don’t see it getting much better any time soon. I’m absolutely going to keep supporting this team, and continue to believe that the team is depositing money into their proverbial bank. Admittedly, it’s a tough proposition, but hey we’re Bears fans. We’ve seen worse.

I think. Read the rest of the post and comments here >>

Washington State Keys to the Game

Heading into the season, many Cal fans including yours truly penciled this game as a win for the Bears. Four brutal games into the season, and now the Bears find themselves as slight home underdogs against Mike Leach's WSU Cougars.

Words don't describe how big of a game this is for the Bears. Beyond just needing to get back into the win column, the Bears need something good for them in the worst possible way. A win over the Cougars isn't going to make their season, but it's not difficult to see a loss breaking it. For the first time in weeks, the Bears face off a manageable opponent, albeit an improved team in the Cougs, and a loss would all but crush the team's already bruised confidence.

The Bears need some validation that the work they've been putting in and the tough lessons learned during blowout losses to highly ranked teams were not all for naught.

Again, Cal needs this win, and they need it bad.

Let's get to a couple of quick keys to the game.

Pass Rush Needs to Come Alive
Cal's lack of pass rushing has been supremely disappointing this season. Through four games, the Bears have netted just 4 sacks, and just one in the past two games.

Part of it has been the inability by Cal's pass rushers to get in the backfield, but part of it has also been scheme. Cal's gameplanned for mobile quarterbacks in all of their games this season, and for the first time they face a WSU QB in Connor Halliday who isn't going to be used a designed runner.

That's going to allow the Bears to get a bit more aggressive and creative in their pass rushing schemes, and if there were ever a week to being implementing those wrinkles in Cal's defense, this is it.

Not be forewarned, WSU doesn't give up a boat load of sacks. Their offense, much like Dykes and Franklin's offense is designed to get the ball out quickly, and opposing pass rushers rarely have the time to get to the quarterback before the pass is already out.

Instead of looking for sacks, Cal needs to be looking for disruption. I've been watching Connor Halliday for seemingly forever, and while he's a strong-armed gunslinger, he can be pressured into making more mistakes than almost any other QB in the conference. While Halliday is second in the conference in passing yards, he's ranked last in interceptions with 9 on the season. He's the type who can give your 4 TDs and 4 INTs in the same game.

When opposing defenses bring pressure, and he finds a pass rusher bearing down on him, Halliday has a tendency to throw mechanics to the wayside, often throwing errant passes off of his back foot. The Bears need to bank on Halliday's penchant for brainfarts by bringing the heat. It doesn't always have to be in the form of blitzes, but Cal's got to begin getting creative in the ways they bring the heat, by disguising their pressure, whether it's in the form of delays, stunts or twists. This is not the time to send four straight on. We've seen that, and it hasn't worked then, and it's not going to work now.

Stretch the Field Vertically
At first glance, Washington State's pass defense has been hugely impressive statistically. The Cougars are ranked 11th in the nation, giving up just 159 yards per game. Those are fantastic numbers.

Then you look at the passing offenses they've faced, and suddenly things don't look that impressive anymore. Check out these passing offense rankings: Auburn (92nd), USC (100th), Souther Utah (FCS), Idaho (69th), Stanford (79th). In other words, the Cougars have benefited statistically from facing some of the worst passing offenses in the country, and when they played against a mediocre passing offense in Stanford, they were torched for 322 passing yards.

Stats may lie, but your eyes don't. After watching the WSU Stanford game, WSU's biggest vulnerability in their secondary is their ability to give up big plays. Their safeties can be overly aggressive, which leads to their cornerbacks often being left alone on an island. That presents an issue when those corners are matched up against speedy wide receivers.

That sounds like a juicy matchup if Cal can utilize Bryce Treggs and Kenny Lawler at the outside receiver positions, and Chris Harper getting some nice matchups against nickelbacks and linebackers at his new inside receiver position. Cal's got the speed to do some work against the Cougs' D. They just need to take advantage of it.

Defense Has to Shed Blocks Quicker
The Air Raid offense is designed to space out defenders and get the ball out into space quickly. Philosophically, it's very much like what Cal's offense is designed to do. One of the biggest difference is that instead of running the ball equally, Leach prefers to get the ball out to his receivers quickly to his backs and receivers swing passes.

And like we saw last week, if Cal's defenders can't shed blocks on those quick swings, the Cougars are going to eat Cal's secondary alive. Dykes has been saying that Cal's secondary has been getting better and better each day of practice this week, with a lot of it having to do with finally being able to play the same players consistently throughout the entire week of practice. Let's hope so, because Cal needs its secondary to be physical and technically sound in getting to the ball.

Outlook
I'll say it again: the Bears desperately need this win. You gotta think that they know this all too well. I see Jared Goff getting back into a rhythm, and though Cal's D will give up some big plays, I think they play with a bit more aggression and confidence this week, forcing enough WSU mistakes to squeak out an ugly win.

If Cal loses this one, expect the wheels to being really falling off. Let's hope desperation does some big things.

Prediction:
Cal 27
WSU 24
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Oregon Recap

Sorry for the short break from blogging. My wife and I actually welcomed Baby BearwithFangs into the world this past weekend so we were a bit tied up with things. In fact, I was actually able to catch the first three quarters of the game while I was coaching my wife through her contractions.

It's a good thing I had the birth of my first son to help me forget about the debacle that was Saturday's 55-16 loss against the Ducks. It's always nice to have perspective

I mean, what can I say? It was an absolutely demoralizing game from beginning to end. The Bears rolled into Autzen Stadium ready to shock the world, only to play a game in some of the worst conditions I've ever seen for a football game. I mean, I was there when the Bears played the Ducks in a rain soaked Memorial Stadium back in 2008, but this looked like a completely different beast.

The Bears seemed like they couldn't get a grip, both literally and figuratively. While the defense struggled to keep up with the Ducks' skill players in space, the offense seemed absolutely unprepared for the weather conditions, coughing the ball up in its own territory on its first four possessions to start the game.

From there, the Bears would again fail to make it a game after falling behind by 41-0 in the first half.

This is going to be a shorter post since I'm already over it and ready to move on to Washington State, but let's get to the big points.

