... at T Tech against power teams not much different from what we're seeing: 20-41 Oklahoma; 56-53 TCU; 24-55 K.St; 22-31 Texas;
41- 34 Kansas (yes, Kansas) (2.OT's); 21-59 Ok. St.; 45-52 Baylor (OT).

it's strange because I think the D played about as well as I've seen it this year in the Arizona game until we hit the 2nd half or 4th quarter... and they really came out dominant in the 1st quarter. There was some article about the players "trusting the technique" or something like that... I wonder if they've gotten less disciplined as the games got harder/tighter or as they got more tired? Is our D falling back into bad habits, or are we just bad?

OMFG..FIRE KAUFMAN!!! GET HIS SORRY BUTT OUT OF BERKELEY BEFORE HE DESTROYS IT AND EVERYTHING WE BELIEVE!

Seriously, Kaufman has righted the ship. Cal's D isn't that good but it has improved and it has put last season behind them and it is showing signs of development and maturing. For Cal to make the next step, defense has to step up. Holy hell I saw DL in the backfield and chasing Colo's QB. That's an improvement. Any way, on offense Cal can score, no doubt...next have to stop oppsoing offenses. That is how Cal gets to the next level -- killer defense. To cover 110 offensive plays on D, I think Cal will need a decent third string just to have fresh bodies. To me that's a recruiting issue. In the long run maybe Kaufman isn't the answer but right now he's fine. Let his contract run the two years and see if new recruits help.

The kids believe.

Thats the difference

The defense actually improved down the stretch on Saturday. CU dropped "only" 21 points and 237 yards on us in the 2nd half compared to 28 points and 363 yards in the first (Edit: many of those 1st half yards were due to penalties...). That game only got more competitive as time went on and yet the D got better, culminating in the goal line stand in overtime. This does not appear like the signs of fatigue.

I think it comes down to bad matchups and a general lack of skill/experience at the CB position and a weak pass rush.

exactly .. see recruiting

Injuries! No depth at DB with injuries to White and McClure

beelzebear;842369522 said:

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OMFG..FIRE KAUFMAN!!! GET HIS SORRY BUTT OUT OF BERKELEY BEFORE HE DESTROYS IT AND EVERYTHING WE BELIEVE!

Seriously, Kaufman has righted the ship. Cal's D isn't that good but it has improved and it has put last season behind them and it is showing signs of development and maturing. For Cal to make the next step, defense has to step up. Holy hell I saw DL in the backfield and chasing Colo's QB. That's an improvement. Any way, on offense Cal can score, no doubt...next have to stop oppsoing offenses. That is how Cal gets to the next level -- killer defense. To cover 110 offensive plays on D, I think Cal will need a decent third string just to have fresh bodies. To me that's a recruiting issue. In the long run maybe Kaufman isn't the answer but right now he's fine. Let his contract run the two years and see if new recruits help.

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General Poncho's guerillas are still at it.... Just let them whine till they become purple hurting themselves.

Trolls troll

Our defense isn't very good, but you sure can't knock that 4-play goal line stand in the second overtime. I can't ever recall seeing a Cal defense do that.

Golden One;842369590 said:

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Our defense isn't very good, but you sure can't knock that 4-play goal line stand in the second overtime. I can't ever recall seeing a Cal defense do that.

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when I was watching that go down, I was seeing those gold helmets and remembering Chris Polk and Washington punching it in on 4th down to send us to 5-7

Given our talent, experience and depth on D, I think we look competent.

It helps tremendously this year to have a ton of injured players back this season .... Barton, Nickerson, Scarlett, etc.

Didn't we have almost our entire starting defense hurt last year?

GO BEARS!!!!!

Much better D than last year, so big step in right direction with Kaufman (whether it's scheme, personality/buy in, health, conditioning or combination); nonetheless objectively still not very good yet. 110 plays is largely a function of mediocre defense. Vicious cycle due to lack of success. Better defense doesn't give up 8-10 yds a pop pass play after pass play to largely open receivers. 10 pass completions in a row leads to tired defense, leads to more open receivers, leads to more completions, leads to more plays, leads to tired defense, etc. I don't think "fatigue" in and of itself was the real problem like most of last year, but more vicious cycle - if starters are giving up steady yds and first downs, then rotate out as get tired, but bring in 2nd or 3rd string, who almost by definition aren't as "good", then even though fresh, give up more yds and first downs. Optimistically hoping we take another step forward and can more effectively shut down Wazzu passing game this week. Go Bears!

Shouldn't practicing against our offense get them used to up tempo?

beelzebear;842369522 said:

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To cover 110 offensive plays on D, I think Cal will need a decent third string just to have fresh bodies. To me that's a recruiting issue. In the long run maybe Kaufman isn't the answer but right now he's fine. Let his contract run the two years and see if new recruits help.

