First Oregon post-game thoughts
(Written by kencraw)
Much more to come later, but I’ll sneak this in from work… Yes on Saturday:
- Oregon made two great halftime adjustments: 1. Emphasizing rushing up the middle (with improved success) while nearly abandoning rushing on the edge. 2. Abusing our backup DB’s, particularly McClure with Marc Anthony out with a separated shoulder in the 2nd half. That was the difference in the game.
- Why did Cal give up on the run game so early? It was pretty successful (in fact, it was one of the things I was most happy with) but it was entirely absent in the 2nd half.
- My biggest concern: Redzone efficiency. Not the fake kind that includes field goals, I’m talking touchdowns.
- Maynard’s inconsistency is troublesome, but won’t be what the season’s success hinges on.
- I’ve never seen so many holding penalty flags… er… wait, no they didn’t throw ANY of them despite the fact that there was abusive holding by Oregon all game long.
- To the Oregon fans who were booing at the game: YOU SUCK! Our players were actually injured (imagine Cal fans booing when James went down?) and you don’t know the pass-interference rules from a turd on the field. Show some class in the future.
- Speaking of James, I always hate to see a player injured, but I was glad to escape the state of Oregon this year without losing someone big (2007: Longshore, 2010: Riley). I sure hope for Oregon’s sake the curse hasn’t been reversed.
- My 2nd biggest concern: Inability to score in the 2nd half. Some of it can be chalked up to the situations, but I’m starting to see a troubling pattern.
- Do we have a conditioning problem on defense? Think about when these big plays happen… it’s the 2nd half. Colorado, Washington, Oregon. Maybe coupling the previous point, it could be across the whole team.
- Why is it the offensive line can open big holes most of the time, but when we really need 2 yards, they get abused. It’s part of our redzone problems, but it’s also why we’re throwing on 3rd and short so much. I’ve been pretty happy with the O-Line except for getting a good push on obvious rushing downs.
- Despite all of the above issues, I still like this team a lot more than the last few years. We’re not one sack away from terrible (Bridgeford). The team has a lot more heart and fight (losing by 28 to Oregon is not as bad as it seems, just because of the way the score points in bunches, this is a 13 point loss to any other team). There’s a lot of good buried inside the bad. I still like our chances in most of the rest of our games particularly with so many at home and still feel confident we’ll go bowling this year.
- Frankly, with the youth we have this year and how much raw talent I’m seeing, next year’s team I think will be pretty good and could make a run at the Pac-12 title.
- No OTRH podcast this week.
October 9th, 2011 at 9:58 am
A run at the PAC 12 title? Oh how I wish I shared your optimism, Ken. We seem light years away from that sort of run. Maynard is never going to be anything but a decent QB at best, Bridgeford looks shaky and his throwing motion takes way too long (how many almost pics did he throw?), and I’m starting to lose faith in our coaching staff in relation to others in the PAC 12 when it comes to QB scouting and development, in-game coaching, scheming, and making half time adjustments The lack of good QB scouting and development is reason enough to think we’ll remain a second tier team for some time to come. We haven’t seen a good QB since Longshore got hurt in 2007. Look at these losing streaks we are getting in: Oregon, Washington, Oregon State,Stanford, USC- it’s been a few years since we’ve beat any of those teams. And it’s likely we won’t beat any of them this year- though Oregon State seems down this year.
Yes, we are young and maybe some of these young kids will turn into great players but my expectations are firmly in the 6-7 win category for the next few years until Tedford proves to me he can develop a top tier QB again. With our offense that is the ONLY way we will challenge for the PAC 12 title. Tedford
shouldn’t get fired because we’d never find someone better to replace him but
it’s becoming clear he is not a top tier coach in many aspects.
Don’t mean to be overly negative. Really, 6-7 wins a year isn’t the worst of fates and I’d be happy to see Cal be in a lower tier bowl every year. But this program and this coaching staff has forced me into not expecting anything
more.
October 9th, 2011 at 4:19 pm
Joshiemac, I agree Maynard will never be an elite QB, but I think he can find a degree of consistency and accuracy to be the leader of a potent offense.
Here’s what I see for next year: The offense that goes through fits and spurts this year raising to a level of consistency that means 30+ points a game consistently and a defense that will be as good as last year’s defense… truly stifling. We could have beat Oregon if that defense has the secondary we need and could have lasted 60 minutes. We could have given the defense a lot more room for error if the offense had found some consistency.
That’s why I say there’s potential for a run at the Pac-12 title. (Plus we get all the hard teams at home next year: Oregon, Stanford, Washington and ASU)
October 9th, 2011 at 7:10 pm
It looks like we all agree that weak quarterbacking has been the main reason for Cal’s recent poor showings.
The question is, will it get better?
Let’s look at what we know. Two Tedford coached Cal QB’s made it into the NFL. Was this luck or skill or both?
If it was luck, we need to have patience, our luck will get better soon.
If it was skill, then has Tedford forget how to recruit or train QB’s? I don’t think so.
I think it’s highly probable that Cal quarterbacking will be better in the coming years.
Combine that with the documentable improvement in the defense, and the continuation of quality backs and receivers, Cal has a good future.
And next year, they’ll actually have home games.
I think some Cal fans could benefit from perspective and patience.