Missed Opportunities
From the early get go, it looked like Cal was poised to get their asses handed to them, but the big story had to be Cal's turnovers early on and their inability to capitalize on Oregon's mistakes. The Ducks had a difficult time handling the ball in the rainy conditions as well, but Cal failed to recover any of their fumbles until they were already down by 27 points.

Cal seemed allergic to the football, as Goff, Bigelow, Muhammad and Goff again took turns fumbling the ball. It's hard to imagine a sloppier or more nightmarish of a start to the game.

I completely get the weather. I do. It looked awful. Like, they should call off the game kind of awful.

But you simply can't turn the ball over four times on your first four possessions in your own territory and expect to have a chance in hell to win the game. After the Ducks scored on 3 of their first 4 posessions, it was pretty much all she wrote.

Defense..A little bit better, but still a mess
Wait, what?

Call me crazy, but I don't think the defense looked all that awful throughout the whole game on Saturday. I mean given how bad we've looked to start off the season, along with how good the Ducks have looked on offense, I honestly think we weren't that awful. Bad? Yes. But not nearly as bad as we've been the past few weeks. And I get that the Ducks called off the dogs when they could have full well have kept the gas on the pedal. And I also fully understand that the weather affected them almost as much as they affected us (though not even close).

But a lot of my thinking that the D wasn't THAT bad had to do with the fact that we were actually pretty stout in defending the A and B gaps in the trenches. Anything outside of the hashmarks were a complete disaster, but we were pretty good at taking away their inside running game. The Bears were absolutely abused whenever the ball carrier bounce the ball outside whether it was on the zone read or on WR screens however.

It comes back to the same issues:

1) Linebackers and safeties still slow to react.
The lack of seasoned veterans at the safety position was none more apparent than on Saturday. There were way too many times when Cal's backers and safeties were simply out of position and confused. I've liked the physical play of Demariay Drew this season, but he was tricked time and time again against the zone read. I don't think it's a coincidence that Cameron Walker saw increased snaps at his safety position on Saturday. I do think that Michael Lowe did pretty well in coverage though, and defended a few passes nicely. 2) Inability to shed blocks.
It's been really disconcerting to see how much Cal's defenders have struggled to shed blocks. Cal's DBs were abused on WR screens all day. On top of that, there were some plays where Cal's DBs were still being blocked 15-20 yards down field 4 or 5 seconds after the ball had been snapped. An inability to shed a block for that length of time is simply mind boggling to me.

Cal's linebackers and defensive ends didn't fare much better, though they had the task of shaking off offensive linemen. Still, they were just absolutely stonewalled leaving the wide part of the fields absolutely unmanned and free for Ducks backs and Marcus Mariota to play with.

3) Poor Tackling in space.
This falls back to effort and coaching, but Cal's players continue to take poor angles and struggle wrapping up in one-on-one battles in the open field. They do a pretty decent job of gang tackling on inside runs (and this wasn't the case early in the season), but they're still struggling in space.

Zach Kline Makes Debut
After Goff looked visibly shaken and unable to hold onto the football, Zach Kline got his first collegiate snaps under some of the worst conditions anyone could ask for. Down by a boatload against the 2nd ranked team under some of the worst conditions I've seen in a college football game.

He clearly gave the offense a bit of a spark when he entered the game, moving the offense down the field until some miscommunication with his intended receiver Drake Whitehurst led to an endzone interception. By the way, I could be way off here, but it looked like that interception was on Whitehurst. He struggled to shed the block from the DB, and when he figured the play was done, he seemed all too casual about giving up on the play and drifting inside without considering that the play was still very much alive.

Overall, I thought Kline looked alright. He obviously doesn't seem the field as well as Goff does right now, and is a tick slower in going through his progressions, though I don't see it as a night and day difference. But I liked the way he worked the pocket, and did a pretty good job of stepping up into his throws, even when facing a decent pass rush.

It's also important to consider the circumstances and environment when evaluating QB play that night. I think Marcus Mariota is tremendous, and even he struggled throwing the football on Saturday. Kline didn't show the same type of zip and accuracy on his deep throws, and he's admitted that he had to alter his throwing motion to ensure he didn't turn over the football under the wed conditions.

In all, while I don't think Kline did anything to win the starting job, I thought he did well enough in the conditions to give the coaches something to think about. Keep in mind, I think Goff has been very solid as a true freshman, but he's far from being in any position not to be pushed for the starting spot. I said that I thought the battle between Kline and Goff would continue through the season, and I think we're seeing that now. I think Goff still emerges as the starter, but I'm all for whatever will lead to better QB play from both players.

Special Teams back to being "Special"
I didn't have a chance to write up a report card with high marks for Cal's special teams last week and it's a good thing, as I would have looked absolutely foolish doing so.

That's a bit unfair. I will say that Cal's special teams have been very solid throughout the season. That's why it was amazing to see such poor play on coverage, allowing Oregon's Bralon Addison to return not one, but two punts returns for scores. That's only the fourth time in conference history such a thing has happened.

I'm not going to say much else because it was that embarrassing.

Oh, and we missed an extra point. Sigh.

Moving Forward
I decided halfway through the second quarter that I was done with the game. This is the last I'll think about it. There is little to glean from this game other than that we are absolutely awful in typhoon weather. Everything else we saw falls in line with what we've seen from the last few weeks. Our defense is likely going to be one of the worst defenses in the country this season until we learn to shed blocks and trust defensive reads. Our offense is going to run into issues until it finds a consistent running game and one of our QBs continues to grow. Our special teams can't take anything for granted because they're one bad angle away from being embarrassed on Sports Center.

Let's move on to Washington State. Please. For the sake of everyone involves.

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Quarter 1 Report Card: Defense

We continue handing out 1st quarter grades just as the Bears get ready to start conference play.

Anyone could tell you the defense's marks during Cal's non-conference slate aren't good. They're the kind of grades that have Cal's head coaches and fanbase throwing up their hands and shaking their heads.

Well no use prolonging this any further, let's get onto it.

Defensive Line: D
For the second year in a row, Cal's heralded defensive line has been a massive disappointment. You can really look at the issues at defensive tackle and defensive end in separate categories simply because the sources of the issues are a bit different, though the symptoms appear to be idential.

