OneKeg;842364162 said:
I am not one of those slamming the team (though the coaches do deserve a bit of criticism). I agree this team is improved and we should see what happens - whether we are on the road to being a good team or to being a mediocre team. Just as importantly, how this team plays against Colorado and Wazzu, one bad opponent at home and a mediocre opponent on the road, will be important to judge whether the coaches have instilled toughness and confidence in the team. Most teams have the appearance of toughness and confidence when things are going well, so now is the time when that stuff is best observed.
Cal was ahead all of the first two games for 120 minutes because our opponents sucked. Being ahead of Arizona, a fairly good team, for the whole game on the road was indeed an accomplishment, though sadly a futile one in the end.
I do want to say that you are cherry picking how unlucky Cal got. Cal was incredibly lucky for large parts of this game.
- Solomon was uncharacteristically inaccurate (I mean borderline Ayoob-like inaccurate) in the first half, missing several open receivers on what would have been big plays and/or TDs. It didn't look to me like this was the result of overwhelming pressure from us - he was just off, until he turned it on in the second half. I think if he didn't have a terrible first half, our halftime lead is probably more like 28-24.
- AZ was clearly overlooking us in the first half and expected us to just suck. Busted coverages, lackadaisical on offense. To our credit, we (esp. Goff) took advantage of them taking us for granted, at least for a half.
- Uncharacteristic shanked chip shot field goal off the post - completely demoralizing to Wildcats to get nothing after they just stripped Rubenzer deep in Cal territory.
- While there were bad/borderline calls or no-calls against Cal (including no-call on offensive PI and illegal formation/ineligible downfield on the hail mary), there were probably even more against Zona. It was the first time in a long time that I felt the refs actually favored us slightly on the road.
If not for all of that, Zona may well not have needed the hail mary and been up by a couple scores against us at the end of the game. BUT - every team deserves to get some breaks once in a while and beat (what I think was) a slightly superior team on the road. Saturday night should have been that game for us. Instead we got another kick in the groin.
And finally, there was nothing hard about that particular successful onside kick against us. If both teams line up the same way 10 times with the same approach to the ball (without memory of the previous times), Zona probably executes that successfully at least 6 or 7 out of 10. It worked 1 out of 2 the first time, or 1 out of 1 because Harris negated his play on the ball by chucking it out of bounds. AZ saw it too because the Cats went to the exact same well again later on their final onside kick, but I think we had an extra guy by then, and Hudson took a much more aggressive approach to securing the ball than any of the guys on that side the first time.
Agreed that the pick and the hail mary were unlucky, though of course, if we keep having DBs run with and 'cover' receivers on hail mary passes, it makes it a lot more likely that they will be completed on us (PI/formations aside).
Future looks much better than last year - totally agree, and I'll be at the game against CU (my young son's second game, first was Sac St). But the future being much brighter than last year is like saying 'not as dumb as a rock'. It's the lowest bar possible. Does it mean smarter than a Cal PhD? Could be. Or does it mean smarter than a Zona C-average student? Smarter than an actual wildcat, the animal? Unknown at this point.
You seem to think that "uncharacteristically inaccurate" is luck? It isn't as all QBs do that including Goff uncharacteristically being inaccurate in the 3rd quarter going 2-9. That isn't bad luck, that is not good play. That doesn't have to do with luck as much. Luck is the ball about to hit the ground and by miracle a hand not only gets under it, not only flicks it up, but it also happens to land right in the defenders arms. It isn't a common play while incompletions and stretches of incompletions are very common.
"- AZ was clearly overlooking us in the first half and expected us to just suck. Busted coverages, lackadaisical on offense. To our credit, we (esp. Goff) took advantage of them taking us for granted, at least for a half." This is you just making something up. Is every time we do good the other team was expecting us to just suck and played lackadaisical AND on the flip side if they suck it is because it is uncharacteristic and we were lucky? The answer is no that isn't the case. If it was the case then explain the two 70+ yard TD drives in the 4th quarter of that game. Were they still just expecting us to suck OR did Goff just have an uncharacteristic 3rd quarter completing passes and the 4th was us moving the ball again. There is nothing that supports what you were saying.
Missed FG even a short one... We missed a FG also. Players especially in college where the hashes are wider miss FGs including short ones. That one though I will give you though as it is rare for a kicker for the most part to miss a short FG.
The penalty thing I don't agree with. Cal had a ton of questionable calls against them or not called against them. Watch a couple of Solomans plays in the 4th and Kelly is held so bad on a play that was huge for them. No call in what would have put it 3rd and very long instead of the 1st down. I am not sure why holding isn't called in college football anymore. You can just grab the DL with both hands and never let go.
To the last part to sum this all up. Other things you said and to speak on.. They were 1 for 3 on the onside kicks. They didn't get one and a penalty let them re-kick it, then they got it, and then they didn't get the next one they tried after that. That is 1-2 or 1-3 (33%) if you want to talk about the penalty play. Onside in general across all college football is a very low percentage play. A ton has to go right for you to get the ball. One you have to kick it just right where it isn't going to fast, but not to slow either. Then you usually have to hope for a good bounce (which can't be predicted and needs ton of luck) or a bobble botch by the other team or a high bounce that hangs long enough for you team to get there while they don't, etc.. all while hoping it doesn't go out of bounds. It is a rare play. Same thing with the hail mary. You are throwing the ball into the endzone into triple or more coverage hoping your guy can come down with it out of desperation. It is a rare play because you can intercept it, it can be knocked down, it is crowded, a lot of players are all pulling at each other, etc.
