Pre-game festivities/ funny story

Highlight of my weekend, having... ahem... a few drinks with Brett Johnson, Cal S 2005-2009 on Friday at Haymaker's in East Austin (found a place with A/C and $2 margaritas... done deal). Had a blast, met up with him again Saturday at Scholz Garten. Suffice to say... learned A LOT about the inner workings of the mid-to-late Tedford teams.

Speaking of which, thanks to Txwharfrat for inviting me to that. Pleasure meeting him and his wife, and there was quite the Cal contingent there. We basically ruined the LHN radio broadcast with our chants/fight songs. They were giving away signed longhorn merchandise and early on in the show the host lamented "we'll probably be giving it to some Cal fans." I'm pretty sure at least one signed shirt came back to California.

People were generally welcoming, though I guess I didn't interact with Texas fans as much as I could have. People were warm and food was good. I was surprised at how 'small' Austin in general felt.. didn't feel like you had to go far in any direction to basically be out of the city, and almost like you could walk across it in a couple hours (Brett and I basically did, lol).

Game Atmosphere: Being that I was in essentially the same spot as I was in the 2006 Tennessee game... I have to agree with the shaggy fans.. DKR didn't seem particularly loud to me. I was in the upper deck for both games. Against Tennessee, the upper deck literally shook before the game and during big TDs. Not so here. Obviously for some spurts they could get into it, but the exhortations from the video screen seemed like they went un-heeded, at least until real late and the comeback started. Cal fans were into it from the beginning though, great show. Lots of enthusiastic Roll On You Bears chants.

Brought my cousin to the game (hadn't seen him in 3-4 years), and I think we converted a Cal fan (he went to Washington university of St Louis, so no football team).

General sentiment watching game (re-watching on youtube now, should have a detailed play by play synopsis in a bit):
Didn't think the defense played bad at all until they ran out of gas. This, to me, was entirely the result of Heard's running + heat/humidity wearing on you + having to deal with some Tempo on the Texas side. We may have similar issues with Oregon but I anticipate most other Pac 12 teams won't present as much an issue.

Which - mind you - is basically what I thought of our 2013 and 2014 defenses. Against Northwestern both years, when they were mostly healthy, I actually thought they showed some ability to make plays and tackle, though at times out of position. It was really the injuries that pushed those defenses to the depths they reached. We have a bit more depth this year and luckily are still healthy.

Loved our playcalling and rhythm early in general. I generally did think we got a bit overly conservative late. The 21 point lead never felt safe and I had to remind some Cal fans that our D has been 'fixing' opposing offenses for years now. Obviously didn't really love our chances in OT given how the offense had stagnated, but we'd have had a punchers chance (wonder how many OTs it woulda taken....)

At some basic level I don't agree with the posters who say "we don't really know what we have in this team." I think we kind of do.. the offense can score, a lot, and rapidly. Our run offense appears improved, the pass offense looks roughly the same. Kicking still rough, along with special teams in general. Defense will be okay but not great as long as its healthy. We're going to be in some shoot-outs. I imagine we'll have one game where the offense sputters and does nothing, and I imagine we'll have one or two games where the defense looks way better than it is.

Still thinking 8-9 wins is reasonable and my guess of where we'll end up

We learned that being up 21 in the 4th qtr is not sufficient to let off the gas. This team must learn to LEAVE NO DOUBT.

bluehenbear;842550744 said:

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We learned that being up 21 in the 4th qtr is not sufficient to let off the gas. This team must learn to LEAVE NO DOUBT.

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Goff admitted. "We play better when we are behind." Meaning: we do not play well when we are trying to protect a lead late in the game....[Duh.]

Cal is an up-tempo offense and is designed to score. So why should we try to slow down the game. That benefits only the opposing defense which is trying to catch its breath. So I agree. Let's keep the pressure on until Cal has a lead of one more touchdown than there are minutes remaining in the game.
Cal can take it easy with 3 minutes to go in the game and a lead of 4 TD's.

Depends on the team, but yeah... clearly wasn't going to be enough here. Not when they had 500 yard of offense prior to the comeback

68great;842550754 said:

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Goff admitted. "We play better when we are behind." Meaning: we do not play well when we are trying to protect a lead late in the game....[Duh.]

Cal is an up-tempo offense and is designed to score. So why should we try to slow down the game. That benefits only the opposing defense which is trying to catch its breath. So I agree. Let's keep the pressure on until Cal has a lead of one more touchdown than there are minutes remaining in the game.
Cal can take it easy with 3 minutes to go in the game and a lead of 4 TD's.

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Agree. Up by 3 scores in the 4th, let's score 3 more so even if our D is scored on 3x, we win by 3 scores!!!! Instead of lets run out the clock and hopefully win by 1 pt. lololol...oh gawd

Obviously the coaches are in a tough spot, but the Bear Raid is so dependent on Goff in a rhythm, I think you need to take a risk and ensure he's getting at least a throw per series even when you're trying to burn clock. We (reasonably effectively) had some series in the 4th where we basically only ran... i think we might have been in slightly better shape had some of those been short, high percentage passes, even if one or two fell incomplete.

