They looked and played like they spent the past four weeks straight at a banquet table somewhere. At one point, they showed a head-to-toe shot of number XX and I said, "Dang, who the heck is that with no visible muscle and a mid-section buldge?!?" I didn't recognize the number, even though it was a starter, but what's the difference, as it could have been any of three or four of them.<br /><br />But, hey, a Charles Atlas (Remember him?) physique doth not a successful offensive lineman make, necessarily, so maybe they had been working on their technique and their core strength, instead of their biceps... If they're PLAYING well, who cares what they look like, right?<br /><br />Wait, forget that last argument...

I know everyone is high on having Michalczik back coaching the line, but especially with tonight's utterly lacking OL performance, it's hard to see there's been any meaningful improvement since last season. I realize he's stuck with the talent he's got, but obviously he's not the miracle worker that a lot of people around here thought he would be.

<blockquote><div class="name-said">TheSouseFamily;660683 said:</div><hr>I know everyone is high on having Michalczik back coaching the line, but especially with tonight's utterly lacking OL performance, it's hard to see there's been any meaningful improvement since last season. I realize he's stuck with the talent he's got, but obviously he's not the miracle worker that a lot of people around here thought he would be.<hr></blockquote><br /><br />And the weird thing is that we DID seem to be getting better in November... Maybe we have to give Texas some credit here. Still...

<blockquote><div class="name-said">Big C_Cal;660709 said:</div><hr>And the weird thing is that we DID seem to be getting better in November... Maybe we have to give Texas some credit here. Still...<hr></blockquote><br /><br />I don't think there's any doubt that Texas probably has superior talent (judging by their recruiting classes).

<blockquote><div class="name-said">Big C_Cal;660709 said:</div><hr>And the weird thing is that we DID seem to be getting better in November... Maybe we have to give Texas some credit here. Still...<hr></blockquote><br /><br />I thought our play calling had improved and we figured out what Maynard and Sofele (and our OL) are good at. Then this.<br /><br />Why did we think we could run up the middle or have Maynard sit in the pocket against Texas?

<blockquote><div class="name-said">calumnus;660720 said:</div><hr>I thought our play calling had improved and we figured out what Maynard and Sofele (and our OL) are good at. Then this.<br /><br />Why did we think we could run up the middle or have Maynard sit in the pocket against Texas?<hr></blockquote><br /><br />Well, we did try running outside a fair amount, and most of those plays ended up getting blown up in the backfield.

Our O-line got demolished by a VERY talented D-line. Looking at the starting front 7 and their rivals ratings out of high school:<br /><br />Jackson Jeffcoat - 5 stars, 6.1, #1 DE<br />Kheeston Randall - 4 Stars, 5.8, #18 DT<br />Calvin Howell - 4 Stars, 6.0, #7 DT<br />Alex Okafor - 5 Stars, 6.1, #1 DE<br />Jordan Hicks - 5 Stars, 6.1, #1 LB<br />Keenan Robinson - 4 Stars, 5.9, #4 LB<br />Emmanuel Acho - 3 Stars, 5.7, #38 LB<br /><br />Half of them were #1 in their position. It's like playing a defense full of Keenan Allen-like talent. I'm not too surprised at the results...

<blockquote><div class="name-said">pingpong2;660722 said:</div><hr>Well, we did try running outside a fair amount, and most of those plays ended up getting blown up in the backfield.<hr></blockquote><br /><br />The slow developing sweeps (with CJA even?) got blown up in the back field (as they do all season and every season), not the quick pitch to Sofele outside.<br /><br />Texas has a very aggressive defense. What was needed was more misdirection to take advantage of that aggressiveness (what they did to our defense). We had some nice plays on our opening drive, then....?

Even when we ran misdirections their defense seemed very disciplined in playing their positions and not over pursuing.

I think OL is the ultimate culprit of today's failure. Maynard was getting killed out there! And where's KA? Texas defense is probably the best we faced all year!<br /><br />But we shot ourselves in the foot with those turn overs too. FIVE???<br /><br />Oh well is it September yet???