In the interior, starters Deandre Coleman and Villiami Moala were expected to do amazing things in their Cal careers. Consensus 4 and 5 star players respectively by numerous scouting sources, both players had the high school resume and sheer physical tools to develop into dominant interior linemen at both the collegiate and professional levels.

Their play so far has been underwhelming.

While both are active and physically impressive players, neither have been able to put it together to become disruptive tackles for the Bears. They rarely force double teams, and though they keep their blockers engaged, have shown little presence in the backfield. They've shown a decent job of pushing back blockers, and have been decent in clogging up running lanes, but have almost nothing to show for it statistically. The two have combined for just two tackles for a loss all season with no sacks.

At the defensive end position, Cal's had to scramble a bit due to health. Cal fans eagerly awaited to see Chris McCain and Brennan Scarlett man the DE positions and wreak havoc in the backfield. McCain has played in just 1.5 games and Scarlett has yet to see the field altogether.

McCain has failed to shed his reputation as an "at times disruptive player, but unable to put it altogether consistently." He still struggles to shed blocks and contain edges, and for all his pass rushing abilities, has failed to notch a single sack, let alone a tackle for a loss.

With McCain and Scarlett's injuries, the result has been former walkon Dan Camporeale and JUCO transfer Kyle Kragen manning the ends, and though both have shown a few glimpses of competent play, both have been nearly invisible in games and on stat sheets. Their issues are a bit different. There have been moments where they've been in position to make the play, only to simply get beat--either by a lack of speed to get there in time to make a play, or an inability to shed a blocker.

Now, I have a very strong suspicion that the defensive line is coached to be gap sound and maintain clear tackle lanes for the linebackers, but there's also a good chance that it just looks this way simply because the defensive line simply looks like it stays in place play after play. The line hasn't been disruptive, nor has it really taken away blockers for anyone. They've just kind of been...there.

Cal's worst defenses in years past have been characterized by poor line play, and it's no different here. Coach Buh has sent very little in terms of pressure and blitzing this season, but the players have still struggled to generate any type of pocket disruption or pressure even when sending four. It's been at the least perplexing and often maddening.

Linebackers: F
I didn't realize how poor linebacker play had been until I went back and rewatched the games during the bye week. I initially thought that poor play in the trenches and blown assignments by the secondary were all to blame for Cal's awful play on defense.

But the linebacking play made me sit up at times.

For the most parts, Cal's linebackers look absolutely confused out there. The fact that sophomore Jalen Jefferson with his career 7 starts heading into the season, is the most veteran linebacker on the field has made itself ridiculous evident.

Cal's LBs have consistently been out of place, whether it's struggling to read the zone option or recognizing pass plays in time.

But what's been most frustrating is that when they do manage to recognize the play, they're absolutely getting manhandled by blockers. They're really getting taken out of the play all too easily. Part of that is an inability to shed blocks, though a lot of it has to do with their lack of experience in seeing plays develop and knowing where the blockers are going to be coming from ahead of time. By the time they know it's a stretch run for example, they show little ability to weave through blockers, often being pancaked or taken out of the picture entirely.

Also, I can't even really talk about their pass rushing abilities, because Coach Buh has dialed up so few blitz packages this season.

Now, I don't think our backers are bad. I actually think they're quite talented. I just think they're young and it simply is taking them awhile to get caught up to the speed of collegiate play.

Missing Nick Forbes and Nathan Broussard has been really critical. I think we expected a bit too much out of Jalen Jefferson (who made just his 10th start of his young career), Khairi Fortt (who's coming off a year of injury and rehab), Michael Barton and Hardy Nickerson (both redshirt freshmen). I don't know. I knew there would be growing pains with a young linebacking corps, but I didn't think it'd be this bad.

Secondary: D-
Here's what we know about the secondary:

1) Kameron Jackson is our best corner by far, and it isn't close. In fact, Cal's inability to find a solid corner on the other (left) side of the field has all but destroyed the confidence of Cal's secondary.

Stefan McClure has been up and down in his return his shredded ACL injury, and when the coaches have shifted him over to the nickel position in those packages, walkon Isaac Lapite has been picked on mightily by opposing passing attacks. Scratch that, Portland State picked on McClure when he manned that side of the field as well.

Like I said, Jackson is solid, though he isn't a finished product by any means. But a competent and confident corner looks like an all-conference player on this team right now.

2) Missing Avery Sebastian might have been the biggest injury blow to this defense. I'm not saying Sebastian was necessarily the best player of this defense, but the lack of his presence is most felt right now.

Consider this, Sebastian had 12 tackles before going down this season. What's the big deal? He had those tackles in the first half against Northwestern. Along with an interception.

Once Michael Lowe missed time, we found we were down to Alex Logan and redshirt freshman Demariay Drew. Logan, God bless him, has looked just lost at times, while physically outmatched at others. Drew has looked decent filling in for Sebastian, but has had his share of missed tackles and blown assignments (see Ohio State).

Things got so bad that true freshman Cameron Walker made the switch from CB to safety just 4 days before the Ohio State game, while Joel Willis who had been converted from DB to WR, converted back to DB early on in the season.

The good news is that Walker and Willis actually looked like they had some potential out there. There are some technical things they can improve upon, but I found myself shrugging and saying, "Not bad, not bad at all," during the Ohio State game.

Michael Lowe should be healthy and returning soon, and though he hasn't been a star playmaker for the Bears, we absolutely need anyone with experience right now manning the backfield.

3) This secondary is going to just have to ride the pain train this year. Unless Cal finds a pass rush, they're going to have their hands full against opposing offenses. So far the result has been one of the worst passing defenses in the country. The Bears are currently ranked 11th in yards per game allowed at (294.3) and 109th in opposing QB ratings.

In other words, opposing QBs look like Heisman contenders against us.

Overall Defense Grade (not an average): F I hate doing this because no part of it feels good, but there's no way to sugarcoat it. After 3 games, the Bears might just have the worst defense in the country.

Cal is 120th in scoring defense, surrendering 42 points per game. The only teams to give up more? Idaho, Buffalo, FIU, and New Mexico State. Even UNLV is giving up fewer points than us. UNLV PEOPLE.

