Post WSU first-thoughts
(Written by kencraw)
I was out of town this weekend. I tried to watch the game via 4G (I started with 4 bars and 4G with 3MB throughput), but my signal kept degrading to 3G with 2 bars. You just can’t watch video like that and the app kept crashing.
So I listened to most of the game on the radio, which is to see I haven’t seen most of it. (Starkey has gotten worse, is too non-linear and focuses on the wrong things.)
I’ll be watching it tonight, but in the mean time a few thoughts:
- While the emphasis has been on WSU’s offense because of the stats, only 1 offense was 100% successful for TD’s in the 2nd half and it wasn’t the Wougs. As much as Cal’s defense was porous all night, they came up with 3 stops in the 2nd half, something WSU’s defense couldn’t do.
- Something people forget about special teams returns for touchdowns is that the defense gets no rest. They have to go right back out on the field. That after the 2nd kickoff return they managed to force a punt should not be overlooked, exhaustion wise.
- In the negative column, something overlooked is how little the Bears were able to rush for. Perhaps that is because the Bears were playing catchup for most of the game, but 62 yards on 18 attempts is pretty pathetic.
- After the 1st 3 games we were all asking what was wrong with the Bears in the 2nd half. The last two games the Bears have been a 2nd half team (at least offensively).
- Looking around the conference, what a week of upsets. Of the 6 games, 4 of them were upsets, two of the pretty big ones, one of them HUUUGE! That means two things to me:
- There’s a lot of parity in this conference and we as fans need to forget the back-loaded schedule thing. If Arizona can beat Oregon, so can we. There’s no reason to think UW, USC, UCLA and Stanford are out of reach either. That’s not to say Cal wins them all, but I’m no longer writing any of them off.
- I fear the conference won’t get a team in to the playoff, particularly if nobody in the conference can knock off Notre Dame.
More to come after I actually get to watch the game.
October 6th, 2014 at 10:35 am
All good points.
I agree that the pass rush is our greatest weakness as a team right now. Even just a little bit more pressure would go a long way. The defensive backfield has been facing the most of the criticism, much of that deserved, but they are also profoundly hindered by the lack of a pass rush. This is mostly a talent issue IMO, so I hope that area is the prime focus of the next recruiting class.
It’ll be interesting to see how our offense fairs against some of the leagues better defenses, whether we can continue to impose shootouts. Don’t know that Stanford or SC could really keep us offensively if we can put up points, however porous our D is.
October 6th, 2014 at 2:48 pm
I’ve actually thought our secondary was in great position on a lot of the spectacular plays that we’ve seen this season. Some of them they’ve been burned, but I think they’re better than advertised.
October 6th, 2014 at 4:27 pm
The running game wasn’t as bad as 3.4 ypc indicates. If you remove the sack and the game-ending kneeldown, it’s 16 carries for 76 yards (4.75 ypc). Plus, Lasco had 11 carries/61 yards (5.5 ypc), while the backups (Muhammad and Enwere) combined for 4 carries for 6 yards. Like you said, we just didn’t run very much because we were trailing most of the game.
October 6th, 2014 at 6:46 pm
Complain about Joe Starkey again and I will just stop reading you.
October 6th, 2014 at 8:08 pm
Jeez Louis, I’d hope that was sarcasm. I like Starkey, and of course he’ll always have a special place in all Bears fan’s hearts, but he’s not the play-by-play guy he used to be. It’s a tough job to do well and he’s done a fine job for years, but he’s not as good as he used to be. But even if one disagrees, seems a little harsh to quit reading a blog over the rare comment about.