Some Random Thoughts...Partial Listing

[jacmull]

-Give Cal credit. They outcoached us IMO. Kudos to their DC's who seemed to stifle Dykes and Co. Your ball Sonny.

-O seemed to have no plan after Cal to my untrained eye. They appeared to a) play some sort of a mush rush to slow running game while b) definitely playing more press on our wides with LB's clogging 3-count passing lanes to disrupt timing than prior squads have against Foles. Receivers need to work on beating press more often. Dyke's and Co. need to figure something out because you can bet Chippy and Duckies will look at the film!

-Lots of drops by receivers; lots of inaccurate passes by Foles. Deep throws by Foles seemingly were off all night. That's a shame because that is what was available. That's football, but the bulk number in one game was troubling. That's what L's are all about.

-Foles decision-making showed that he is young and still a work in progress. Several throws into double (plus) coverage. Although Stoops did not criticize the double forward pass by Foles, IMO the play is inexcusable by a 20-year who has played forward his entire life. It was a killer mental error.

-D was quite good overall (grade B to B+), but they didn't get a stop right after we get lead in the 4th qtr. Cal burned 7 minutes off the clock before kicking the go ahead figgie. Reminiscent of past tough losses under Stoops.

-What planet was Crier on tonight? 14 yard punt?

-Riley did everything that he could to keep us in the game. Damn shame we couldn't oblige.

-We couldn't get a sniff when Cal gave us a crack at a tie with 1:15 to go. Yes, it was desperation time. Yes, our chances were very slim. And no, I am not putting the L on that series. But a couple of non-sacks and throws to anywhere would have been nice. Anything but sacks. Yes, I am being a little picky here. Example of more bad decision-making.

-We can't lose TWO road games to TWO imminently beatable teams. One OK. Two? No. We still appear to lack the mettle to be a conference champ. Shame since this is the year that SC is very down physically, mentally and emotionally.

-Zona's House of Horrors is alive and well in Strawberry Canyon. Call Ghostbusters?

-We are an improving team. We might not be their yet, but the trend is still heading upward. Lets not lose track of that.

So........

-Lets pack the house and give Oregon all we got next week.

I AM CALLING ON EVERY CAT FAN TO STEP UP.

The Zoo. Westside fogies. It's Senior Night. Show up. Get behind OUR Cats. Show our appreciation for their efforts to turn around what was a horrible program. ROCK THE HOUSE. ALL NIGHT LONG. Help OUR Cats reach down deep to earn a mega upset.

[acarr1]

I agree with everything except we are an improving team. That will be determined at the end of the year.

[phenom5]

.
-We can't lose TWO road games to TWO imminently beatable teams. One OK. Two? No. We still appear to lack the mettle to be a conference champ. Shame since this is the year that SC is very down physically, mentally and emotionally.



Three. I said Iowa looked like a very beatable team then, and even more so now. QB play...blah, blah, blah.

[Ztonyg]

We could've won ALL of our games this year. We should have won all except for Iowa.

[UA Direct]

1st down: Keola rush up the middle into a pile 15 300 lb men - no gain.
2nd down: Keola rush up the middle into a pile 15 300 lb men - no gain. 3rd down and long, pass.

1st down: Keola rush up the middle into a pile 15 300 lb men - no gain.
2nd down: Keola rush up the middle into a pile 15 300 lb men - no gain. 3rd down and long, pass.

1st down: Keola rush up the middle into a pile 15 300 lb men - no gain.
2nd down: Keola rush up the middle into a pile 15 300 lb men - no gain. 3rd down and long, pass.

1st down: Keola rush up the middle into a pile 15 300 lb men - no gain.
2nd down: Keola rush up the middle into a pile 15 300 lb men - no gain. 3rd down and long, pass.

1st down: Keola rush up the middle into a pile 15 300 lb men - no gain.
2nd down: Keola rush up the middle into a pile 15 300 lb men - no gain. 3rd down and long, pass.

1st down: Keola rush up the middle into a pile 15 300 lb men - no gain.
2nd down: Keola rush up the middle into a pile 15 300 lb men - no gain. 3rd down and long, pass.

1st down: Keola rush up the middle into a pile 15 300 lb men - no gain.
2nd down: Keola rush up the middle into a pile 15 300 lb men - no gain. 3rd down and long, pass.

[Ztonyg]

1st down: Keola rush up the middle into a pile 15 300 lb men - no gain.
2nd down: Keola rush up the middle into a pile 15 300 lb men - no gain. 3rd down and long, pass.

1st down: Keola rush up the middle into a pile 15 300 lb men - no gain.
2nd down: Keola rush up the middle into a pile 15 300 lb men - no gain. 3rd down and long, pass.

