I don't get it, something seems to be off here. Early scrimmages were competitive, I don't know what practices are like these days but the defense gets to practice with arguably the best QB-WR corps combo in college football! It should help the defense prepare for pass happy offenses, no?

Considering he's going against the 2nd team D, yes.

practice is NOT GAME TIME ?

oskirules;842376049 said:

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I don't get it, something seems to be off here. Early scrimmages were competitive, I don't know what practices are like these days but the defense gets to practice with arguably the best QB-WR corps combo in college football! It should help the defense prepare for pass happy offenses, no?

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You know, I laughed but that's a great question. Are the same guys getting abused in practice, if so then why hasn't the problem been fixed and if not, if they are looking good in practice like we were told by Dykes what the h..... happened? All we heard about were Allensworth and Walker and then Cedrick Dozier came along and took Allensworth position making everyone think that we were, if not deep, blessed with talented Db's. At no time was there praise for Sebastian or Mc Clure for there status was unclear and voila, now it's all because Sebastian and Mc Clure are injured. Hmmmmm - What happened to the great reviews about Allensworth, Walker and Dozier?
So we must ask ourselves, if everyone else is torching our DB's Why isn't Goff? Or is he also?

The equation that is our failed defense seems to be missing a part, an input of some sort. I don't think this is on the players as much as some would like to think. I believe the missing input of the equation is coaching, an integral part of our defense and may be the main reason our defensive backs look so bad. If they look good in spring training ,. they look good in practice, if they are named starters, they should know how to be in position to make a play on the ball but are not.

There came a point in the Tedford years that all of the quarterbacks, except Rogers (a natural) and Maynard (lets not go there) immediately looked as if they did not know what they were doing once he began coaching them. All four stars and all suddenly useless. We, the fans, the media all blamed them for Tedford was a genius. He was head coach and it couldn't be coaching.

If you watch the DB's, many times they also look as if they don't know what they are doing and maybe they don't and maybe it's not their fault either. I believe there is inadequate coaching of our defensive backs being masqueraded as Sebastian and Mc Clure injuries and in order for our defense to change, that coaching of them must change.

BerlinerBaer;842376063 said:

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Considering he's going against the 2nd team D, yes.

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2nd team, 1st team, scout team whatever. Either the offense is scoring touchdowns at a 60 second clip during practice or they're not. If they're not, then what's the defense doing during practice that's not translating to games?

I'm not knocking the defense, just wondering what our practices look like. It must be grossly lopsided like the games.

It took a season of learning before our offense got to this point this season. They didn't magically become good, they had to work on it and learn it and those growing pains showed up last season. Same thing with the defense. It's going to take more than one offseason to learn it and execute it to a level of competence. No coach is going to suddenly turn a defense into a juggernaut, particularly one with the roster makeup, depth and talent issues that were inherited.

slider643;842376087 said:

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It took a season of learning before our offense got to this point this season. They didn't magically become good, they had to work on it and learn it and those growing pains showed up last season. Same thing with the defense. It's going to take more than one offseason to learn it and execute it to a level of competence. No coach is going to suddenly turn a defense into a juggernaut, particularly one with the roster makeup, depth and talent issues that were inherited.

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that makes sense .. these DB's have had 3 different DC' in three years for ones that have been here and 3 different DB coaches no player coach chiemstry / nor being in the same scheme/system

MaximusArelliusDaBearius;842376079 said:

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You know, I laughed but that's a great question. Are the same guys getting abused in practice, if so then why hasn't the problem been fixed and if not, if they are looking good in practice like we were told by Dykes what the h..... happened? All we heard about were Allensworth and Walker and then Cedrick Dozier came along and took Allensworth position making everyone think that we were, if not deep, blessed with talented Db's. At no time was there praise for Sebastian or Mc Clure for there status was unclear and voila, now it's all because Sebastian and Mc Clure are injured. Hmmmmm - What happened to the great reviews about Allensworth, Walker and Dozier?
So we must ask ourselves, if everyone else is torching our DB's Why isn't Goff? Or is he also?

The equation that is our failed defense seems to be missing a part, an input of some sort. I don't think this is on the players as much as some would like to think. I believe the missing input of the equation is coaching, an integral part of our defense and may be the main reason our defensive backs look so bad. If they look good in spring training ,. they look good in practice, if they are named starters, they should know how to be in position to make a play on the ball but are not.

There came a point in the Tedford years that all of the quarterbacks, except Rogers (a natural) and Maynard (lets not go there) immediately looked as if they did not know what they were doing once he began coaching them. All four stars and all suddenly useless. We, the fans, the media all blamed them for Tedford was a genius. He was head coach and it couldn't be coaching.

