...and shat the bed.

After 8 years, you need to have that season where you reward everyone's patience and faith. He had backer support. And fan support. And a new conference. And ESPN. And talent on the team. Yes, he got the team in position to be undefeated, but his in game management cost three straight losses. He has directly blown his own dream season because of his stubborn adherence to playing not to lose and belief in old school football strategy. He plays coward ball when big time coaches step up and take risk. I know that as a Cal fan, we see things through our blue & gold glasses, but this really should be undefeated team right now. And that would be magic. That would be redemption...and he plssed it away.

blungld said:

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...and shat the bed.

After 8 years, you need to have that season where you reward everyone's patience and faith. He had backer support. And fan support. And a new conference. And ESPN. And talent on the team. Yes, he got the team in position to be undefeated, but his in game management cost three straight losses. He has directly blown his own dream season because of his stubborn adherence to playing not to lose and belief in old school football strategy. He plays coward ball when big time coaches step up and take risk. I know that as a Cal fan, we see things through our blue & gold glasses, but this really should be undefeated team right now. And that would be magic. That would be redemption...and he plssed it away.

---

But, and it's his fault, he's got another bad OC and a bad OL. No breakout with that combo. You could see it in the gimme games

At minimum they should be 5-1 with decent coaching decisions in all the games. I'll give you that sometimes a close game doesn't go your way and random stuff happens. Three in a row like this is down to the coaching philosophy.

blungld said:

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...and shat the bed.

After 8 years, you need to have that season where you reward everyone's patience and faith. He had backer support. And fan support. And a new conference. And ESPN. And talent on the team. Yes, he got the team in position to be undefeated, but his in game management cost three straight losses. He has directly blown his own dream season because of his stubborn adherence to playing not to lose and belief in old school football strategy. He plays coward ball when big time coaches step up and take risk. I know that as a Cal fan, we see things through our blue & gold glasses, but this really should be undefeated team right now. And that would be magic. That would be redemption...and he plssed it away.

---

Best post of the day because it puts a finger on the primary reason we've lost 3 games: "playing not to lose" and trying to "run out the clock" instead of "putting the pedal to the metal" by continuing the aggressive play that put us in a position to win in the first place.

82gradDLSdad said:

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blungld said:

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...and shat the bed.

After 8 years, you need to have that season where you reward everyone's patience and faith. He had backer support. And fan support. And a new conference. And ESPN. And talent on the team. Yes, he got the team in position to be undefeated, but his in game management cost three straight losses. He has directly blown his own dream season because of his stubborn adherence to playing not to lose and belief in old school football strategy. He plays coward ball when big time coaches step up and take risk. I know that as a Cal fan, we see things through our blue & gold glasses, but this really should be undefeated team right now. And that would be magic. That would be redemption...and he plssed it away.

---

But, and it's his fault, he's got another bad OC and a bad OL. No breakout with that combo. You could see it in the gimme games

---

This.

We can't score any points without an OL.

dimitrig said:

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82gradDLSdad said:

---

blungld said:

---

...and shat the bed.

After 8 years, you need to have that season where you reward everyone's patience and faith. He had backer support. And fan support. And a new conference. And ESPN. And talent on the team. Yes, he got the team in position to be undefeated, but his in game management cost three straight losses. He has directly blown his own dream season because of his stubborn adherence to playing not to lose and belief in old school football strategy. He plays coward ball when big time coaches step up and take risk. I know that as a Cal fan, we see things through our blue & gold glasses, but this really should be undefeated team right now. And that would be magic. That would be redemption...and he plssed it away.

---

But, and it's his fault, he's got another bad OC and a bad OL. No breakout with that combo. You could see it in the gimme games

---

This.

We can't score any points without an OL.

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Miami game says otherwise. You just need to keep on being creative and aggressive. Sure, sometimes it will go wrong but this is about maximizing chances with the talent you have on hand.

dimitrig said:

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sycasey said:

---

dimitrig said:

---

82gradDLSdad said:

---

blungld said:

---

...and shat the bed.

After 8 years, you need to have that season where you reward everyone's patience and faith. He had backer support. And fan support. And a new conference. And ESPN. And talent on the team. Yes, he got the team in position to be undefeated, but his in game management cost three straight losses. He has directly blown his own dream season because of his stubborn adherence to playing not to lose and belief in old school football strategy. He plays coward ball when big time coaches step up and take risk. I know that as a Cal fan, we see things through our blue & gold glasses, but this really should be undefeated team right now. And that would be magic. That would be redemption...and he plssed it away.

---

But, and it's his fault, he's got another bad OC and a bad OL. No breakout with that combo. You could see it in the gimme games

---

This.

We can't score any points without an OL.

---

Miami game says otherwise. You just need to keep on being creative and aggressive. Sure, sometimes it will go wrong but this is about maximizing chances with the talent you have on hand.

---

Miami game Cal had a lot of long scoring plays but never sustained a drive. We don't have the talent to rely on that. We're lucky if we score 20 points most games. Miami was an outlier.

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There was some luck, but also our aggressive play created some luck. IMO that's how you have to do it with a poor OL. Play around their limitations. You aren't winning the conference like that, but could you get 8 or 9 games? Yeah, very possible.

sycasey said:

---

dimitrig said:

---

82gradDLSdad said:

---

blungld said:

---

...and shat the bed.

After 8 years, you need to have that season where you reward everyone's patience and faith. He had backer support. And fan support. And a new conference. And ESPN. And talent on the team. Yes, he got the team in position to be undefeated, but his in game management cost three straight losses. He has directly blown his own dream season because of his stubborn adherence to playing not to lose and belief in old school football strategy. He plays coward ball when big time coaches step up and take risk. I know that as a Cal fan, we see things through our blue & gold glasses, but this really should be undefeated team right now. And that would be magic. That would be redemption...and he plssed it away.

---

But, and it's his fault, he's got another bad OC and a bad OL. No breakout with that combo. You could see it in the gimme games

---

This.

We can't score any points without an OL.

---

Miami game says otherwise. You just need to keep on being creative and aggressive. Sure, sometimes it will go wrong but this is about maximizing chances with the talent you have on hand.

---

The Miami game was a great example of over pursuit. Our OC must know we can't block and he probably went into the Miami game knowing we had to fool and misdirect. And it worked partly because we have good skill players and partly because Miami has bad defensive discipline. As soon as Wilcox took the foot off we sucked again. The defense was worn out and no match. Miami game just confirmed what we could surmise from the first game, we cannot run the RPO as designed with the first option being some inside run. We can't block that and the run fake doesn't slow down a pass rush.

Imagine in an alternate universe, we were joining Indiana, Iowa State, and BYU as new blood 6-0 teams, coming off the first GD in school history and poised to compete in the ACC championship and even a dark horse for playoffs

DoubtfulBear said:

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Dark horse to win it all

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With average coaching we would be 6-0 (3-0) with a great shot at getting to the ACC Championship Game where we probably lose to Clemson and get left out of the playoffs. But who knows? Moreover, we would be recruiting great and set up for a great run next year.