1st down: Keola rush up the middle into a pile 15 300 lb men - no gain.
2nd down: Keola rush up the middle into a pile 15 300 lb men - no gain. 3rd down and long, pass.

1st down: Keola rush up the middle into a pile 15 300 lb men - no gain.
2nd down: Keola rush up the middle into a pile 15 300 lb men - no gain. 3rd down and long, pass.

1st down: Keola rush up the middle into a pile 15 300 lb men - no gain.
2nd down: Keola rush up the middle into a pile 15 300 lb men - no gain. 3rd down and long, pass.

1st down: Keola rush up the middle into a pile 15 300 lb men - no gain.
2nd down: Keola rush up the middle into a pile 15 300 lb men - no gain. 3rd down and long, pass.

1st down: Keola rush up the middle into a pile 15 300 lb men - no gain.
2nd down: Keola rush up the middle into a pile 15 300 lb men - no gain. 3rd down and long, pass.

Aren't you supposed to learn from your mistakes? Apparently Stoops and/or Dykes didn't.

[PieceOfMeat]

Damnit UA Direct!

Stop giving away our gameplan before the big oregon game!

1st down: Keola rush up the middle into a pile 15 300 lb men - no gain.
2nd down: Keola rush up the middle into a pile 15 300 lb men - no gain. 3rd down and long, pass.

1st down: Keola rush up the middle into a pile 15 300 lb men - no gain.
2nd down: Keola rush up the middle into a pile 15 300 lb men - no gain. 3rd down and long, pass.

1st down: Keola rush up the middle into a pile 15 300 lb men - no gain.
2nd down: Keola rush up the middle into a pile 15 300 lb men - no gain. 3rd down and long, pass.

1st down: Keola rush up the middle into a pile 15 300 lb men - no gain.
2nd down: Keola rush up the middle into a pile 15 300 lb men - no gain. 3rd down and long, pass.

1st down: Keola rush up the middle into a pile 15 300 lb men - no gain.
2nd down: Keola rush up the middle into a pile 15 300 lb men - no gain. 3rd down and long, pass.

1st down: Keola rush up the middle into a pile 15 300 lb men - no gain.
2nd down: Keola rush up the middle into a pile 15 300 lb men - no gain. 3rd down and long, pass.

1st down: Keola rush up the middle into a pile 15 300 lb men - no gain.
2nd down: Keola rush up the middle into a pile 15 300 lb men - no gain. 3rd down and long, pass.

[UA Direct]

Aren't you supposed to learn from your mistakes? Apparently Stoops and/or Dykes didn't.

In defense of the play calling, KA DID have a rush for 34 yards. Not to mention that in his other 18 rushes into piles of large mean men, he netted 2.1 ypc.

I don't blame the line, or Keola. For an ENTIRE GAME we used only ONE rushing play...Keola into the largest mass of big men on the field - play after play! It was painful to watch - not because of the execution, but because of the predictability. Were the end-arounds against Stanford supposed to dupe everyone else so that we could run our back into the LARGEST defender on the field play after play to victory?

Sure, football is a game of strength, skill and speed...but it's also part poker, or chess.

When someone like ME can complain away a game in front of my wife saying 'here comes X' on offense, and be right 90% of the time, I think that 'just maybe' the other coach and team might have a clue.

[UA Direct]

Damnit UA Direct!

Stop giving away our gameplan before the big oregon game!

Sorry. Hopefully this was a piss-poor attempt at skating through a game they expected to win, while hiding something masterminded by evil geniuses reserved only for Oregon.

I have nothing to substantiate that, outside of the fact that after 17 consecutive rushes into the largest pile of flesh on the field, Keola actually rushed to the right the last two times.

edit: I meant to add earlier...

What the hell happened to all the creative plays, end-arounds, misdirects, etc. that we used so effectively against Stanford???

Why did the playbook shrink down to only 4 plays?

2 weeks ago I pegged Dykes as an offensive genius. Now, I just find him offensive.

[CalStateTempe]

Its almost as if Cal has film on what KA can do when you don't stack the box.

Oh wait...

[PreventD]

As I said in the "Something wrong" thread, people are being too quick to dismiss Foles' responsibility for the loss.

As jacmull points out, what's open when Cal stacks the box to stops the run and plays press on WRs is throwing over the top of the stacked box... aka the deep ball. By my count Foles missed on 6-7 deep balls, often badly, in the second half alone. What does Dykes do? They sold out their defensive game plan on stopping inside runs and short passes, which leaves outside running and deep throws.

