HearstMining said:

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Look, none of us are happy with Jackson's performance to date and the alternatives of starting Finley or Mendoza aren't hugely appealing so I suppose all we can do is hope Jackson improves. But really, comparing him to Garbers or McElwain is about as useful as comparing him to . . . I dunno, Kai Millner. So, I'll muddy the waters further with the following thoughts:

• Did Wilcox/Spav look at this season's prospects for the offensive line and determine that it was better to recruit a raw unproven extremely athletic QB than a more polished but less athletic passer?
• Spav signed with Cal 12/6/22. Did they even try to recruit Sam Huard (a former 5*) who, while admittedly not lighting it up at UW, didn't transfer to CAL POLY until 1/29/23. BTW, he threw 6 TDs last weekend.
• Justyn Martyn is apparently willing to languish as 4th string QB at UCLA rather than compete at Cal. What's with that? Mutual lack of interest or one-sided either way?
• On his podcast, Pawlowski acknowledged SJ's inexperience but wondered how patient the staff should be with him. Wilcox also stressed the point of wanting to see visible improvement. They have a sense of what Finley can do. At what point does Mendoza get a shot?

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Unfortunately, I think what Jackson needs most is in-game experience, which means we need to let him play through some mistakes. Jacking around with his playing time is only going to mess with his head. I know a lot of people want instant gratification, but I dont think rotating QBs or 'playing the hot hand' helps the team throughout the duration of this season. I'd give him 3 full games before I consider reopening the qb competition.

At the end of this season it will still be hard to compare - the PAC 12 right now is probably overall the best conference since I have been following football - nowhere has there been 2/3 of the conference in the top 25. And I do not think it is wrong - all the teams are good. This is going to be a tough season - we were 2 of 3 in the pre-season but if we win more than 2 going forward at this point that would be a surprise. Jackson would have to elevate his performance significantly. I expect that he will get better - hopefully this week he takes a large step forward, and we go into the ASU game feeling good about ourselves. Getting roped by UW will give ASU hope, and that seems to be fatal to Cal when opponents in the PAC 12 do that (see, Colorado, Arizona the last 2 years).

Oski87 said:

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At the end of this season it will still be hard to compare - the PAC 12 right now is probably overall the best conference since I have been following football - nowhere has there been 2/3 of the conference in the top 25. And I do not think it is wrong - all the teams are good. This is going to be a tough season - we were 2 of 3 in the pre-season but if we win more than 2 going forward at this point that would be a surprise. Jackson would have to elevate his performance significantly. I expect that he will get better - hopefully this week he takes a large step forward, and we go into the ASU game feeling good about ourselves. Getting roped by UW will give ASU hope, and that seems to be fatal to Cal when opponents in the PAC 12 do that (see, Colorado, Arizona the last 2 years).

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Jackson came in for 4 possessions. We scored 3 TDs on the first three and on the last drove to the UW 33, first and 10 with 50 seconds and all our TOs left, but then just ran out the clock with 1st and 2nd down runs onto the pile.

We are outscoring our opponents with him at QB. Our offense is just better with him. And he is only going to get better. Cal fans should be excited we finally have a top rated, Elite 11 QB with track speed. "Sam Jackson, " "Jackson V"? It has been 20 years since I have been this jazzed about our future at QB. He is just fun to watch play, fun to root for. He is already better than Kyler Murray was at this point. C'mon fellow Cal fans, jump on the bandwagon!

calumnus said:

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Oski87 said:

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At the end of this season it will still be hard to compare - the PAC 12 right now is probably overall the best conference since I have been following football - nowhere has there been 2/3 of the conference in the top 25. And I do not think it is wrong - all the teams are good. This is going to be a tough season - we were 2 of 3 in the pre-season but if we win more than 2 going forward at this point that would be a surprise. Jackson would have to elevate his performance significantly. I expect that he will get better - hopefully this week he takes a large step forward, and we go into the ASU game feeling good about ourselves. Getting roped by UW will give ASU hope, and that seems to be fatal to Cal when opponents in the PAC 12 do that (see, Colorado, Arizona the last 2 years).

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Jackson came in for 4 possessions. We scored 3 TDs on the first three and on the last drove to the UW 33, first and 10 with 50 seconds and all our TOs left, but then just ran out the clock with 1st and 2nd down runs onto the pile.

