Yes I did, although that was against the chaff of our schedule. I suspect the ratio swings the other way the over the next 8 games. If it doesn't, that's a good thing. I really do want us to do well; I'm just not on the bandwagon right now. If Dykes can prove me wrong, more power to him.

I'm not promoting the SEC but I do believe they've been the strongest football conference in the country over the last 10 years or so.

yoshibear;842369155 said:

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If the above is so important, why did so many teams (not just the Niners) take a pass on AR?

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He and many others wondered the same. That said, he was drafted in the first round, the 2nd QB overall. Not exactly a Tom Brady 6th rounder...

Alex Smith was considered the more desirable QB by most pundits, had loftier numbers, even though the competition was not Pac-10 level.

berk18;842368951 said:

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The formation confused the hell out of us because it was illegal. What the Buffs were trying to do was to use an unbalanced formation to spring their TE. Sonny and Tony have been using a variety of unbalanced formations to confuse defenses going all the way back to their LA Tech days (including Lasco's long TD run against UA a week ago), so actually, they're doing exactly what Colorado did on that TD, but they're doing it better.

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I was so upset with that call, or rather, the fact that they threw the flag and then picked it up. P12 refs, such a joke. It was CLEARLY an illegal formation, and then to have the color commentator draw it up and not really mention that the original penalty as thrown was correct. Insult to further injury when at half-time Rick Neuheisal broke the play down to show how awesome it was that they confused us (which it was), but then neglected to say that it was an illegal formation. So frustrating. All game long I kept thinking about that play and the 7 points hoping that it wouldn't come back to haunt us.

Vandalus;842369203 said:

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I was so upset with that call, or rather, the fact that they threw the flag and then picked it up. P12 refs, such a joke. It was CLEARLY an illegal formation, and then to have the color commentator draw it up and not really mention that the original penalty as thrown was correct. Insult to further injury when at half-time Rick Neuheisal broke the play down to show how awesome it was that they confused us (which it was), but then neglected to say that it was an illegal formation. So frustrating. All game long I kept thinking about that play and the 7 points hoping that it wouldn't come back to haunt us.

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Ugh, I'm with you. Yogi completely botched the issue during the game, too.
[ATTACH=CONFIG]3759[/ATTACH]
He circled Spruce and acted like he was the issue. DOES NO ONE KNOW THE RULE ON THIS? If Spruce were on the LOS then the guy who caught the TD would be covered up and would be an ineligible receiver. The 7th man on the line HAS to be the outside WR in the bunch, which is why the guy inside of him in the bunch has to run screen motion (so that he's not an ineligible receiver downfield).

With all the unbalanced stuff we're seeing from spread teams (including our own), there has to be a less ambiguous way for the defense to know who is and isn't on the LOS. If the outside WR in the bunch were unambiguously on the LOS, then it'd be easy to coach the secondary to recognize the unbalanced formation and communicate a check, but because he's able to cheat by a yard I don't know how you'd know for sure who's eligible, which is complete bullsh*t.

berk18;842369221 said:

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Ugh, I'm with you. Yogi completely botched the issue during the game, too.
[ATTACH=CONFIG]3759[/ATTACH]
He circled Spruce and acted like he was the issue. DOES NO ONE KNOW THE RULE ON THIS? If Spruce were on the LOS then the guy who caught the TD would be covered up and would be an ineligible receiver. The 7th man on the line HAS to be the outside WR in the bunch, which is why the guy inside of him in the bunch has to run screen motion (so that he's not an ineligible receiver downfield).

With all the unbalanced stuff we're seeing from spread teams (including our own), there has to be a less ambiguous way for the defense to know who is and isn't on the LOS. If the outside WR in the bunch were unambiguously on the LOS, then it'd be easy to coach the secondary to recognize the unbalanced formation and communicate a check, but because he's able to cheat by a yard I don't know how you'd know for sure who's eligible, which is complete bullsh*t.