With Foles way off rhythm on the deep throws, are you all arguing that the main reason we lost was not running outside enough? Keola doesn't possess the straight-line speed to beat an athletic defense to the corner like Grigs does, and he doesn't have the hands to give him a head start via tosses or pitches. I will agree I would have liked to see us TRY some outside runs, but I can fully understand that based on knowledge of personnel and practice, they didn't want to do that. For all the griping, I haven't seen a single person suggest a play that actually would have worked reliably.

Cal sold out to make Foles beat them, and he had a rough game. Calculated risk on their part, and it worked because the one player on our team with the most power to stop it had an off day. You don't do Foles justice by making excuses for him. Chalk it up to a day to learn and grow from, but don't shelter him from responsibility when his play largely lost the game. He's our QB of the future and I think (hope?) he'll rebound just fine.

[CalStateTempe]

The 6-7 passes your talking about were the only passes attempted long.

Their corners were stuck to Dean and Criner all night long. Part of the reason foles was deer in the headlights at times was because of the serious speed on Cals D.

I agree, this was his "bad game" he'll grow and everything will be the better for it.

[jacmull]

As I said in the "Something wrong" thread, people are being too quick to dismiss Foles' responsibility for the loss.

As jacmull points out, what's open when Cal stacks the box to stops the run and plays press on WRs is throwing over the top of the stacked box... aka the deep ball. By my count Foles missed on 6-7 deep balls, often badly, in the second half alone. What does Dykes do? They sold out their defensive game plan on stopping inside runs and short passes, which leaves outside running and deep throws.

With Foles way off rhythm on the deep throws, are you all arguing that the main reason we lost was not running outside enough? Keola doesn't possess the straight-line speed to beat an athletic defense to the corner like Grigs does, and he doesn't have the hands to give him a head start via tosses or pitches. I will agree I would have liked to see us TRY some outside runs, but I can fully understand that based on knowledge of personnel and practice, they didn't want to do that. For all the griping, I haven't seen a single person suggest a play that actually would have worked reliably.

Cal sold out to make Foles beat them, and he had a rough game. Calculated risk on their part, and it worked because the one player on our team with the most power to stop it had an off day. You don't do Foles justice by making excuses for him. Chalk it up to a day to learn and grow from, but don't shelter him from responsibility when his play largely lost the game. He's our QB of the future and I think (hope?) he'll rebound just fine.
Good point on lack of outside runs by Antolin. As I texted my son during the game, Keola is a straight-ahead NS plower, not a dancer or outside bouncer. Ant's lack of hands is another killer to our passing game. Without outside speed or good hands at RB, the spread becomes more limited as it's 5th receiver is lost. The offensive philosophy relies upon a back that can catch and run. Absence of swing-type routes to the outside was as big, maybe bigger than outside running.

Overall, it was indeed a rough night for Foles. This was his 6th start. Lets hope it was growing pains, nothing more. But back-to-back* horrible games against a good UCLA D (Foles supposedly had the flu) at home and to an average to below-average Cal D (Foles was supposedly over the flu) on the road with Oregon on deck raise real concerns.

*Home scrimmage against "0-9 2be" Wazzu after week off doesn't count.

[azatm]

I'm sure that Cal hoped that they'd catch the Cats looking past them and they did. The entire team and coaching staff looked flat and confused all night.

Clearly the D was the best unit, but middle linebacker remains a problem. Once again, Vuna over pursued, was out of position on passes and missed key tackles. Great Ds are led by great middle linebackers, and I'm not feeling it.

How many time have the Cats snuck up on opponents that were looking past them during the Stoops era? Most of their big wins. Beating a ranked team like the Cats was a big deal to underdog Cal, just like it used to be for the Cats. Bummer.

[jacmull]

The 6-7 passes your talking about were the only passes attempted long.

Their corners were stuck to Dean and Criner all night long. Part of the reason foles was deer in the headlights at times was because of the serious speed on Cals D.

I agree, this was his "bad game" he'll grow and everything will be the better for it.
There were clearly some missed throws mixed in there too that were on routes more than 20+ yards down field. Foles seriously under threw Criner (I believe) at the goal line who was ~3 steps behind coverage because Foles apparently didn't feel that he had time to set his feet while rolling right to escape the rush. He also missed a very open WR (can't remember who) along the right side line who was streaking down field and would have had the final 20 unaccompanied to the house; FWIW Parker commented as much that same on the play. There were some opportunities there.

And if Cal's speed on D was daunting to our QB and scheme, then heaven help us when we see Oregon and SC who are a half-step quicker.

[UofAlum05]

I didn't like the constant play action. The run game wasn't working so they aren't going to be biting on it and then it just lead to rushers in our backfield every time.