We are outscoring our opponents with him at QB. Our offense is just better with him. And he is only going to get better. Cal fans should be excited we finally have a top rated, Elite 11 QB with track speed. "Sam Jackson, " "Jackson V"? It has been 20 years since I have been this jazzed about our future at QB. He is just fun to watch play, fun to root for. He is already better than Kyler Murray was at this point. C'mon fellow Cal fans, jump on the bandwagon!

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You Wilcox should be exhorting Wilcox to jump on the Jackson bandwagon. It won't make any difference how many of us are on the bandwagon.

I know you know we were playing the UW second/third string at that point so I have to believe you're trolling.

eastbayyoungbear said:

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I know you know we were playing the UW second/third string at that point so I have to believe you're trolling.

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Rather than dismissing Jackson, please tell me what Finley has done this season to make you think he should start.

I see someone that got lucky to not have two interceptions against north texas, didnt do anything against Auburn, got lucky that trond grizzell bailed him out on a bad 4th down pass against idaho, and managed 14 points and 3 interceptions in 3 quarters against washington.

golden sloth said:

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eastbayyoungbear said:

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I know you know we were playing the UW second/third string at that point so I have to believe you're trolling.

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Rather than dismissing Jackson, please tell me what Finley has done this season to make you think he should start.

I see someone that got lucky to not have two interceptions against north texas, didnt do anything against Auburn, got lucky that trond grizzell bailed him out on a bad 4th down pass against idaho, and managed 14 points and 3 interceptions in 3 quarters against washington.

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I don't think Finley should start because I was on board with the "develop Jackson" train. But I also watched an Idaho game where Sam missed 5 downfield passes for TDs. Unless Idaho's defense was just as good as UW's I don't think Sam was going to be the answer yesterday. I don't actually fault the coaches for trying Finley. I don't think they should have let him hang on after the second INT.

chazzed said:

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PtownBear1 said:

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Strykur said:

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For what it's worth Finley and Jackson combined are way way way better than what we had with Garbers and McElwain.

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Disagree. I prefer Garbers and think he would have really shined his final season with a better OC and game day coaching.

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I'm with you. Garbers' last one and one third seasons (one being the COVID season) here were really derailed by Musgrave. As it turns out, it would have been better to keep Baldwin through the end of Garbers' time in Berkeley.

Jackson could turn out to be better than Garbers, but Garbers was a good QB for the Golden Bears.

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In hindsight (to Knowlton), Musgrave was the foil that JW used to save his own butt. "I made the recommended change. Now, we have to give the new guy a chance to install his system."

eastbayyoungbear said:

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golden sloth said:

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eastbayyoungbear said:

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I know you know we were playing the UW second/third string at that point so I have to believe you're trolling.

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Rather than dismissing Jackson, please tell me what Finley has done this season to make you think he should start.

I see someone that got lucky to not have two interceptions against north texas, didnt do anything against Auburn, got lucky that trond grizzell bailed him out on a bad 4th down pass against idaho, and managed 14 points and 3 interceptions in 3 quarters against washington.

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I don't think Finley should start because I was on board with the "develop Jackson" train. But I also watched an Idaho game where Sam missed 5 downfield passes for TDs. Unless Idaho's defense was just as good as UW's I don't think Sam was going to be the answer yesterday. I don't actually fault the coaches for trying Finley. I don't think they should have let him hang on after the second INT.

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if we're going to have bad qb play, let's play the qb who is less bad (and has more upside - we know that Finley doesn't have it for this level of play). Single wing here we come. Or triple O.

The super frustrating thing is that Finley did get the offense moving and was efficient outside of the picks. The first one was bad accuracy, the next one was a big bad decision, and the third one was just "***". But you also had a great placed fade, a nice deep ball to Trond, and some really nice passes over the middle.

eastbayyoungbear said:

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The super frustrating thing is that Finley did get the offense moving and was efficient outside of the picks. The first one was bad accuracy, the next one was a big bad decision, and the third one was just "***". But you also had a great placed fade, a nice deep ball to Trond, and some really nice passes over the middle.

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Finley on his career has 7 TDs and 9 INT. That is why he could not keep the starting job at NC State despite being a legacy and injuries to the other QBs. In his earlier games at Cal he had interceptions dropped . He had a 4th interception last night fortunately called back. He has a gunslinger mentality without a gun.

He did have some nice throws last night. Jackson had better throws and importantly no mistakes. Jackson's only two interceptions of his career were both on 4th and long with time expiring, when trying to force it into coverage is warranted. Last night his incompletes were throw aways to avoid sacks. He had a 188.6 passer rating. Jackson has a strong arm and is actually incredibly accurate. People should be excited he is at Cal and should be looking forward to the future.