Are you surprised that it's the same Texas team that lost 5 games? Every team on their schedule except for Kansas scored more points than we did. Even ucla scored 20 and several offenses lit that same defense up. I guess your statement about not being surprised is more of a reflection of how bad our offense is.

<blockquote><div class="name-said">calumnus;660720 said:</div><hr>I thought our play calling had improved and we figured out what Maynard and Sofele (and our OL) are good at. Then this.<br /><br />Why did we think we could run up the middle or have Maynard sit in the pocket against Texas?<hr></blockquote><br /><br />When the other team is faster you run straight at them (you may have notice how many times Isi and Maynard were run down outside the tackles). Unfortunately our OL wasn't good enough to open holes going straight ahead. Facing a bigger, stronger and faster opponent is your basic recipe for a loss.

The O-Line was terrible and we weren't able to make any adjustments to halt the Longhorn blitz. Our tight ends seemed to have no clue what their blocking assignments were. More false starts by veteran O-lineman like Matt Summers-Gavin. Just really hard to watch.

<blockquote><div class="name-said">HungryCalBear;660851 said:</div><hr>I think OL is the ultimate culprit of today's failure. Maynard was getting killed out there!<hr></blockquote><br /><br />Completely agree. Galas played as poorly as I can remember any Cal center ever playing. How many rolling snaps? 3, 4? Each of those snaps cost Cal a drive. Then he gets the holding calls, which may have been declined, but still.<br />MSG also struggled quite a bit; it kills me that he HAS to play tackle.

There was no question a talent gap between cal's OLine and ut's Dline. But many of the defeats were NOT talent defeats. They were play recognition and schematic defeats. That's the part that drives me crazy. How many times yesterday did we see a bunch of rushers get into the backfield untouched. That's not a talent issue. It's a scheme and recognition issue.

<blockquote><div class="name-said">Haas8388;660899 said:</div><hr>Completely agree. Galas played as poorly as I can remember any Cal center ever playing. How many rolling snaps? 3, 4? Each of those snaps cost Cal a drive. Then he gets the holding calls, which may have been declined, but still.<br />MSG also struggled quite a bit; it kills me that he HAS to play tackle.<hr></blockquote><br /><br />Galas and MSG have been total killers late in the season when we are playing our toughest opponents during November.<br /><br />It's not like we were playing on the road and dealing with a ton of crowd noise like up in Autzen, either. I seem to recall one of our more recent games in which MSG had 3-4 false starts... and two were in the same series!

<blockquote><div class="name-said">hanky1;660920 said:</div><hr>There was no question a talent gap between cal's OLine and ut's Dline. But many of the defeats were NOT talent defeats. They were play recognition and schematic defeats. That's the part that drives me crazy. How many times yesterday did we see a bunch of rushers get into the backfield untouched. That's not a talent issue. It's a scheme and recognition issue.<hr></blockquote><br /><br />+1

<blockquote><div class="name-said">Haas8388;660899 said:</div><hr>Completely agree. Galas played as poorly as I can remember any Cal center ever playing. How many rolling snaps? 3, 4? Each of those snaps cost Cal a drive. Then he gets the holding calls, which may have been declined, but still.<br />MSG also struggled quite a bit; it kills me that he HAS to play tackle.<hr></blockquote><br /><br />Whatever happened to Brazinski? That guy was highly, highly, highly touted, yet in 3 years in the program he hasn't made an impact.