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Even the far WR I think is out of position also by about a yard. Weird that they picked up the flag, but their was a lot of that going on in the first half

yoshibear;842369155 said:

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If the above is so important, why did so many teams (not just the Niners) take a pass on AR?

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They did not think they needed a QB and were not looking to draft a QB in the first round.

berk18;842369221 said:

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Ugh, I'm with you. Yogi completely botched the issue during the game, too.
[ATTACH=CONFIG]3759[/ATTACH]
He circled Spruce and acted like he was the issue. DOES NO ONE KNOW THE RULE ON THIS? If Spruce were on the LOS then the guy who caught the TD would be covered up and would be an ineligible receiver. The 7th man on the line HAS to be the outside WR in the bunch, which is why the guy inside of him in the bunch has to run screen motion (so that he's not an ineligible receiver downfield).

With all the unbalanced stuff we're seeing from spread teams (including our own), there has to be a less ambiguous way for the defense to know who is and isn't on the LOS. If the outside WR in the bunch were unambiguously on the LOS, then it'd be easy to coach the secondary to recognize the unbalanced formation and communicate a check, but because he's able to cheat by a yard I don't know how you'd know for sure who's eligible, which is complete bullsh*t.

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I know. I couldn't believe that he was arguing that he was on the LOS because he checked with the side judge, but then completely forgot who the ball actually went to and the fact that he was on the LOS also. I thought FOR SURE when Ricky N pulled the clip up he would mention it. Amazed. Dykes was beside himself. I don't know the replay rules, but after last week and RichRod challenging the number of men on the field (that was the challenge, right?) I was wondering whether we could challenge an alignment non-call? i.e., call a challenge TO in order to check with the booth that the opposing team actually had 7 men on the LOS and/or that there wasn't an ineligible receiver down field.

jamonit;842369325 said:

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Even the far WR I think is out of position also by about a yard. Weird that they picked up the flag, but their was a lot of that going on in the first half

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What was actually awesome about that shift was that the left WR was actually the offensive left tackle (I believe - he looks massive out there). What a great time to call that play. I'm surprised we didn't call a defensive TO, because that was such a funky situation, and called at the perfect part of the field to maximize a positive result. You've got a corner/safety looking at an offensive tackle and you aren't really sure if he's eligible or not (I don't remember hearing the referee announce that he had checked in as an eligible receiver - probably not otherwise it hurts the deception). In any event, assuming he's not eligible to go down field, he sure looks that way to a defense which is a DB's worst nightmare - not being sure who is eligible or not and scrambling to cover them all on a weird shift like that, especially for a young secondary like ours.

movielover;842369056 said:

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So after the great 3-1 start, have the Negative Nancy's eaten their humble pie regarding the staff, or do they suffer amnesia?

Recruiting is probably indescribably easier now. An over-.500 record is clearly tangible, and Sandy has probably not heard any boo birds lately.

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WTF is Sandy?!

dimitrig;842369652 said:

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WTF is Sandy?!

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That hurricane a few years back that forced me to live without power for a week. Remember?

calumnus;842369331 said:

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They did not think they needed a QB and were not looking to draft a QB in the first round.

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True and they are quite fine @ the QB spot now, but your job as a scout or coach is to recognize game-changing players when you see them.

Vandalus;842369370 said:

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What was actually awesome about that shift was that the left WR was actually the offensive left tackle (I believe - he looks massive out there). What a great time to call that play. I'm surprised we didn't call a defensive TO, because that was such a funky situation, and called at the perfect part of the field to maximize a positive result. You've got a corner/safety looking at an offensive tackle and you aren't really sure if he's eligible or not (I don't remember hearing the referee announce that he had checked in as an eligible receiver - probably not otherwise it hurts the deception). In any event, assuming he's not eligible to go down field, he sure looks that way to a defense which is a DB's worst nightmare - not being sure who is eligible or not and scrambling to cover them all on a weird shift like that, especially for a young secondary like ours.

