Hope springs eternal. The Wagner outcome and aftermath will tell the story. How well does the team recover from a lopsided win - especially coming off the successful Syracuse trip?. Making the long distance trip and playing well showed signs of maturity and cohesion with basically a new program for the Bears. Keeping the team focused and working week to week is the next step.

calumnus said:

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Wagner at Cal
Clemson at Cal
Cal at UNLV

All 3 are looking eminently winnable. Winning ugly at Syracuse today was huge. There is a very good chance that we are 4-1 (2-0) tied for first in the ACC with our only loss to undefeated UCLA of the B1G when James Franklin and VT come to CMS a month from now.

There is also a very good chance we are playing much better by then as well, with WRs making tough catches much less easy ones, and our OC figuring out our playmakers and offensive identity with Sagapolutele and Muhammad starring.

I think our defense is already finding their identity. We have some playmakers on D and i really like our aggressiveness. We disrupted a good QB today in front of a loud, hostile crowd in an indoor stadium. A big crowd for Clemson, making noise at the right time, will be a huge advantage. Then against VT as well.

While there is plenty of room for constructive criticism, It is not time to give into negativity. Let's pull for these guys (coaches and players) , they are not a finished product and we can still have a great season. Huge that we got the ugly win today.

Go Bears!

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I agree the schedule is light enough for Cal to win the next 3 . But the offense better improve. The point about playmakers on defense is really spot on IMO. Lopa, Tuitele, Solo Williams have ability. Lopa is a playmaker. I would like to see him wrap up more on his tackling but he makes plays. Tuitele plays with his hair on fire and will hit you. Williams has ability to pressure the Qb and get TFLs.

The offensive talent IMO is not quite as good as hoped. The Vargas and Thomas injuries have hurt and Vargas may be done for the year. He had some playmaking ability the team will miss. Strong has not played as hoped. He looks a bit too casual for my liking and what is supposed to be a stregth (50/50 balls) has not yet materialized.

Hendricks is about what I expected. But IMO this team will go as far as the OL and DL allow it. I think the OC will need to find a way to generate some explosives while avoiding so many 2nd and 3rd and longer situations.

STs were weak yesterday. They were not a strength vs UCLA either. Close games can be won or lost on STs plays and TOs. Cal won the TOs yesterday and hence the game.

6956bear said:

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calumnus said:

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Wagner at Cal
Clemson at Cal
Cal at UNLV

All 3 are looking eminently winnable. Winning ugly at Syracuse today was huge. There is a very good chance that we are 4-1 (2-0) tied for first in the ACC with our only loss to undefeated UCLA of the B1G when James Franklin and VT come to CMS a month from now.

There is also a very good chance we are playing much better by then as well, with WRs making tough catches much less easy ones, and our OC figuring out our playmakers and offensive identity with Sagapolutele and Muhammad starring.

I think our defense is already finding their identity. We have some playmakers on D and i really like our aggressiveness. We disrupted a good QB today in front of a loud, hostile crowd in an indoor stadium. A big crowd for Clemson, making noise at the right time, will be a huge advantage. Then against VT as well.

While there is plenty of room for constructive criticism, It is not time to give into negativity. Let's pull for these guys (coaches and players) , they are not a finished product and we can still have a great season. Huge that we got the ugly win today.

Go Bears!

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I agree the schedule is light enough for Cal to win the next 3 . But the offense better improve. The point about playmakers on defense is really spot on IMO. Lopa, Tuitele, Solo Williams have ability. Lopa is a playmaker. I would like to see him wrap up more on his tackling but he makes plays. Tuitele plays with his hair on fire and will hit you. Williams has ability to pressure the Qb and get TFLs.

The offensive talent IMO is not quite as good as hoped. The Vargas and Thomas injuries have hurt and Vargas may be done for the year. He had some playmaking ability the team will miss. Strong has not played as hoped. He looks a bit too casual for my liking and what is supposed to be a stregth (50/50 balls) has not yet materialized.

Hendricks is about what I expected. But IMO this team will go as far as the OL and DL allow it. I think the OC will need to find a way to generate some explosives while avoiding so many 2nd and 3rd and longer situations.