Scarier numbers: Cal's giving up 556.3 yards per game. Only Buffalo and New Mexico State have been worse in the country in this category.

I'm not going to even bring up the strength of schedule excuse, because one look at Cal's performance in these games and you know your argument is shot.

So who's the blame? I'm going to save some of my thoughts for a later post on defensive coordinator Andy Buh, because I think he merits a separate post.

I will say that I don't think it's entirely a schematic issue. On most big plays I've seen the Bears give up, it hasn't really been a matter of bad scheme. Players are for the most part in position to make plays. They simply aren't.

And that leads me to the next point. I'm not blaming the players, but you can't deny that they are getting abused out there. They look lost, confused, are reacting way too late, and seemingly forgetting their instincts and technique out there.

That ultimately falls on coaching. The coaches need to do a better job of improving their technique, and need to do a better job of preparing them of their assignments. For Cal to be genuinely surprised by Portland State's lack of the zone read is not an excuse that can fly. You can't get outcoached by an FCS squad. Not when you make half a million dollars a year.

With all that said about the lack of player execution, the Bears are not going to survive in this league if they can't generate a pass rush. I've been appalled by the lack of blitzes this year, and I'm not even saying you have to get blitz happy like Clancy Pendergast. But it looks as if the Bears just send 3-4 on 90% of the plays. Sure they may feint blitzes presnap, but opposing offenses can toy with defenses when they know they're only going to need to fend off 4 pass rushers, who by the way, are struggling to do anything anyway.

Anyway, I can sum it up with, "We suck, and barring amazing coaching in the near future or miraculous recoveries, are going to continue to suck." Am I going to be cheering and rooting for such progress? Absolutely. But the first three games make me think more along the lines of, "Let's just try to suck a little less."

Gawd, please get better Cal defense. Please.

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1st Quarter Report Card: Offense

Holy moly, we're already a quarter into the college football season! Well, technically we're only 3 weeks into a 13 week season, but the Bears have already played a fourth of their games, so I'm marking this as the end of the first grading period.

Heading into the season, I had probably more interest and curiosity about this team than I've had about a Cal squad in a long, long time. I simply didn't know what we were going to get.

And after three games, a few things are obvious: this is a young football team that's learning on the go. For whatever expectations you had about this team, you can't deny that a lot of these players are playing their most extended, significant minutes in their young careers. The result has been a 1-2 start: including a (mostly) close loss to 18th ranked Northwestern, a way too-tight win over FCS Portland State, and a "was not close at all, then kinda close for a little bit, before being a not so close again" loss to 4th ranked Ohio State.

We'll get to defense later, only because I can't stomach writing that out today). Let's start with the offense.

Quarterback: B+
This is a difficult to evaluate since you can't ignore the fact that we're talking about a true freshman here. In this regard, I find myself sometimes being too lenient on him, and sometimes perhaps giving him more credit than he deserves. The whole, "But he's great for a freshman!" type of deal.

But looking back Jared Goff's play, you can't help but not be impressed with his him, true freshman or not. By the end of the Northwestern game, it was easy to see what made Sonny Dykes and Tony Franklin name Goff the starter over two upperclassmen.

Goff has shown all the qualities you'd want in a quarterback running their type of offense: he's been (mostly) smart with the football, has shown good to great accuracy, decent pocket awareness, and has a quick release.

On top of that, he's been seemingly unflappable. He's gone up against some of the top defenses in the country in his first three games, and has shown an ability to bounce back from mistakes and turnovers. Granted, he hasn't played in any away games yet, but I've still yet to get a sense that he's ever truly been rattled.

The result has been the true freshman leading the nation in passing yards. In just three games, Goff has thrown for 1301 yards, completing 61.1% of his passes for 7 TDs and 4 interceptions.

I'm trying to evaluate his quarterback play objectively, and for the most part, it's clear he's the least of our concerns. Areas for improvement? You want to see him read the defenses a bit better. Two of his interceptions this season have come on misfires on deep vertical routes to Chris Harper. Both times, he's failed to take into account the safety playing deep on those plays.

Ywant to see Goff continue to improve in reading coverage both presnap and during plays. It's been encouraging to see him go through his progressions and pull the ball down when nothing's there, and already, he's seeing the field a lot faster than Cal's previous starting QBs. But that's not to say it can't get a whole lot better.

Secondly, he could be a bit smarter with the ball. Though 2 of Goff's interceptions haven't been on him, there have been more than a handful of interceptions this season that have been thrown right into the hands of stone-clawed defenders. His interception number could easily be as much or more than his TD total.

Runningback: C-
This is probably the most disappointing unit on offense right now, thought not necessarily the worst. I had really high hopes for Cal's backfield this season, only to be underwhelmed thus far.

Through 3 games, not a single rusher has reached the century mark in a game, and Cal's backfield has combined for just 356 yards (119 ypg), which is good for 99th in the country. On top of that, we've had just 2 rushing TDs by a runningback this season.

Naturally, the offensive line play has been a big factor which we'll get to in a bit, but the runningbacks are not without fault here.

And you can't have this conversation without mentioning Brendan Bigelow's disappointing start to the season. Bigelow started this season with a bang, ripping off huge yardage on the first drive against Northwestern. Since then? He's been incredibly underwhelming. We've failed to see the type of burst and open field vision that we had hoped for from Bigelow, who last season looked simply unstoppable at times in his limited role.

Bigelow is currently averaging less than 4 yards a carry right now and has failed to reach the endzone at all this season. Again, has the o-line been a factor? Of course. But his vision and ability to break through arm tackles simply isn't there right now.

True freshman Khalfani Muhammad has at times, looked superb for a true freshman, and I'll go as far to say that he's had spurts where he's been the best runningback in the rotation. He runs much harder than I thought he would, and has had a few times in which he's shown his world class speed. He's still learning on the job however, and replays will show multiple instances in which he could have broken off much longer runs had he just made a different decision here and there on certain plays.

Daniel Lasco has been the question mark, as he missed out against Portland State completely. He didn't come into the Ohio State game until much later when the score was already decided. Still he looked great against the Buckeyes, and ended up leading the Bears in rushing and scored the only rushing TD by a runningback.

