The good and bad news is that Cal is young.
As a team, Cal will lose only 14 guys to graduation after 2013.
Here is the list:
Mitchell Bartolo RB
Jackson Bouza WR
Spender Hagan WR/TE
Mark Brazinski C/OG
Matt Williams OT
Bill Tyndall OT
Dan Camporeale DE
Harrison Wilfley DE
Deandre Coleman DT
Austin Clark DT
Keni Kaufusi DT
Alex Logan S
Brandon Madueno LS
Vincent D'Amato PK

Total= 6 offense, 6 defense and 2 STs
Of these 14, only the loss of Coleman and maybe Tyndall will have any real consequences for 2014.

The major difference between the offense and defense is that the defense is made up mostly of Juniors who have game experience whereas the offense is made up mostly of Sophmores and Freshmen who have little experience. Cal has only 4 returning starters on offense (Rodgers, Rigsbee, Treggs and Harper). Of these 4, only Rodgers is a junior. And Rodgers missed most of his 1st 2 years with injuries. None has been a full year starter other than Rigsbee, who was not exactly nailing down the position.

The key positions of OL and QB will likely have only 2 upper classmen (Tyndall and Crosthwaite) each of whom has not been a full year starter. While Cal does have several upperclassmen at WR, only 4 of them could break into the 2 deep and only 1 of those (Spencer Hagan) has considerable experience, besides Rodgers.

I suspect the 2 deep at WR, which is 8 WRs would be as follows, although nothing has been decided:

[U]STARTERS[/U]
Bryce Treggs
Chris Harper
Maurice Harris
Richard Rodgers

[U]BACK-UPS[/U]
Kenny Lawler
Drake Whitehurst
Spencer Hagan
Darius Powe

[U]Other possibilities include [/U]
Jackson Bouza
Maximo Espitia
Griffin Piatt
Joel Willis
Kyle Boehm
Stephen Anderson

Yes Cal has an offensive system that could generate points, but how many is reasonable to expect with so little experience and so many questions?

35ppg

I think the mid-30's is a reasonably optimistic expectation for the seasaon - but I expect we'll build toward that.

Wouldn't be surprised if we average somewhere in the mid-20's for Northwestern, Ohio State and Oregon State with a 45+ point outburst against Portland State pulling us into a somewhat deceptive low-30's average through 4 games (and 5 weeks of the season).

I think somewhere around the Oregon game (hopefully following the bye week after Ohio State) or against Washington State the following week at Memorial (more likely) we'll start to see a discernable difference in terms of execution, timing, etc - translating into scores more consistently in the mid-30's the rest of the season.

Along the lines of wishful thinking would be a 50-spot put on Stanford in our last game which knocks them out of BCS bowl contention and brings the Axe home in style - but that may be more wishful thinking than reasonable expectation!

heartofthebear;842105157 said:

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The good and bad news is that Cal is young.
As a team, Cal will lose only 14 guys to graduation after 2013.
Here is the list:
Mitchell Bartolo RB
Jackson Bouza WR
Spender Hagan WR/TE
Mark Brazinski C/OG
Matt Williams OT
Bill Tyndall OT
Dan Camporeale DE
Harrison Wilfley DE
Deandre Coleman DT
Austin Clark DT
Keni Kaufusi DT
Alex Logan S
Brandon Madueno LS
Vincent D'Amato PK

Total= 6 offense, 6 defense and 2 STs
Of these 14, only the loss of Coleman and maybe Tyndall will have any real consequences for 2014.

The major difference between the offense and defense is that the defense is made up mostly of Juniors who have game experience whereas the offense is made up mostly of Sophmores and Freshmen who have little experience. Cal has only 4 returning starters on offense (Rodgers, Rigsbee, Treggs and Harper). Of these 4, only Rodgers is a junior. And Rodgers missed most of his 1st 2 years with injuries. None has been a full year starter other than Rigsbee, who was not exactly nailing down the position.

The key positions of OL and QB will likely have only 2 upper classmen (Tyndall and Crosthwaite) each of whom has not been a full year starter. While Cal does have several upperclassmen at WR, only 4 of them could break into the 2 deep and only 1 of those (Spencer Hagan) has considerable experience, besides Rodgers.

I suspect the 2 deep at WR, which is 8 WRs would be as follows, although nothing has been decided:

[U]STARTERS[/U]
Bryce Treggs
Chris Harper
Maurice Harris
Richard Rodgers

[U]BACK-UPS[/U]
Kenny Lawler
Drake Whitehurst
Spencer Hagan
Darius Powe

[U]Other possibilities include [/U]
Jackson Bouza
Maximo Espitia
Griffin Piatt
Joel Willis
Kyle Boehm
Stephen Anderson

Yes Cal has an offensive system that could generate points, but how many is reasonable to expect with so little experience and so many questions?

---

As a group, we're going to expect perfection, just like always. We're Cal fans, after all, aren't we?

heartofthebear;842105157 said:

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... Yes Cal has an offensive system that could generate points, but how many is reasonable to expect with so little experience and so many questions?

---

I expect (ha, expectations, hopes, dreams, prayers, drunken DEMANDS) ... where was I
... oh yeah, more points for, fewer points against, more games in which points for exceeds points against ... fun and player enthusiasm, coaching fun and enthusiasm.
AND the return of the AXE !!!

Team is young, injuries could and probably might decide how well the team does. To have to limit the spring game because there were only three (3 !!!) healthy LBs was startling.
We may be losing only a few seniors this year but the end of 2014 will see a massive exit ... hope recruiting goes very well this year.

We should expect noticible improvement as the year progresses.

Go Bears!

Rushinbear;842105220 said:

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As a group, we're going to expect perfection, just like always. We're Cal fans, after all, aren't we?

