There is cause for pause when it comes to gimmicky offenses. As much as I despise the SEC, their better teams (LSU, Alabama, now even Stanfurd) have shown they can shut down tricky offenses. You can say they have superior athletes, but so does Oregon. Again, these teams have shown the world how to win: very slow scoring offenses combined with strong defenses. Cal's most critical hire is still going to be the DC and recruiting athletes to play defense, esp. now that more and more schools in the PAC are using gimmicks in their offenses.

First of all, I don't get where people have concluded that running back will be impacted that badly. Dykes is not Leach. His run/pass ratio has hovered around 45/55, and LaT averaged over 225 yds/game rushing this year.

Secondly, I disagree with the comment that Tedford's complex playbook has helped players get to the NFL. NFL teams draft primarily on potential--especially as demonstrated by combine measurables. Otherwise, how do you explain disasters like DeMarcus Russell, who couldn't memorize a one page playbook?

UrsaMajor;842038670 said:

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First of all, I don't get where people have concluded that running back will be impacted that badly. Dykes is not Leach. His run/pass ratio has hovered around 45/55, and LaT averaged over 225 yds/game rushing this year.

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This.

People don't understand that our offense isn't the Air Raid they imagine when they think of Leach.

Dyke even said himself during the press conference, "it isn't Air Raid".