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It doesn't help that by very far the most injuries for all position groups happen to be at DB:
Tartabull (S), McClure (S), Sebastian (S), Willis (CB), White (CB). :headbang:facepalm

Nasal Mucus Goldenbear;842369653 said:

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It doesn't help that by very far the most injuries for all position groups happen to be at DB:
Tartabull (S), McClure (S), Sebastian (S), Willis (CB), White (CB). :headbang:facepalm

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Exactly
It's not just the number and severity of injuries, it's how concentrated they are at positions of need.
We have been low on safetys from a recruiting standpoint, add to that the injuries and it is hard to field a good defense.
You will see this in the NFL as well.

rathokan;842369501 said:

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it's strange because I think the D played about as well as I've seen it this year in the Arizona game until we hit the 2nd half or 4th quarter... and they really came out dominant in the 1st quarter. There was some article about the players "trusting the technique" or something like that... I wonder if they've gotten less disciplined as the games got harder/tighter or as they got more tired? Is our D falling back into bad habits, or are we just bad?

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from another source:

Quote:

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Piatt, Allensworth, Walker, Dozier, are all first-time starters. Cubs grow up. And grow big, sharp nasty teeth.

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Recall that SydQuan had a very rough freshman year, but he was among vets.
These guys are all young, but growing and learning. They are not juniors and seniors with years of experience so to call them "bad" is a rather cheap shot.

Walker? IIRC, he had some starts last year.

Yes he did, but he seemed a bit small for that position.

It would be interesting to see a comparison between last year's and this year's 1st half defense and 2nd half defense. We were out of so many games last year by halftime that I suspect our opponents took their foot off the gas in the 2nd half and the defense, bad as it was, at least statistically looked better in the 3rd and 4th quarters. The fact that we have been competitive for four quarters means we are getting the opponents best offensive effort for the entire game making a direct comparison to last years numbers a little suspect. Just a hunch, no stats to back it up.

59bear;842369733 said:

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Walker? IIRC, he had some starts last year.

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Walker played at SAFETY, a position for which he had NO preparation, as a raw FR, thrown into a game because there was nobody else.
This is his first year at CB, his true position.

SonOfCalVa;842369751 said:

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Walker played at SAFETY, a position for which he had NO preparation, as a raw FR, thrown into a game because there was nobody else.
This is his first year at CB, his true position.

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And if you pay attention most opposing QBs are largely avoiding throwing at the WRs that Walker is covering. They'd much rather try to exploit Allensworth or Dozier. The only pass I remember being directly against Walker in the Colorado game was the final TD to Spruce and had Walker got his head around just a second earlier that pass would have been batted down. He had position and got a hand on the ball, but Spruce outjumped him because he saw the ball first.

Walker is going to be a shut down corner in a year or two once he gets more comfortable with Div-1 play.

Oursol;842369749 said:

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It would be interesting to see a comparison between last year's and this year's 1st half defense and 2nd half defense. We were out of so many games last year by halftime that I suspect our opponents took their foot off the gas in the 2nd half and the defense, bad as it was, at least statistically looked better in the 3rd and 4th quarters. The fact that we have been competitive for four quarters means we are getting the opponents best offensive effort for the entire game making a direct comparison to last years numbers a little suspect. Just a hunch, no stats to back it up.

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neat thing is that the site CFBstats.com actually has "situational stats" and I could look at the passing defense by quarter.

IN 2013 Cal faced
139 pass attempts in Q1
135 in Q2
101 in Q3
61 in Q4

And this carries through all the stats. Cal gave up 24 first half passing Tds, but only 8 in the second half.

However, it doesn't appear to have been purely score based. Cal saw more pass attempts when they were already down by 15 than when they were within 1-7 points, and gave up 10 TDs when they were already behind by 15.

It looks more like eventually teams got bored with leaving in their first team and put in the second string to get experience.

Only when you are coming off a season of being coached by Buh can fans find a way to be optimistic about a defense that gives up 105 points in its last two games.

Deutsch;842369484 said:

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... at T Tech against power teams not much different from what we're seeing: 20-41 Oklahoma; 56-53 TCU; 24-55 K.St; 22-31 Texas;
41- 34 Kansas (yes, Kansas) (2.OT's); 21-59 Ok. St.; 45-52 Baylor (OT).

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Looks like we are on the same path if things don't change. Kaufman has succeeded in bringing fight and aggressiveness back but the lack of bringing pressure on the QB by LB and DB blows me away.

BBBGOBEARS;842369779 said:

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Looks like we are on the same path if things don't change. Kaufman has succeeded in bringing fight and aggressiveness back but the lack of bringing pressure on the QB by LB and DB blows me away.

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How do you scheme with a lack of talent, depth and experience?

NYCGOBEARS;842369780 said:

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How do you scheme with a lack of talent, depth and experience?

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thank you .. nyc .. its getting old and tired

NYCGOBEARS;842369780 said:

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How do you scheme with a lack of talent, depth and experience?

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I think you are supposed to hit the waiver wire hard for hidden gems.

I think there is way more to games and Def than just one thing. First we are missing our starting Safety again and our other really good safety is still dinged up and not playing much. Then we looked a little tentative at first (to me) which was probably a little hang over from the week before. Throw in how many penalties we had in the first half to keep drives going. Then throw in probably one of the better pass blocking OL in our conference. Then throw in probably the best WR in our conference. Then hrow in that AZ and CO are both two of the better passing teams in our conference. Then throw in lack of depth and experience with being on the field to much. That could help explain some of what was happening. However here is one of the things that I am very very worried about going forward.