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The fact that were Cal fans and expect perfection is in itself funny, even though I have always fallen under that category myself.
:cheer

Edit: Personally I have no idea, especially without a starting QB, how many points/game we score. If it is indeed 35, then we probably go to a bowl, unless of course most of them accrue against WSU, Colorado, Portland St. and Arizona.

It wouldn't surprise me if 2 of our QBs are still competing come the start of the season and the final decision isn't made before seeing them competing against other teams for a few weeks. JT did something similar in 2003 with Rogers and Robertson.

sonofcalva;842105228 said:

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i expect (ha, expectations, hopes, dreams, prayers, drunken demands) ... Where was i
... Oh yeah, more points for, fewer points against, more games in which points for exceeds points against ... Fun and player enthusiasm, coaching fun and enthusiasm.
And the return of the axe !!!

.

---

qed

I do hear the youthful part.
On the positive side Harper, Treggs, Rogers, and Bigs all have a good amount of game experience. About a year now. And they have shown they could be pretty special. In college that's a decent amount of live play.
As usual the QB can make the flaws better or worse.

I expect 35-38 PPG and 7 wins!

heartofthebear;842105157 said:

---

The good and bad news is that Cal is young.
As a team, Cal will lose only 14 guys to graduation after 2013.
Here is the list:
Mitchell Bartolo RB
Jackson Bouza WR
Spender Hagan WR/TE
Mark Brazinski C/OG
Matt Williams OT
Bill Tyndall OT
Dan Camporeale DE
Harrison Wilfley DE
Deandre Coleman DT
Austin Clark DT
Keni Kaufusi DT
Alex Logan S
Brandon Madueno LS
Vincent D'Amato PK

Total= 6 offense, 6 defense and 2 STs
Of these 14, only the loss of Coleman and maybe Tyndall will have any real consequences for 2014.

The major difference between the offense and defense is that the defense is made up mostly of Juniors who have game experience whereas the offense is made up mostly of Sophmores and Freshmen who have little experience. Cal has only 4 returning starters on offense (Rodgers, Rigsbee, Treggs and Harper). Of these 4, only Rodgers is a junior. And Rodgers missed most of his 1st 2 years with injuries. None has been a full year starter other than Rigsbee, who was not exactly nailing down the position.

The key positions of OL and QB will likely have only 2 upper classmen (Tyndall and Crosthwaite) each of whom has not been a full year starter. While Cal does have several upperclassmen at WR, only 4 of them could break into the 2 deep and only 1 of those (Spencer Hagan) has considerable experience, besides Rodgers.

I suspect the 2 deep at WR, which is 8 WRs would be as follows, although nothing has been decided:

[U]STARTERS[/U]
Bryce Treggs
Chris Harper
Maurice Harris
Richard Rodgers

[U]BACK-UPS[/U]
Kenny Lawler
Drake Whitehurst
Spencer Hagan
Darius Powe

[U]Other possibilities include [/U]
Jackson Bouza
Maximo Espitia
Griffin Piatt
Joel Willis
Kyle Boehm
Stephen Anderson

Yes Cal has an offensive system that could generate points, but how many is reasonable to expect with so little experience and so many questions?

---

Biggest question: OLine development. Cal is not good, or deep currently.

I just would like the Flash and Dash personality instilled into the Cal O offense ala 1991...pound and throw, throw and pound with some good special teams play...get that confidence going and get used to scoring...

with such a young team, poor OL, new offense, high snaps a Cal patent now, and the injury bug usually seems to hit Cal in key positions I would guess maybe 3 - 5 wins this season...
:acclaim:

goodrich;842105752 said:

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with such a young team, poor OL, new offense, high snaps a Cal patent now, and the injury bug usually seems to hit Cal in key positions I would guess maybe 3 - 5 wins this season...
:acclaim:

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Regarding the high snaps, why not move the QB back a few steps? You know what they say, what goes up must come down. Let's make consistency work in our favor.

:newnana:

goodrich;842105752 said:

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with such a young team, poor OL, new offense, high snaps a Cal patent now, and the injury bug usually seems to hit Cal in key positions I would guess maybe 3 - 5 wins this season...
:acclaim:

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:gobears:

CALiforniALUM;842105845 said:

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Regarding the high snaps, why not move the QB back a few steps? You know what they say, what goes up must come down. Let's make consistency work in our favor.

:newnana:

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or play multiple quarterbacks and whoever catches the ball runs the play...

CALiforniALUM;842105845 said:

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Regarding the high snaps, why not move the QB back a few steps? You know what they say, what goes up must come down. Let's make consistency work in our favor.

:newnana:

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The QBs are snatching the ball while it's still rising. Move 'em a few steps back and they'll need a ladder.

There were more good snaps as the SG wore on. Was that due to a substitution or the C getting the hang of it?

Bobodeluxe;842105862 said:

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:gobears:

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though the Bruins had a much weaker schedule. But they were quite young and had to rely on new, young QB. They got good play out of inexperienced oline guys, which will have to be the case for Cal as well.

Rushinbear;842106358 said:

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The QBs are snatching the ball while it's still rising. Move 'em a few steps back and they'll need a ladder. ...

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so .... a taller QB ... hmm
if the starting QB is Tagaloa ... no, he doesn't have all the throws ...
perhaps Cochran the Younger can pass

89Bear;842106343 said:

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or play multiple quarterbacks and whoever catches the ball runs the play...

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LOL

I thought of this myself.
Solves the quarterback problems.
Put Kline in front and Hinder, reporting as an RB, behind him. Whoever catches it runs the play.

The only problem is that Hinder would have nobody to hand-off too.
Even though I know you were joking it was fun to speculate how it might work.