At this point, I've got to think that Lasco might deserve first snaps as he's likely our best RB to hit the holes in between tackles. I think the Bears are going to continue to find ways to get Bigelow into space, and become a bigger factor in the passing game, as he simply isn't getting it done on the ground in the trenches right now. And keep plugging Muhammad in as this kid's getting better and better with each game.

Offensive Line: C
This grade might seem a bit surprising given that the unit has already surrendered a whopping 12 sacks on the season and is only averaging 118.67 yards per game on the ground.

But after watching game tape and focusing on offensive line play, it honestly isn't as bad as some are making it out to be. In fact, I'll go as far as to say that the offensive line play has steadily improved over the last three games.

Go back and watch the tape against OSU. We're not witnessing a complete breakdown by the offensive line. It's usually one missed block here and there. The sack on Goff which led to the fumble was LT Freddie Tagaloa simply not getting wide enough against the speed pass rusher. Negative rushing plays were the result of a pulling guard not quite getting to their gap in time to completely block out a defender. We're talking about individual players making mistakes and whiffing on specific plays.

Now I know it'll appear as if the pocket is collapsing constantly on Goff. But remember Cal's vertical blocking scheme, which they've used more so this year than they did at Louisiana Tech because of sheer amount of passing they've been doing early on in the season. The offensive line is meant to backpedal quickly, and are counting on a quick release and smart pocket work by their quarterback. For the most part, Goff has been extraordinary in this, but there have been a few times when Goff has held on to the ball a second or two longer than he should.

The point is, while I think o-line hasn't been fantastic, I have noticed a steady increase in their play. When you've got a line starting two freshmen two sophomores, and a junior making a position change, you're going to see some growing pains early on. But I feel ever so slightly less anxious about this unit today than I did at the beginning of the season.

Wide Receiver: A-
Cal's wide receiving corps is easily the best unit on offense, and might be the most talented, deepest unit on the entire team.

The #BearRaid offense, combined with competency at quarterback and fantastic talent at the receiver position has led to some of the best receiving numbers in...well perhaps ever. As it stands, Cal's on pace of crushing every receiving record by the end of the season.

It starts with what might be the best receiving duo in the country in X receiver Bryce Treggs and Z receiver Chris Harper. In just three games, they've caught a combined 49 passes for 644 yards and 4 TDs.

For some context, last year Keenan Allen didn't top the 300 yard receiving mark until the 5th game of the season. Both Treggs and Harper have done it in just 3. Well 2 and a half games for Harper actually.

But it doesn't stop there. The Bears have been fortunate to have considerable depth and health at both the Y and H receiver positions in Jackson Bouza and Richard Rodgers, who have contributed a combined 214 yards and 2 TDs themselves.

And the depth at the receiver position has made itself evident, with Maurice Harris, Kenny Lawler, Darius Powe, Stephen Anderson and James Grisom all taking turns making critical and at times, highlight grabs.

So the production at the receiver position has been nothing short of fantastic.

Areas of improvement? The clear answer is downfield blocking. Cal's receivers have struggled to maintain blocks long enough for Cal's backs to break open long runs, but I've seen a lot of improvement in just the past two games. Short of Richard Rodgers, Cal hasn't had a physically dominant receiver as a blocker this year, but again, the season is still young.

Also, Cal's had a few critical drops early in the season, most notably one that was returned for a defensive score against Northwestern. But there have been a few other drops, especially in the endzone, that could have given the Bears some additional, and much needed points. I do think this is also getting better, as I think I only counted one drop against Ohio State, but I could be wrong.

Again, like quarterback, you can't complain too much about the play at wide receiver. I've been really pleased with the corps. A few more downfield blocks and more consistency might result in one of the best receiving units in the country.

Overall Offense Grade (not an average): B
Yes, the issues are apparent. The Bears are on track of having their weakest rushing output in years, and they've continued to struggle in the redzone. For all the hoopla about Cal's BearRaid offense, we're still only averaging 33.7 points per game. That's good, but far from being mind-blowingly good.

However, according to Football Scoop, we're on track to having the fastest offense in the history of college football. Their research shows that we're averaging a staggering 95 snaps per game (94.66 actually), averaging 6 yards per play. Of course, a lot could change between now and the end of the season, but so far the results are promising.

I mean, take all the factors into account. So far, the Bears have faced off against the #18 and #4 teams in the country in Northwestern and Ohio State respectively, and have still put up over 30 points in each of those games. They're doing this in their first three games in a brand new system, with three new starters on the offensive line, and oh yeah, a true freshman quarterback.

While everything isn't perfect now, I can't see how you wouldn't be at the very least optimistic about the future.

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Ohio State Recap

(Goff Rolls, the Bears Stumble)

When you’re dealing with a young team and a brand new coaching staff, it’s hard to tell what you’ll get exactly when facing off against highly ranked teams like the Buckeyes. Sure, we knew the game was likely to get ugly but you still held out hope that things could get interesting.

The game started off with about as bad of a start as I’ve ever seen from Cal. I mean nightmarishly bad. And unlike previous weeks, it was a poor start from both the offense and the defense. Not only did the Bears give up scores on their first three drives, but the offense started off with a 3 and out, a high snap which led to a punt, and a fumble.

The Bears responded well enough in the first half, outscoring the Buckeyes 20-10 to bring themselves within 11 points by the end of the first half. And for a while, the game absolutely was interesting. In the midst of the cringe-inducing big plays and drives were moments of pure entertainment and some grit from the young Bears squad.

Still, the Bears fell apart in a critical third quarter, where Cal’s defense again gave up 21 points, while Cal’s offense was held to just 12 plays and 7 points in the 3rd quarter.

I suppose, in a lot of ways, the game shook out almost exactly the way most people thought it would. Cal’s defense showed it couldn’t stop a nosebleed, the offense, while being more competent, still struggled in a key moments of the game and failed to keep pace with the Buckeyes’ offense.

It’s the type of game that tells you a whole lot while leaving you with even more questions all at the same type.

Let’s get down to the key points.

Defense Scrambling for Answers
Like Sonny Dykes said, at this point, the defense is what it is: pretty awful. They know it, we know it, and opposing teams know it. The defense is just an amalgamation of the worst possible circumstances right now. We’re without some key starters, our young players are learning on the (painful) go, our star players are disappointing, and we’re showing very little creativity or aggressiveness in terms of our defensive schemes.