If you watch the DB's, many times they also look as if they don't know what they are doing and maybe they don't and maybe it's not their fault either. I believe there is inadequate coaching of our defensive backs being masqueraded as Sebastian and Mc Clure injuries and in order for our defense to change, that coaching of them must change.

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Are you kidding? Walker's a true soph (played Safety last year), Dozier's a redshirt soph (converted from WR), Allensworth is a redshirt freshman. There isn't much depth behind them. Don't blame the coaches. They're doing the best they can to coach up and teach a bunch of inexperienced kids on defense, of course they're going to make mistakes. And when they do make mistakes, the absence of Sebastian and McClure at the safety position is felt acutely.

What an absolutely garbage post.

oskirules;842376084 said:

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2nd team, 1st team, scout team whatever. Either the offense is scoring touchdowns at a 60 second clip during practice or they're not. If they're not, then what's the defense doing during practice that's not translating to games?

I'm not knocking the defense, just wondering what our practices look like. It must be grossly lopsided like the games.

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If I had to guess, I'd say the main difference is in practice you'll rotate through first, second, third team defenses. In the past few games our offense has been scoring at such a fast rate (what's our average time of possession?) that the defense has to go back out on essentially zero rest. The guys are just gassed in games, which is why we tend to get blown up in the 2nd half. Add that to the fact that we have essentially zero quality depth on defense and you get what we've seen for the past 3 weeks.

well greg burns coached championship DB's so you can cross that of your list

these defensive coaches have 5 games under their belts with these young players ... not even a whole year ... what are you expecting?

put that on sandy and JT for the coaching carousel / sub par recruiting if you want to blame anyone .. and side piece goes to sonny for hiring BUH and his terrible assistants but sandy or someone in the AD office should have told sonny .. " buh is not going to cut it "

so are you saying the db's look anything like last year ?

slider643;842376087 said:

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It took a season of learning before our offense got to this point this season. They didn't magically become good, they had to work on it and learn it and those growing pains showed up last season. Same thing with the defense. It's going to take more than one offseason to learn it and execute it to a level of competence. No coach is going to suddenly turn a defense into a juggernaut, particularly one with the roster makeup, depth and talent issues that were inherited.

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I mostly agree with you, but at the same time, no one is asking for a juggernaut. Just not a defense that lets every team have record breaking nights.

practice cannot test certain things like games do.
I went to one practice myself and I thought the DBs had improved, particularly Dozier
but the question in camp was always about consistency.
Also, I think folks should take it with a grain of salt when coaches/media speak glowingly about things that happen in practice. (see Oakland Raiders).
Coaches are not going to be honest about weaknesses because they don't want their opponents to have that advantage.

BerkeleyChris;842376097 said:

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Are you kidding? Walker's a true soph (played Safety last year), Dozier's a redshirt soph (converted from WR), Allensworth is a redshirt freshman. There isn't much depth behind them. Don't blame the coaches. They're doing the best they can to coach up and teach a bunch of inexperienced kids on defense, of course they're going to make mistakes. And when they do make mistakes, the absence of Sebastian and McClure at the safety position is felt acutely.

What an absolutely garbage post.

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Each week they go against the opponents, different players and schemes.
Great point about missing experience at safety to back up the CBs.
Young and inexperienced is fact, not excuse.

Every team that faced Colorado, Arizona, and WSU apparently has the same problems we have on defense. And every team that faced us has been torched. What does that tell you? Stop blaming the coaches and give it up for the terrific QBs and experienced wide receivers we have faced. The game has changed. We hired the coach of the #1 offense in the country and now we are on our way to being #1. I see improvements in the D-line and at LB, but until we put pressure on the QB and take a longer time to score ( not likely) we have what we have. Until last week this defense had limited the big plays. Kaufman went with blitzes and we got burned. Realistically, we have to have our defense stop them one more time than we get stopped and we win.

Practice?? We're talking about practice?!?

Fire all the coaches.

cal is hard.

And....who is the leader of the defense? Have they emerged yet? If the injured guy(s) was also the defensive leader...

MilleniaBear;842376184 said:

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And....who is the leader of the defense? Have they emerged yet? If the injured guy(s) was also the defensive leader...

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Have you not been paying attention? Who leads us in the Bear Territory chant 4 games now?

These young DBs learning by fire, while not having the best results right this second I think will have pay dividends down the line. See SQT and Darian Hagan.

Davidson;842376212 said:

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Have you not been paying attention? Who leads us in the Bear Territory chant 4 games now?

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... some posters should raise their hands and learn how to recognize the obvious.