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I agree when they shifted and #77 I think went out there, I was like WTF? He looks massive out there and I am curious how tall he is. I was like "man, I hope he doesn't catch the ball and kill one of our DBs". When they hiked the ball he kind of dropped back a little like he was going to catch a WR screen pass. I was like holy cow this is going to be crazy and then they threw it deep and I missed the play watching him. Definitely an interesting play and call even though they weren't lined up legally.

DCW67MSW;842369105 said:

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Andrew Luck is your exception he was ready & would have gone in rd one but opted to graduate & then went to Colts in first round.Would be great for Goff to do that.

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Two other Pac12 QB's who recently decided to stay an extra year in college:

• Jake Locker - I thought it would hurt his draft stock to stay for his senior year, but he went in the 1st round the next draft anyways
  
• Matt Barkley - hard to say where he would have gone if he'd entered the 2012 draft. (At various times, he was widely touted as a high first-round prospect.) But it surely would have been higher than where he ended up in the 2013 draft: 4th round.
  

So that's three Pac12 programs who have recently benefitted from their star QB inexplicably staying one extra year. If Goff is a clear-cut top draft prospect at the end of the 2015 season, and if he asked me my opinion, I'd tell him to go pro. Look at what happened to Barkley? Go cash in now, young man.....

BGGB2;842370129 said:

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Two other Pac12 QB's who recently decided to stay an extra year in college:

• Jake Locker - I thought it would hurt his draft stock to stay for his senior year, but he went in the 1st round the next draft anyways
  
• Matt Barkley - hard to say where he would have gone if he'd entered the 2012 draft. (At various times, he was widely touted as a high first-round prospect.) But it surely would have been higher than where he ended up in the 2013 draft: 4th round.
  

So that's three Pac12 programs who have recently benefitted from their star QB inexplicably staying one extra year. If Goff is a clear-cut top draft prospect at the end of the 2015 season, and if he asked me my opinion, I'd tell him to go pro. Look at what happened to Barkley? Go cash in now, young man.....

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Yep. I think we have one more year of Goff.

dimitrig;842370863 said:

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Yep. I think we have one more year of Goff.

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Which is why it's good for Rubenzer to get some plays under his belt this year. Part of the frustration with Tedford's coaching was his inability to develop the backup quarterbacks, even when they were already in the program for 3-4 years. If Goff has the type of career here at Cal that would give him the option to leave early for the NFL, Rubenzer should be able to step in and run this offense, hopefully without too much of a hiccup.

BGGB2;842370129 said:

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Two other Pac12 QB's who recently decided to stay an extra year in college:

• Jake Locker - I thought it would hurt his draft stock to stay for his senior year, but he went in the 1st round the next draft anyways
  
• Matt Barkley - hard to say where he would have gone if he'd entered the 2012 draft. (At various times, he was widely touted as a high first-round prospect.) But it surely would have been higher than where he ended up in the 2013 draft: 4th round.
  

So that's three Pac12 programs who have recently benefitted from their star QB inexplicably staying one extra year. If Goff is a clear-cut top draft prospect at the end of the 2015 season, and if he asked me my opinion, I'd tell him to go pro. Look at what happened to Barkley? Go cash in now, young man.....

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Barkley is an all-time cautionary tale for junior QBs. He went from being a Top-10 pick to a 4th rounder.

If a kid is projected as a first day pick, my advice would almost always be to go get paid.

teknofreek;842370960 said:

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Which is why it's good for Rubenzer to get some plays under his belt this year. Part of the frustration with Tedford's coaching was his inability to develop the backup quarterbacks, even when they were already in the program for 3-4 years. If Goff has the type of career here at Cal that would give him the option to leave early for the NFL, Rubenzer should be able to step in and run this offense, hopefully without too much of a hiccup.

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That is what has been happening but apparently you've missed all the videos of practices, etc.