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.