STs were weak yesterday. They were not a strength vs UCLA either. Close games can be won or lost on STs plays and TOs. Cal won the TOs yesterday and hence the game.

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we still don't have a kicker, either. How long have we waited for one? Recruiting priorities, I guess. But, c'mon.

This UNLV game should be a home game for Cal.

Its not UNLVs stadium (they dont have one), and UNLV doesnt have a ton of fans. At Sam Boyd they skirted the minimum D1 FBS attendance by a steady but small margin.

LunchTime said:

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This UNLV game should be a home game for Cal.

Its not UNLVs stadium (they dont have one), and UNLV doesnt have a ton of fans. At Sam Boyd they skirted the minimum D1 FBS attendance by a steady but small margin.

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UNLV lost to Memphis at home 21-27, beat Hawaii on the road 21-6, and lost at North Texas 6-44. Next for them is Akron.

But following the scrimmage against Wagner, Clemson is up next. They lost at LSU 10-51, beat Georgia Southern at home 22-7 and play North Carolina next.

Clemson is a tossup game, and a particular challenge where our rookie coach is going against a 19 year veteran HC who is 188-55 at Clemson. This kind of reminds me of Joe Kapp in his rookie season going against Don James in 1982. There are some clear differences there, it was a road game and the Mutts were #1 at the time, finishing the season 10-2 / #7, but James ate Kapp's lunch that day.

We should have around 40K for that game, including 8K students who will be primed for the evening game and around 3k-4k Clemson fans.

We'll know more about Clemson next week when they play UNC. The portal giveth and take away; Clemson -by rejecting transfers and sticking with hs recruiting and internal development - is no longer a top ten program .

LunchTime said:

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This UNLV game should be a home game for Cal.

Its not UNLVs stadium (they dont have one), and UNLV doesnt have a ton of fans. At Sam Boyd they skirted the minimum D1 FBS attendance by a steady but small margin.

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Cal will play on synthetic turf that sits directly on the Allegiant's concrete floor. The Traitors get the good stuff.

Anarchistbear said:

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We'll know more about Clemson next week when they play UNC. The portal giveth and take away; Clemson -by rejecting transfers and sticking with hs recruiting and internal development - is no longer a top ten program .

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Yes, Sagarin has Clemson at #43, which includes last year's performance. They are not off to a good start and despite Clemson's coaching experience and reliance on 4 year players they are #72 in Sagarin Recent and #120 in Strong Recent whoch give more weight to this year's games.

Their game against UNC will be an important data point, but as of right now, Cal should be favored slightly at home, and that is based on our play so far. I think our inexperienced coaching staff and transfers have a lot more room for improvement than Clemson does with its feet stuck in the past.

These next three games are against really bad teams. There is no other way to describe it.

We will find out if Cal is a decent team or also a really bad team.

I fully hope and expect that Cal will be 4-1 after these next three weeks.

Anarchistbear said:

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We'll know more about Clemson next week when they play UNC. The portal giveth and take away; Clemson -by rejecting transfers and sticking with hs recruiting and internal development - is no longer a top ten program .

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They got completely destroyed by Lame Kiffin.

They aren't really a top 50 team.

txwharfrat said:

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Anarchistbear said:

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We'll know more about Clemson next week when they play UNC. The portal giveth and take away; Clemson -by rejecting transfers and sticking with hs recruiting and internal development - is no longer a top ten program .

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They got completely destroyed by Lame Kiffin.

They aren't really a top 50 team.

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If they lose to North Carolina they will be circling the drain and we essentially have a full 2 weeks to prep for them, sort of an initial bye week test for Tosh, we should handle them

Strykur said:

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txwharfrat said:

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Anarchistbear said:

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We'll know more about Clemson next week when they play UNC. The portal giveth and take away; Clemson -by rejecting transfers and sticking with hs recruiting and internal development - is no longer a top ten program .

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They got completely destroyed by Lame Kiffin.

They aren't really a top 50 team.

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If they lose to North Carolina they will be circling the drain and we essentially have a full 2 weeks to prep for them, sort of an initial bye week test for Tosh, we should handle them

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Moreover, they will have a short week and have to travel across the country, so even less time to prepare for us.

calumnus said:

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All 3 are looking eminently winnable.

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Under Wilcox, most games were winnable too.