I don’t know what’s more alarming: the big plays, or the propensity for our defense to get absolutely rolled on long drives. Either way, the Buckeyes had their way with our defense tonight.

The Buckeyes scored on 8 of their 13 drives, with 7 of those going for touchdowns. Six of their eight drives consisted of less than 10 plays, and honestly, the only reason the last few were extended drives were because the Buckeyes wanted to simply grind down the clock.

So what’re going to do? I don’t know about you, but it’s hard to see too much light at the end of the tunnel. The bright side is that it’s hard to imagine things getting that much worse. But here’s I want all Cal fans to remember: so much of this season is going to be about progress. I really liked the way some of our young players like Cameron Walker and Joel Willis did filling in at the safety and CB positions respectively. We got decent pressure on the two or three times we actually dialed up a blitz. Some of our players are going to have to get healthy at some point.

Am I grasping for straws? Probably. But I’m running out of beer, so I have to find other ways to cope.

Jared Goff Keeps Rolling
Let me start off with this: the more this kid plays the more I like his game. His play would be sharp for any collegiate quarterback, but what we’re seeing from a true freshman is really impressive. Honestly, he simply isn’t playing like one. Goff was 31 for 53 for 372 yards, 3 TDs and an INT.

But he’s got a quick release, he makes those 18 yard outs look effortless, and I love that he’s showing off his athleticism and mobility a bit more. He shows real mature poise and an ability to bounce back from bad plays.

Of course I still counted a few throws that were grimace inducing. He still needs to develop some more consistency on his deep passes. There were also at least 3 drops on would-be interceptions from Buckeye defenders.

But overall, what Goff is doing in his earlier career is nothing short of spectacular. He’s the first Cal QB to throw for 300+ yards in three games since Aaron Rodgers back in 2003. Rodgers did that in his last three games this season. Goff is doing is doing it as a true freshman. And honestly, he was less than 30 yards from making it three 400 yard games in a row. Just chew on that.

Boehmcat Package
Credit goes to CGB for coming up with that term, as it fits perfectly. I was pumped to see Kyle Boehm come in on a few snaps to run the wildcat. During the Northwestern game, my brother remarked that Boehm was the most active player on a sideline that he had ever seen. Seriously, the guy was continued running sprints, high knees, throwing balls, you name it.

And you know what? The Wildcat looked pretty good. I honestly thought they should have kept it going, as the drive stalled as soon as they pulled him out.

I’m thinking we haven’t seen the last of him. Not by a long shot. And remember this: he’s a quarterback, so he can actually throw.

Lack of Running Game Killing the Bears
You knew the Bears had their toughest assignment yet against a talented OSU front seven, but I’ve been supremely disappointed with the lack of a rushing attack right now by the Bears.

I’m starting to think that Brendan Bigelow simply isn’t ready to be a primary back right now. Not only has he struggled to find holes in between the tackles, but he’s been up tripped more by his shoelaces more than any college runningback I’ve seen. Muhammad has been very solid for a true freshman, but he still hasn’t been able to make up for our deficiencies in out other areas.

Daniel Lasco easily looked like the best back yesterday, and though he still runs a bit upright, he might be Cal’s best hope in developing any type of inside running game. He did the best job of all the backs in reading his blocks and finding running lanes.

While the lack of push in the trenches has been troublesome, the most disconcerting thing to see has been the poor blocking in the open field. There were way too many instances in which Cal’s backs could have taken it for more yardage had Cal’s blockers (both olinemen and receivers) taken better angles and technique on their blocks.

Wide Receivers Are Studs
I think we’ve got the best overall wide receiving corps in the conference. Chris Harper and Bryce Treggs are spectacular, but what’s been encouraging is that the depth of this unit is really showing, with multiple players seemingly taking turns each week making big plays.

Nine different Cal receivers hauled in passes this week for 345 yards. Kenny Lawler was this week’s Maurice Harris with his highlight grab, and continued to improve in his role of backing up Treggs. And while it was confusing to see Darius Powe and James Grisom in the same spot, you gotta feel good for the former walkon Grisom for scoring his first collegiate TD.

Special Teams Still the Best Unit
For all the hand wringing over the defense, Cal’s special teams has continue to play like the best unit on the field. You can’t say enough about the job the ST coordinator Mark Tommerdahl has done with this unit.

While it’s common for kickers to turn it up for their senior seasons, Vincenzo D’Amato has been tremendous, knocking in two more field goals, bringing his stats to 8 of 9 made this season.

Punter Cole Leininger was again solid, booting the ball 4 times for a 49 yard average, including a long of 60 yards.

And you know what’s been the best? The lack of big returns. You’re just seeing far better angles on from the coverage team and better wedges. Just so much more confidence from this unit.

We’re Playing to Win
I have to say it’s been pretty refreshing to watch this team compete. While the start of the game was an absolute disaster for the Bears, you wouldn’t have been shocked to see the team continue to faceplant and look lost.

But instead, the Bears buckled down and continued to compete, hard. And beyond that, the coaching staff seemed to send a message with every playcall and decision. They were playing to win.

Faced with a 4th and 7 in a punting situation for most teams, Cal showed they weren’t most teams. Goff lined up as the punter and instead threw a beautiful strike to freshman Caleb Coleman for a first down.

On top of that, we saw a flea flicker and a hook and ladder—in the first half.

This is not about moral victories. The Bears are still 1-2. This is simply me being content with a team that’s truly going to go out there and bust their asses and compete, regardless of the odds. Am I happy with the talent, execution and readiness to play? No, but I know my team isn’t going to throw in the towel, regardless of the scoreboard. And that’s something we haven’t had in a while.

Cal Fans, Where Art Thou?
Just a quick word about the huge number of Ohio State fans at Memorial Stadium. I mean, I get it, the Buckeyes travel well.

But what occurred on Saturday was flat out embarrassing. Buckeyes fans pretty much made it a homefield advantage for Ohio State.

What I wanna know is how the heck that happened. Cal reportedly only released 3500 tickets to Ohio State's ticketing office. That means OSU fans got their tickets through third party ticketing websites? And where are those tickets from? Either the ticketing office allocated far too many tickets to these sites, or way too many Cal fans elected to schill off their tickets. Either way, there was some major selling out going on here.