And lower rated Acho may be the best or 2nd best player. What happens in bowl games is different, as they have a month to prepare specifically for what we do. We also have a month to do something different, for example not always roll out the same direction. Start of bowl games can be rusty. Once UT knocked the rust off superior talent and preparation came through. I thought our biggest weakness given how football has been evolving was lack of TE play blocking and recieving and failure to distribute the ball. We had 19 receptions-17 by 2 players. Miller was destroyed by Jeffcoat. Most pressures were from 2 defenders coming from off a tackle or TE. See furd and Patriots as 2 examples of how teams are moving to utilize TE in both facets- to kill the edge rush and provide a miss match high % target for passing game. Just anorher area where game seems to be passing JT by. Miller was better as a Soph genyk has not helped him at all. <blockquote><div class="name-said">jimbo168;660740 said:</div><hr>Our O-line got demolished by a VERY talented D-line. Looking at the starting front 7 and their rivals ratings out of high school:<br /><br />Jackson Jeffcoat - 5 stars, 6.1, #1 DE<br />Kheeston Randall - 4 Stars, 5.8, #18 DT<br />Calvin Howell - 4 Stars, 6.0, #7 DT<br />Alex Okafor - 5 Sta<br />Jordan Hicks - 5 Stars, 6.1, #1 LB<br />Keenan Robinson - 4 Stars, 5.9, #4 LB<br />Emmanuel Acho - 3 Stars, 5.7, #38 LB<br /><br />Half of them were #1 in their position. It's like playing a defense full of Keenan Allen-like talent. I'm not too surprised at the results...<hr></blockquote>

<blockquote><div class="name-said">biely medved;660941 said:</div><hr>And lower rated Acho may be the best or 2nd best player. What happens in bowl games is different, as they have a month to prepare specifically for what we do. We also have a month to do something different, for example not always roll out the same direction. Start of bowl games can be rusty. Once UT knocked the rust off superior talent and preparation came through. I thought our biggest weakness given how football has been evolving was lack of TE play blocking and recieving and failure to distribute the ball. We had 19 receptions-17 by 2 players. Miller was destroyed by Jeffcoat. Most pressures were from 2 defenders coming from off a tackle or TE. See furd and Patriots as 2 examples of how teams are moving to utilize TE in both facets- to kill the edge rush and provide a miss match high % target for passing game. Just anorher area where game seems to be passing JT by. Miller was better as a Soph genyk has not helped him at all.<hr></blockquote><br /><br />+1

<blockquote><div class="name-said">biely medved;660941 said:</div><hr>i thought our biggest weakness given how football has been evolving was lack of te play blocking and recieving and failure to distribute the ball. We had 19 receptions - 17 by 2 players. Miller was destroyed by jeffcoat. Most pressures were from 2 defenders coming from off a tackle or te. See furd and patriots as 2 examples of how teams are moving to utilize te in both facets- to kill the edge rush and provide a miss match high % target for passing game. Just anorher area where game seems to be passing jt by. Miller was better as a soph genyk has not helped him at all.<hr></blockquote><br /><br />+100

<blockquote><div class="name-said">jimbo168;660740 said:</div><hr>Our O-line got demolished by a VERY talented D-line. Looking at the starting front 7 and their rivals ratings out of high school:<br /><br />Jackson Jeffcoat - 5 stars, 6.1, #1 DE<br />Kheeston Randall - 4 Stars, 5.8, #18 DT<br />Calvin Howell - 4 Stars, 6.0, #7 DT<br />Alex Okafor - 5 Stars, 6.1, #1 DE<br />Jordan Hicks - 5 Stars, 6.1, #1 LB<br />Keenan Robinson - 4 Stars, 5.9, #4 LB<br />Emmanuel Acho - 3 Stars, 5.7, #38 LB<br /><br />Half of them were #1 in their position. It's like playing a defense full of Keenan Allen-like talent. I'm not too surprised at the results...<hr></blockquote><br /><br />Yeah..with all that talent Texas was 5-7 last year and 7-5 this year, hey, just like Cal....if 5 other teams could beat Texas we could have at least put in a better showing....<br /><br />Next in line for "excuse city"

I think they were out talented. Jeffcoat was a beast. They seemed to really fold once Texas started bringing the heat.<br /><br />Why does Galas hold so much? There is no reason for him to hold. It just compounds the problem. The 15 yard penalty is almost always worse then the damage his man is going to do after beating him. I suppose, sometimes they don't call the hold, but on average I think it would be better for him when he gets beat to not hold. I chalk that up to bad coaching because he's been doing it all year.

Galas and Summers-Gavin should both be playing guards.<br /><br />We need a new center. Galas can't shotgun snap consistently even after 2 years of starting.