One of the strongest (pun intended) leaders is Moose, leading by example.
He, along with others, has paid his dues in recovery and is now having a helluva good time leading by example.
I expect Moose and Scarlett (et.al.) to have a very fun time against the fuskies.

talked to my long time friend from SEC country / he stayed up to watch your game ...

his take is sec has weak @ qb not a many skill players .. he said az st backup is better than most .. side not he loves goff

he is Tennessee fan ... he asked if CAL has a qb that can transfer out .. he got a loud HELL NO ... lol

SonOfCalVa;842376264 said:

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... some posters should raise their hands and learn how to recognize the obvious.

One of the strongest (pun intended) leaders is Moose, leading by example.
He, along with others, has paid his dues in recovery and is now having a helluva good time leading by example.
I expect Moose and Scarlett (et.al.) to have a very fun time against the fuskies.

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who is the leader, he is kidding right ? that has 2 be someone trying to be funny

XXXBEAR;842376136 said:

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Every team that faced Colorado, Arizona, and WSU apparently has the same problems we have on defense. And every team that faced us has been torched. What does that tell you? Stop blaming the coaches and give it up for the terrific QBs and experienced wide receivers we have faced. The game has changed. We hired the coach of the #1 offense in the country and now we are on our way to being #1. I see improvements in the D-line and at LB, but until we put pressure on the QB and take a longer time to score ( not likely) we have what we have. Until last week this defense had limited the big plays. Kaufman went with blitzes and we got burned. Realistically, we have to have our defense stop them one more time than we get stopped and we win.

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I wish this was true, but it's not. WSU only managed 13 points against Nevada. Colorado only had 17 against Colorado State. Arizona is the best offense we faced, but even they were "held" to 26 by UTSA. If you want to account for the pace of the game I can understand that, but even then we allowed more than 4x as many points to WSU than Nevada did.

dimitrig;842376691 said:

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I wish this was true, but it's not. WSU only managed 13 points against Nevada. Colorado only had 17 against Colorado State. Arizona is the best offense we faced, but even they were "held" to 26 by UTSA. If you want to account for the pace of the game I can understand that, but even then we allowed more than 4x as many points to WSU than Nevada did.

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Nevada held WSU to 13 points for the game, unbelievable! Are they stocked with 4* DB's 3- deep or do they practice differently than Kaufman's defense?

going4roses;842376104 said:

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so are you saying the db's look anything like last year ?

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Yeah, they look exactly like the db's last year and that's the problem.

Dont worry we have the Goff

oskirules;842376950 said:

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Nevada held WSU to 13 points for the game, unbelievable! Are they stocked with 4* DB's 3- deep or do they practice differently than Kaufman's defense?

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Nevada had interceptions, killing WSU drives. Also WSU turned the ball over on downs twice, mostly due to their incredible 18 rushes for 31 yards. Then WSU missed 2 red zone field goals and 2 other times were forced to kick field goals after they couldn't throw the ball to an open receiver in the red zone.

That's how Nevada kept it close. They didn't allow any big passes, bottled up the run and then got WSU to make mistakes. Unfortunately Halliday was having an incredible day against Cal and didn't make the same mistakes. WSU was 2-3 on 4th down against Cal. They failed twice against Nevada.

Things like that happen.

As for Colorado v Colorado State. That was the first game of the season and Colorado couldn't get their defense going for some reason. Colorado State had 2 running backs go over 100 yards during the game and that seems to be the difference. Liufau was actually 24-39 with 2 TDs in that game, but didn't appear to get much support otherwise.

going4roses;842376272 said:

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talked to my long time friend from SEC country / he stayed up to watch your game ...

his take is sec has weak @ qb not a many skill players .. he said az st backup is better than most .. side not he loves goff

he is Tennessee fan ... he asked if CAL has a qb that can transfer out .. he got a loud HELL NO ... lol

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Looking at Alabama, despite the praise for their QB, it does not seem like there is that same level of sensational play.



I am not ready to rip the DBs. Pressure is a big part of this. I do not know how long it is realistic for anyone to hang with a Pac-12 quality receiver, but I suspect someone here knows. And I suspect that person would tell you that the best could stick with an average Pac-12 WR for several seconds at most. There have been big plays where the DBs have been burned but I have seen a lot of times where the DB is not only in the picture but contesting the catch. They just need the defense to create a little more pressure, a little break (like refs holding onto their flags); one pick may be all it takes. Lets hope Cyler Miles or a flea-flicker to Shaq Thompson is the spring board to playing with attitude and creating opportunities.

BerlinerBaer;842376063 said:

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Considering he's going against the 2nd team D, yes.

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*shudder*

MilleniaBear;842376184 said:

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And....who is the leader of the defense? Have they emerged yet? If the injured guy(s) was also the defensive leader...

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Scarlett far and away.

Sebastian and McClure when healthy but that hasn't been applicable much.