calumnus said:
01Bear said:
Because Cal didn't have the option to plug and play a program?
Well, I guess it didn't since the whale donors blackmailed Cal into hiring their anointed football savior, Tosh. Tosh failed to live up to the expectations that were, in part, created by the lack of even considering any other candidate to replace Wilcox. Instead, we were all told that Tosh was the answer and he would immediately restore Cal to football glory by bringing in the best recruits and implementing his superior defensive knowledge that he displayed as Nick Saban's DC.
Instead, we saw Cal surrender 45 points in Game 1 to a better coached and more talented team. A team that managed to plug and play ten members of a winning football program along with most of its coaching staff.
If Cal had lost close and played well, it would've been painful but acceptable. But Cal played poorly for most of the night and got blown out in the 4th quarter. There's just no excuse for that. Especially, not when Cal finally got who the whale donors wanted as HC.
It is too soon to tell. UCLA had a huge advantage in Game 1 but you don't hire a staff to win a single non-conference game. I think given how much was new we really needed to start with Wagner, if we are going to play them at all, and play UCLA in Game 3 (or later) instead.
I think (maybe "hope" is more accurate) losing our pre-season All-ACC tight end the week before the game may have changed some of our offensive strategy which will hopefully involve a lot of two tight-end sets and a good mixture of running and play action passing.
There is a lot more football to be played before we can draw any conclusions.
I'm less sanguine. The OC couldn't figure out that his 5 OL were going to be unable to block 6 defensive players on the line. That's just basic math. UCLA pulled that out repeatedly on Saturday and Somerville wasn't able to spot it, let alone scheme to prevent it. It led to JKS running for his life unnecessarily when the offense could've just added thrown in a TE or FB to block the unblocked defensive player.
Also, there were way too many missed tackles on defense due to inability to wrap up. That's a coaching issue. That's not a talent issue. The coaches needed to instill the discipline to wrap up on tackles from Day 1. They didn't do it.
Of all the teams in the P4, Cal is among the most likely to get relegated during the realignment. Heck, were it not for ND and the Furd, Cal would've been in the Pac-3+ with WSU and OSU. Cal needs to become relevant in college football in order to remain in the P4, period. Unfortunately, Cal has to do it before the next realignment, which is likely to be in 2027, when the negotiations for the ACC's grant of rights is next going to be negotiated. That means Cal absolutely needs to win now. It doesn't have time to mess around and let its coaching staff figure out how to do their jobs. That means Cal should've hired an experienced HC, preferably one from a lower level who has a history of winning and sustained success at all of his previous HC stops.
Instead, Cal went all in on an inexperienced HC whose one strength is sales. Cal got sold a bill of goods with Tosh and his cadre of rookie OCs, all because some whale donors had fond memories of Tosh and were willing to roll the dice on him being able to overcome his inexperience. They just knew, apropos of nothing, that he was the guy to lead Cal football back to relevance. Their hubris, thus far, has led to coordinators and a head coach who are lost and in over their heads.
