Leaving aside last year's Buh- and injury-infused disaster, our ongoing problem defensively has been a combination of the front-line's inability to get to the quarterback without blitzes, and the lack of any lockdown defensive backs that could enable us to rush more defenders without getting burned through the air. That was the problem under Prendergast, and it is still the problem under Kaufman. Until we recruit better defensive linemen, better defensive backs, or both, it'll still be a problem. Not having McClure last night, who is probably our best defensive back, was a key factor in the second half.

I'm not sure McClure is our best DB and we certainly needed him, but also losing Lowe for a portion of the game was huge too. It was nice to have Avery back for a full game though. Such an athletic interception too.

Jeff82;842364395 said:

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Leaving aside last year's Buh- and injury-infused disaster, our ongoing problem defensively has been a combination of the front-line's inability to get to the quarterback without blitzes, and the lack of any lockdown defensive backs that could enable us to rush more defenders without getting burned through the air. That was the problem under Prendergast, and it is still the problem under Kaufman. Until we recruit better defensive linemen, better defensive backs, or both, it'll still be a problem. Not having McClure last night, who is probably our best defensive back, was a key factor in the second half.

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missing mcclure and lowe was huge. at the very least, it would have been nice just to have some more bodies; but they both add tremendous stability to the secondary since they are our most seasoned players.

i think our pass rush was fine (not great, but ok) until the 4th, where they were just completely out of energy. so the OP is right, we do need much better depth because there is a huge drop off from our starters (scarlett, barr, moose) to our 2nd line. but I'm quite happy with the performance of our first line so far. and i think this game was a bit of an anamoly cause I don't foresee our defense staying on the field for 106 plays again this season (it took a tremendous amount of random circumstances for that to happen).

ducky23;842364412 said:

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missing mcclure and lowe was huge. at the very least, it would have been nice just to have some more bodies; but they both add tremendous stability to the secondary since they are our most seasoned players.

i think our pass rush was fine (not great, but ok) until the 4th, where they were just completely out of energy. so the OP is right, we do need much better depth because there is a huge drop off from our starters (scarlett, barr, moose) to our 2nd line. but I'm quite happy with the performance of our first line so far. and i think this game was a bit of an anamoly cause I don't foresee our defense staying on the field for 106 plays again this season (it took a tremendous amount of random circumstances for that to happen).

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Good points!

106 plays....that's insane!!

We really have to find a way to slow down our plays and up our time of possession.

Just out of curiosity...how many plays did Cal run this weekend?

76 seems to ring a bell...remember our first two scores took all of 4-5 plays I think

Depth = recruiting failures of the past several years. Tremendous talent at our fingertips and it went elsewhere. We have the opportunity to offer top defensive recruits immediate playing time if they're the right guys.

mc clure out and then lowe out really hurt .. they went right after the middle constantly , seems we were trying to stay in base 4 3 and they were eating us alive over the middle in the 4th quarter

6bear6;842364429 said:

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Depth = recruiting failures of the past several years. Tremendous talent at our fingertips and it went elsewhere. We have the opportunity to offer top defensive recruits immediate playing time if they're the right guys.

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very big big problem .. need to show more on field / winning to get those players

Way too early to be critical of our new and improved Defense. Man give it some time to adjust and develop. This is not the 2013 team....
IMO.

Anyone know how serious Lowe's and McClure's injuries were?

KoreAmBear;842364402 said:

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I'm not sure McClure is our best DB and we certainly needed him, but also losing Lowe for a portion of the game was huge too. It was nice to have Avery back for a full game though. Such an athletic interception too.

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Lowe has been our best DB this year.

6bear6;842364429 said:

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Depth = recruiting failures of the past several years. Tremendous talent at our fingertips and it went elsewhere. We have the opportunity to offer top defensive recruits immediate playing time if they're the right guys.

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I get a feeling that if we can get a few more wins and the team plays the big games in the second half of the season close we'll get several good defensive recruits to reopen their decisions before signing day. The fact that Coach Dykes plays a large number of freshman is going to attract recruits who want to play immediately, and if the program is getting stronger some just might be willing to come.