The biggest problem I see.. First down or really any run we stuff. Really our run DEF has been great and I would even say amazing, BUT we are having a huge issue with QBs running. We bite way to easy on fakes and get left in the dust for runs that result in first downs. Rather than contain the QB and not allow a first down we bite and he is gone. Siemian only positive rushing game of the year with +2 yards including his season long 8 yard (not to mention 17 yard TD where he danced around our defenders for a TD reception), Safron 60 yards which led his team in rushing, Solomon 46 yards which led his team in rushing, Liufau 72 yards which led his team in rushing. Why is that? I mean they are all ok runners with Solomon maybe even better than that, but why? Then I look at 3rd down and long this last game and watch closely. Screen pass, screen pass, short pass, screen pass, etc. and most are picked up for 9+ yards! To me this tells me we aren't a very good in space tackling team. That when players get in space against us we will have issues. If we can some how fix this we will be a good Def with still depth issues imo. We need to do much better. Maybe not as much from the running QB stand point this week as Holliday is not a runner, but they throw a lot of screen type of plays and we will need to come up and make a play on the receivers in space. Then of course we play Washington with Miles, UCLA with Hundley, and of course Oregon with Mariota. That would be my only focus this week. Work on tackling in space and making a play.

AZ killed us with slants. Col used screens. In both instances, we played off the WRs. BBDB.

Deutsch;842369484 said:

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... at T Tech against power teams not much different from what we're seeing: 20-41 Oklahoma; 56-53 TCU; 24-55 K.St; 22-31 Texas;
41- 34 Kansas (yes, Kansas) (2.OT's); 21-59 Ok. St.; 45-52 Baylor (OT).

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Okay, but a lot of this is because of the nature of the jobs he's taken. He likes to take poor defenses and turn them around, which of course will make his numbers look bad. Given the trajectory of this defense and the problems we've been having, it's safe to say a lot of the issues on defense were not on Buh. But the things that were on Buh were bad (the PSU debacle was a classic example - no excuse for that). Our defense in 2012 was also bad, and most of that was not on Pendy (though he would get consistently outschemed by spread offenses for some reason, which was frustrating).

2012 was mostly bad luck and morale issues. 2013 was bad luck, bad coaching and morale issues. 2014 is setting the foundation for a good defense. The schemes seem pretty good, the players are in much better position than 2013, but we struggle with depth and talent gaps. Kaufman is doing the right things to turn the d around, but it's going to take work. And... we're winning. And the defense sometimes steps up (which is never did in 2013 and rarely did in 2012). Much like last year's offense, I see things that tell me we're on the right path, even if the stat line says otherwise. I see signs of strength in this defense, which I saw none of last year and very little of in 2012. And in terms of professionalism, Kaufman is head and shoulders about the last two. I have no doubt he'll turn this defense around.

jamonit;842369814 said:

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The biggest problem I see.. First down or really any run we stuff. Really our run DEF has been great and I would even say amazing, BUT we are having a huge issue with QBs running. We bite way to easy on fakes and get left in the dust for runs that result in first downs. Rather than contain the QB and not allow a first down we bite and he is gone. Siemian only positive rushing game of the year with +2 yards including his season long 8 yard (not to mention 17 yard TD where he danced around our defenders for a TD reception), Safron 60 yards which led his team in rushing, Solomon 46 yards which led his team in rushing, Liufau 72 yards which led his team in rushing. Why is that? I mean they are all ok runners with Solomon maybe even better than that, but why? Then I look at 3rd down and long this last game and watch closely. Screen pass, screen pass, short pass, screen pass, etc. and most are picked up for 9+ yards! To me this tells me we aren't a very good in space tackling team. That when players get in space against us we will have issues. If we can some how fix this we will be a good Def with still depth issues imo. We need to do much better. Maybe not as much from the running QB stand point this week as Holliday is not a runner, but they throw a lot of screen type of plays and we will need to come up and make a play on the receivers in space. Then of course we play Washington with Miles, UCLA with Hundley, and of course Oregon with Mariota. That would be my only focus this week. Work on tackling in space and making a play.

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The screen passes worked because the DBs were playing off to try to take away the big play on a slant or go route. Kaufman clearly would rather give up 9 yards to a screen pass than try to play tight coverage so the DBs can get around blockers only to have the QB throw over the coverage to a receiver on a go route. This makes a lot of sense with our thin secondary. Teams can easily move the ball from 20 to 20, but once the field gets tighter its easier for Kaufman to play the secondary to stop the pass and still have them able to support against the run. This is part of why Cal is #3 in the conference in Red Zone Defense, and has successfully turned away 5 red zone trips and forced another 3 to be for field goals only.

The running by the QB has been due to the fact that the LBs are dropping a deep in pass coverage and by the time the QB is forced to scramble there tends to be a huge hole for them to run into. We could leave a LB to "spy" but that weakens the pass coverage. It's a case of deciding what "poison" to take. Kaufman wants to big plays and will risk having teams march down the field on us. For us right now, its probably the best choice.

LOL....awesome!