Moving Forward
The bye couldn’t have come at a better time. The Bears need desperately to get healthy, physically and mentally. Will it make a huge difference against Oregon? Probably not, but the Bears just need some time to collect themselves before they start conference play.

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Ohio State Keys to the Game

("Wha, Cal? Oh, we chillin.")

The Bears head into their marquee showdown against the 3rd ranked Ohio State Buckeyes with seemingly everything to gain and nothing to lose. While Cal's offense seems to be on verge of being one of the more productive offenses in the conference, the Bears' defense finds itself struggling to stay healthy and looking for answers altogether.

Let's face it, the Bears will need to be near perfect in all three phases of the game to pull off the monumental upset. I've looked at how the Bears have done against Top 5 teams, and the history isn't pretty. But make no mistake about it: the Buckeyes aren't invincible nor are they unbeatable. This team can be had. Can they be had by a young team with red zone issues and defensive questions? Absolutely not, but still, they can be had.

While most points are obvious, let's break down the specifics.

Limit the Big Play
The Buckeyes are going to get theirs against Cal's D. Anyone who expects to shutdown Ohio State's offense is out of their bloody mind. Ohio State has all they need to put up considerable yards and points on any defense. The Buckeyes boast a starting offensive line sharing 100 career starts, solid receivers in Corey Brown and Devin Smith, a host of NFL talent in the backfield even without starter Carlos Hyde, and oh, a Heisman candidate in QB Braxton Miller.

Yeah, I know HC Urban Meyer is playing coy about Braxton Miller's chances of playing on Saturday, but did you watch his backup Kenny Guiton play last Saturday? Guiton could start for half the teams in college football right now.

So yeah, this offense is pretty good. And that's a scary prospect for a defense that could be without 5 of their starters and oh yeah, gave up over 500 yards to an FCS squad just a week ago.

I'm not expecting Cal's offense to stymie Ohio State's offense. But Cal needs to do a far better job of not giving up the big plays. The Bears are ranked 110th in the country on plays more than 10 yards allowed. Last week against Portland State, roughly 15% of the Vikings' plays went for more than 10 yards, which shakes out to about 1 play for every possession. That shizzle won't fly against the Buckeyes.

The good news is that Cal's defense has been a bit Jekyll and Hyde in that when they're not giving up explosive plays, they've appeared to look like a halfway decent defense.

The Bears' defense needs to force Ohio State into stringing together 15+ down drives. If so, they put themselves in a prime position to give their offense opportunities to make this a competitive game. While Cal's offense is ahead of the defense at this point, they are nowhere close to being able to compensate for quick scores on defense.

Finish in the Redzone
I have far more confidence that this offense is beginning to put it together. I feel pretty confident that the Bears' offense can move the ball as they've shown in the past few weeks. The issues though are that they are struggling to find a consistent rushing attack and have sputtered in the red zone. Stat whores will tell you the Bears have scored on 100% of their chances in the redzone, and that much is true.

What those Kardashians will fail to mention is they've only scored touchdowns on 50% of their red zone opportunities. While that's led to career numbers for kicker Vincenzo D'amato, that isn't going to cut it against a top 5 team.

The Bears' need that number to be closer to the 66% mark to hang with a Buckeyes' offense that averages close to 40 points per game.

No Turnovers
Seriously. None.

Outlook
It's pretty simple really. The Bears are not so outclassed in talent that the game is immediately out of reach. Cal can very much win this game despite what the pundits and Vegas (Cal +16) might be saying.

And despite what I said earlier, I don't think they need to be perfect. But they can't afford to turn the ball over, they need to capitalize in the redzone, and they can't let the Buckeyes score in less than 10 play drives.

I want to say that Cal can do that, but honestly I'm not sure they're yet. Had this game been played as a bowl, I'd like our chances much better. But with a defense featuring starters making their 2nd or 3rd career starts, I'm far less optimistic about our opportunities.

But sweet jeebus, can you imagine the scene if the Bears finally get it clicking?

Prediction:
Cal 27 Ohio State 42

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Portland State Recap

Oh the life of a Cal fan. Just when I thought I could kick back and enjoy a Saturday afternoon game against an FCS squad, you had to go and have us sweating down to the final possession. IS NOTHING SACRED ANYMORE?

Cal hung on to slip Portland State 37-30 after a 19 hour contest. On one hand, I was incredibly relieved to come out with the win. Now I can go back to being incredibly snobby and judgmental towards teams who fall to FCS teams. Here’s looking at you Oregon State.

On the other, why the hell should I have to be relieved? Cal went down to the wire against a team that had no business upsetting an FCS squad (after having previously gone 0-12 against Pac-12 teams). I know there’s less of a disparity between FBS and FCS teams these days, but there’s still a reason why we play in the Pac-12 and not in the MAC.

Sonny Dykes previously stated that anyone who didn’t expect a dogfight against Portland State was out of their mind. He probably said that after having watched our defense in practice for two months now. We’ve got some major trouble there. The offense, though better, isn’t out of the woods either. Special Teams, you are again the best unit on the field this week.

Whew. Ok, let’s to get the specifics.

Defense in Major Trouble
This defense has issues. Major issues. Like Amanda Bynes and Miley Cyrus type of batshit-out-of-our-mind issues. They look like a mess right now.

You knew we were screwed on Portland State’s second play of the game, when Cal’s entire defense was sucked in on PSU’s playaction, and Vikings quarterback Kieran McDonagh found his receiver wide open down the field for an 81 yard score. On the replay, not only did you see all of Cal’s young LBs stutter inside, but also witness free safety Alex Logan caught completely out of position.

On the ensuing drive, Portland State marched right back down the field for 75 yards and a score, making the Bears look like the FCS team in the process.

The first half feature the Bears showing poor gap discipline, struggling to make their defensive reads, playing out of position, slow to react, shoddy tackles, I mean you name it. Every symptom of a bad defense was on full display in the first half. It was easily one of the worst defensive performances from a Cal team I’ve ever seen. And I’ve see a lot of them.