But, to make that happen, we can't have everyone posting here about how they hate Coach Dykes and how they want a new coach in 2015. Recruits do know about how hot the seat for a coach is, and none wants to play for a lame duck coach if they can prevent it. I think that's a huge part of why Tedford ended up taking so many non-qualifiers and other problems in his last 2 recruiting classes. Everyone knew that if he didn't turn the team around he was a dead coach crawling and the only players willing to come were the marginal students and the ones who looked good in camps, but who most coaches had decided to pass on for some reason. (and sadly, it seems like many of those players should have been passed on.)

But right now we only have 3 seniors in the defensive 2-deep and 2 are journeymen DL. Lowe is the only senior start who we will definitely lose.

The problem will be if we can keep, Jalil, Scarlett, McClure, Sebastian, Jefferson and Barton. All now have 3 years or more at Cal and I know that Sebastian has his bachelors. I'd love to see them stay for one more season after this one because I think 2015 is going to be an exceptional year for Cal, but I also expect at least one to decide that with injuries and graduation they want to move on with their lives.

I'm actually not faulting Kaufman. As I said, it's a long term problem, having to do with the need to recruit better athletes at those positions. I actually was happy with the DBs from a technique standpoint, as it looked to me like they were playing tight on the receivers and looking for the ball when the receiver did.

Jeff82;842364395 said:

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Leaving aside last year's Buh- and injury-infused disaster, our ongoing problem defensively has been a combination of the front-line's inability to get to the quarterback without blitzes, and the lack of any lockdown defensive backs that could enable us to rush more defenders without getting burned through the air. That was the problem under Prendergast, and it is still the problem under Kaufman. Until we recruit better defensive linemen, better defensive backs, or both, it'll still be a problem. Not having McClure last night, who is probably our best defensive back, was a key factor in the second half.

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And it sure does not help to have DC after DC over using the prevent D and under using the blitz. Note a recent example how U$C took the game away from the furds using a simple unbalanced blitz at the end of the game to secure their win.

going4roses;842364434 said:

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mc clure out and then lowe out really hurt .. they went right after the middle constantly , seems we were trying to stay in base 4 3 and they were eating us alive over the middle in the 4th quarter

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!00% Yup!

mvargus;842364457 said:

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I get a feeling that if we can get a few more wins and the team plays the big games in the second half of the season close we'll get several good defensive recruits to reopen their decisions before signing day. The fact that Coach Dykes plays a large number of freshman is going to attract recruits who want to play immediately, and if the program is getting stronger some just might be willing to come.

But, to make that happen, we can't have everyone posting here about how they hate Coach Dykes and how they want a new coach in 2015. Recruits do know about how hot the seat for a coach is, and none wants to play for a lame duck coach if they can prevent it. I think that's a huge part of why Tedford ended up taking so many non-qualifiers and other problems in his last 2 recruiting classes. Everyone knew that if he didn't turn the team around he was a dead coach crawling and the only players willing to come were the marginal students and the ones who looked good in camps, but who most coaches had decided to pass on for some reason. (and sadly, it seems like many of those players should have been passed on.)

But right now we only have 3 seniors in the defensive 2-deep and 2 are journeymen DL. Lowe is the only senior start who we will definitely lose.

The problem will be if we can keep, Jalil, Scarlett, McClure, Sebastian, Jefferson and Barton. All now have 3 years or more at Cal and I know that Sebastian has his bachelors. I'd love to see them stay for one more season after this one because I think 2015 is going to be an exceptional year for Cal, but I also expect at least one to decide that with injuries and graduation they want to move on with their lives.

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This is a bit of a refreshing perspective and also pretty right on.

I might add, in response to the topic, that I have some doubts about how many DBs Dykes has been offering. Also, if you have a ton of offensive guys on scholarship you are going to have less available for defense. I don't know what the actual breakdown is but I'm pretty sure we don't need all the scholarship receivers we have and I'm glad he converted Piatt and now Worstall to DB. Also, maybe Willis can get healthy and help us this year. That would be nice.

It just seems like the lions share of good DBs want to go south, especially to LA. I don't know what that's about but it was even happening when UCLA sucked.