OneKeg;583603 said:

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Not even close. I definitely am a Tedford skeptic at this point, but let's not get crazy.

- Exhibit A: Arizona. 'Nuff said.
- We're 0-2 against Pac-12 teams having played at extremely difficult road venues, one of which was against an excellent offensive team (UW). Let's see how things shake out in the latter part of the season when we get some of our home games. Also, our D looked pretty good against Fresno State.
- That being said, we haven't played great. It's clear we have tons of room for improvement in our pass defense.
- The question should really be, why aren't we one of the top defenses in the conference (wouldn't take much)? Two senior middle linebackers, two senior safeties, two senior defensive ends etc., two experienced corners, all fairly highly-recruited, tons of young talent to complement.

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Say what now?

also keep in mind Cal played Presbyterian which boosted the stats up immensely otherwise Cal would likely by near the bottom of FBS in defense.

OneKeg;583603 said:

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Not even close. I definitely am a Tedford skeptic at this point, but let's not get crazy.

- Exhibit A: Arizona. 'Nuff said.
- [COLOR="Blue"]We're 0-2 against Pac-12 teams[/COLOR] having played at extremely difficult road venues, one of which was against an excellent offensive team (UW).

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I'm with GMP, say wut wut wut???

HairOfTheBear;583641 said:

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I'm with GMP, say wut wut wut???

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My bad, 1-1 against Pac-12 teams, but that wasn't my main point. I was actually trying to make an ameliorating statement about the defense regarding their struggles in those games. If you look at the rest of the bullet point, it's about how the defensive issues in those two games may not tell the whole story.

Cal may actually be in the top half of the league on defense. Have you seen how Arizona, USC and some others play defense? The league has no great defensive teams with Stanford perhaps being the best at least right now. The scores of Pac 12 games look like video games. The passing offenses in this league are really good. Arizona, USC, ASU, WSU and Stanford can all really throw the ball. OSU threw 66 times vs ASU last night.

Oregon is deceiving with their pass offense. Teams breakdown in coverage and the Ducks hit them hard with big plays. They use the RB on pass plays very well and put a lot of pressure on the LBs and safeties (not a good sign for the Bears).

I expect Cal to finish in the top half of the conference in overall defense, but in the bottom half of pass defense. Whether they can force turnovers will determine the overall defensive effectiveness. The matchups Cal has vs certain teams could prove to be the difference. The Bears are fortunate to play USC and WSU at home. They stand a good chance of outscoring those teams at AT&T. OSU is not what they have been. UCLA is a poor passing team and that is to Cal's benefit. Utah is last in the Pac 12 on offense and the game is at AT&T. Oregon and Stanford are the tough matchups. They have balance and are on the road. ASU looks daunting but the Devils are not great on defense and have turned the ball over.

We all get carried away watching the Bears and the problems look worse than they are, at least when comparing them to the others. The Bears are not great on defense, but this league is an embarrassment on defense. Not a single team could be called good on defense.

Thank you, 6956bear, for an excellent perspective. ˆ
We have a lot of youth that should get better, and improve the defense as a whole, with experience.

91Cal;583615 said:

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Before posting. It does NOT include the games and is thus almost entirely meaningless.

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Yes, I did see that. You didn't need to be an as$hole about it though. I DID state that I didn't think the stats included yesterday's games. Take your own advice about reading before posting.

false.

/thread.

Run defense = Very good

Pass defense = VERY bad

Overall = Mediocre

Need more pressure and sacks

KoreAmBear;583422 said:

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Bingo. We can move the ball on anyone in the P12. But the issue as to what kind of season we have is whether we can learn how to stop someone.

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I agree and after 4 games I see no improvement in the defense. Here we are in the same hole as the last few years hoping the offense can put enough points on the board to stay ahead with the meat of our schedule in front. What steps need to be taken to prevent this?

If you look at the Colorado and UW games it seems like many games will come down to the red zone. Bears won the red zone big against CU. Defense stiffened and the O punched it in. Against UW the O couldn't punch it in. Hopefully the Bears will spend some practices sorting out short yardage plays.

89Bear;583908 said:

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If you look at the Colorado and UW games it seems like many games will come down to the red zone. Bears won the red zone big against CU. Defense stiffened and the O punched it in. Against UW the O couldn't punch it in. Hopefully the Bears will spend some practices sorting out short yardage plays.

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Yes, I think consistent D and being efficient in the red zone will be key. We're going to find out if we can do those two things on Thursday.