The Bears did buckle down a bit more in the second half, holding Portland State to just 119 yards and 7 points in the second half, but it does little to erase the horrible memory of giving up 421 yards and 23 points in the first.

There are a couple of factors here. Injuries are obviously a big one. Cal’s currently without both of their starting defensive ends, both starting safeties, their starting middle linebacker and a key defensive lineman. That’s potentially 6 of their 11 defensive starters out with injuries.

Some of it clearly youth. I think when you have a team come out flat in the first half, only to turn it up a notch in the second half in back to back games, it’s obviously a case of a young, injured defense learning to settle in and catch up with the speed of the game.

At the end of the day though, you have to take ownership of a systematic failure on the defense by the coaches and players. Andy Buh needs to step up and continue to find ways to improve his young defense. Not only is technique poor right now, but schematically, this defense is behind the 8 ball.

Real Lack of Pass Rush
More specifically, the Bears went way too long without exerting any pressure on the quarterback, often electing to only send four pass rushers who did absolutely nothing to disrupt the pocket.

I understand that Buh favors staying in base formations to prevent any big plays, but there are ways to get pressure on opposing quarterbacks without sending the house. Yet, I saw just a handful of twists and stunts in the second half.

In addition to that, Cal’s defensive linemen have been a supreme disappointment so far in disrupting the pocket. Part of that is having Brennan Scarlett and Chris McCain out, but seemingly all four of Cal’s defensive linemen are getting stonewalled and pushed back by an FCS line. Incredibly disconcerting.

Defensive Future?
It’s going to be a long season. There’s no other way to sugarcoat it. All you can really hope is that some of the young defensive players grow up quickly, some of the more injured veterans come back sooner than later, and that Buh finds a way to make some adjustments because right now it isn’t working.

It’s not about trying to blank teams each week. It’s about having pride as a defense, and trying to become a one that’s one to be feared by opposing offenses. Right now, Cal’s defense looks hesitant, confused, and is clearly learning on the job.

Jared Goff
Switching to offense, you’ve got to be impressed with the job Jared Goff has done in his young career. While the freshman gungslinger had a few misthrows, including a few behind his receiver in the endzone and a few deep balls you know he’d want back, he has continued to look pretty sharp.

Goff again went over the 400 yard mark in back to back weeks, going 33-51 for 485 yards and 2 TDs. Goff’s performance marks the first time a Cal QB has gone over 400 yards since Pat Barnes did it back in 1996. Goff’s yardage total through two games is the most from a true freshman since Colt Brennan back in 2007.

Yardage is one thing, but you have to really watch Goff to appreciate what he’s doing as a true freshman. He has an ability to make some really difficult throws look routine, and has been incredibly poised on 3rd downs. I continue to be impressed with the way he goes through his progressions, and makes fairly decent decisions with the football.

On the flip side, you do want to see him take a little better care of the ball. Though he didn’t actually turn the ball over, he did have two fumbles in the first half. He had a few coverage sacks in the first half, and there were a few throws where he could have been picked off.

Most disappointing though were the handful of overthrows on deep passes that could have really put the Bears in a comfortable position throughout the game.

All in all, the quarterback position is about the least of our concerns right now, which is something Cal fans haven’t been able to say for a while. Given that what we’re witnessing is coming from a true freshman, you’ve got to be pretty optimistic moving forward.

Offensive Line Continues to Stutter
You’ve got to be alarmed though at the poor run blocking performance so far in the season by this offensive line. It was easy dismiss part of it after seeing how many of Cal’s runs were aimed to hit the edges, but there were times when defenders were knifing into the backfield completely untouched. Brendan Bigelow had 18 carries for 75 yards (4.2 ypc) and true freshman Khalfani Muhammad earned 68 yards on 13 carries (5.2 ypc). Not awful numbers, but certainly disappointing considering the opposing defense involved here.

On top of that, it’s shocking to me how often Cal gives up sacks when opposing defenses send just 3-4 rushers. Cal’s flat out losing one on one battles, and Cal’s guards are making the wrong decisions on who to help out on when opposing defenses are just sending three rushers.

Like I’ve said, in proportion to the number of passing plays we run, I’ll take a handful of sacks. I’m far more concerned with the runblocking at this point, and am afraid that we’re going to be closer to a true air raid rather than the type of balanced attack that Sonny Dykes, Tony Franklin, or frankly, anyone would like at this point.

Special Teams Continues To Shine
The best unit on the field was again Cal’s special teams. They get an A in nearly every category.

The Bears didn’t surrender a kickoff return for more than 19 yards, holding Portland State to 8.25 yards per kickoff return. Also, for back to back weeks, they prevented an opposing punt return team without a return.

Punter Cole Leininger continued to showcase a solid sophomore campaign, averaging 39.5 yards on 4 punts, while senior Vincenzo D’Amato continues a very solid final season. He avoided any kicks out of bounds this week, and notched 3 more field goals this week, bringing his early season total to 6.

I will say though, as soon as he lined up for the 45 yarder, I knew he was doomed. D’Amato has been reportedly automatic on anything 40 yards or less. Beyond that? Just pray, my friend. Just pray.

Some Impressive Individual Performances
Other than Goff, you have to hand out a couple of helmet stickers to a couple of offensive studs (That's what he said).

Richard Rodgers earned Cal's longest offensive play of the season, taking a Goff pass 75 yards down the field with a nice stop and go, in which he flat out juked a Portland State defender out of bounds.

Bryce Treggs is play like an all-conference receiver, again topping the century mark with 121 yards on 8 catches. He already has more receiving yards (266) through 2 games than he did all of last season (216).

Finally, you have to clap it up for true freshman Khalfani Muhammad who looked like the best Cal running back on the field on Saturday. He had 172 total yards, including a beautiful 62 yard deep reception.

There’s not more to say other than the fact that the future looks bright with this young padwan.

Moving Forward
Saturday was supposed to be Cal’s easiest chance at a win, but with the way the defense played, you can’t help but think that it might have been their only win.

The only encouragement has been Cal’s better play in the second half of games, but you can officially color me scared. There are a lot of reasons for optimism, particularly on offense, and you can only hope the defense begins to put it together. But as it stands, it looks like it’s going to be a loooooong, long season.

F it. Let’s go shock the world against Ohio State. Go Bears.

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