SeymoreBear;592302 said:
I wanna see what you guys think, and any HC that you would like to see if Tedford can't pull it around.
Great thread and great responses by all. Here's my take.
SeymoreBear, I agree with most of what you say, however, before 'expecting' to win 11 games perhaps you should consider the capabilities of our opponents. Before I bust out the 2012 schedule, I will simply say that the 2004 team had a FAR easier road to 11 wins than the 2012 Bears will have -- and they had one of the greatest QB's to ever play the game. The 2012 team will not have that luxury but I digress.
While the 2012 Schedule has yet to be released, here is what we do know.
At Ohio State -- This is going to be an extremely tough game. The Ohio State we will see in 2012 will be vastly different from the team they have now. They are still loaded with talent and not many people can win @ the Horseshoe.
At USC - Never an easy game. Barkley will probably be gone but Woods will be a Junior, Marquise Lee a Sophomore, and who knows what else they will have in store for us when we play them. Not an easy game to say the least.
vs Stanford - They will still be very tough. Stanford still has 500 TE's who can catch and sell the play-action. We still don't have Linebackers or Safeties who can cover and I hope we develop some soon. McCain has tremendous potential in coverage.
vs Oregon - They will still be loaded and likely still have DT as their starting QB. DAT will be a sophomore and he already looks amazing.
vs Washington - Fortunately, most of our tough games are at home but Washington will be very tough next year. Price is already playing extremely well and he will be a Junior next year. Kasan Williams will be a sophomore as will ASJ, their humongous TE. Bishop Sankey looks like a very good RB for them -- he will also be a sophomore.
at Washington State - Their offense is really coming along and Tuel will be a senior. Stud WR Marques Wilson will be a junior. I really hope our secondary plans on improving drastically by next year.
We will probably play another conference road game against a team from the South. It will be against Utah, Arizona, or Arizona State. I really hope we avoid Arizona State because they've got a solid team with a solid QB. Brock Osweiler will be a Junior next year.
The Pac 12 will be stacked next year and I didn't even mention UCLA -- who could end up being tough themselves once they replace Slick Rick.
Looking at this schedule, 11 wins would mean Cal would be worthy of National Championship consideration. While I like the young talent on our team, I just can't fathom an improvement drastic enough to EXPECT 11 wins from this schedule. IMO, 10 wins against this schedule will be a tremendous accomplishment with 9 being very acceptable. I will be expecting 8-9 wins because like many other Pac 12 teams next year, we will be very good.