Basically early 4th is too early with this O (and D) to be in pure clock burning mode. Keep the bear raid humming until maybe 6 minutes left, then throttle back.

SadbutTrue999;842550769 said:

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...
Basically early 4th is too early with this O (and D) to be in pure clock burning mode. Keep the bear raid humming until maybe 6 minutes left, then
[COLOR="#000080"]PUT THE PEDAL TO THE METAL AND BLOW THE SUMBYTCHES OUTTA HERE[/COLOR].

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fify

Re-Watch notes...

Cliffs: Some of my initial conclusions I think I may want to change, after the re-watch.

The injury killed Goff's momentum more than the playcalling.. TF called a few passes on our second to last drive, they just didn't go anywhere (including a deep fade, which seems fairly aggressive). Second, the defensive pressure in the 3rd and 4th was pretty good, actually. Got one actual stop in the 4th (with brilliant sacks on 3rd and 4th down) despite all Texas' momentum, and lots of pressures that would be sacks on 90% of the country's QBs not named Heard. In general defense wasn't as hapless as I thought, and the playcalling was more aggressive than i thought.

We also brought pressure some on their last successful drive. To say it was strictly prevent would be incorrect. The prevent that we did play was smart... we allowed underneath stuff to avoid getting beaten deep.

Also, lots of little things did go against Texas on their last few drives. Lots of 9 yard plays on first down, a bad spot that should have been a first, a challenge and wasted timeout challenging said spot, and at least one play where the refs don't give the Texas guy out of bounds/stopped clock when he should have. NOt sure it mattered the way things unfolded, but could have.

Long Version:
1. Huge 4th down stop early
2. Our first scoring drive.. the pass to Harris was excellent, both on the catch and Goff's movement avoiding pressure. There was another long completion earlier... the one where Haines got ejected hitting Anderson. Specifically on that play I noted the left side of the line held up perfectly. I'm a bit too ADHD to watch the line every play, but I am trying to pay them attention
3. Speaking of which… while the Haines ejection was probably right by the rules, it didn’t seem excessive or intentional. Would be nice if the rule was adjusted to give some room for judgment, but… its happened to us too, I guess.
4. Our zone got owned by Daje Johnson, lordy.
5. Run D looked really good early (esp against actual RBs). Guess that’s gonna be a theme.
6. Treggs looked reasonably spirited (and non-injured) on his actual catch. The overturn was ridiculous.
7. Some good plays on the ball, though not much pressure 1st/2nd quarter
8. Long toss to Anderson early in 2nd quarter… decent protection and pocket, nice throw and catch. Good Bear Raid on the next few plays… quick plays, good rhythm, spread the ball around. At this point Goff had already hit 8 receivers while completing 13/17.
9. TD to Lawler was an absolute beauty. Offense and Goff in quite the rhythm right here. I think they could have driven down a 1000 yard field if they needed. Bear Raid at this point is going so quick, that if there is a protection issue its tough to see.
10. GREAT kick coverage on the next play.
11. Even though I totally knew from the stands that his toss was past the line of scrimmage on the next play… that Heard run/pass option is a scary concept next year. *shudder*
12. Long Heard run made me curse Oregon. Which, now has me looking for Texas holding on the OL. A few possible instances though it also kind of looks like our blitzes are ineffective and our DL has trouble getting off blocks. Speaking of which, on the long pass to #1 (where he had to come back to it), we definitely blitzed and at least 2 LBs got picked up without ever getting near Heard.
13. Drive that ended with the missed FG around 5 min left in the 2nd was stopped on 3rd because of a good 1 on 1 play by the Texas DB. Goff had time. Might be on Goff too for not choosing someone with a better shot at the sticks, but part of Goff’s rhythm when its working is that he trusts his WRs to win those. As the announcers mention, I would also have gone on 4th and short if we hadn’t gotten penalized.
14. Love the “we’re not kicking again” line after.
15. Texas did get called for a hold on an option play where they looked real dangerous. 2 plays later they pitch it right out of bounds, showing how they’re still a young team picking this up. Amazing how dangerous they can look one play and how young they can the next.
16. ugh the Goff fumble could have been a killer. I think the protection scheme was pretty bad. Looked like 2 OLs not blocking anyone, Farley and the center get overwhelmed. RB on the wrong side to really provide any help, even if he could have.
17. Love this team’s fight, this score (24-14 Texas 1:30 left) looks bad and home team had all the momentum, but I don’t remember feeling particularly out of the game at all. In some years, this is where the game might have gotten away from us.
18. Mohammed looks awesome. No more whining about his lack of top end.
19. “ with Lawler. Such body control. Great timing by Goff. We just moved 71 yards in 2 plays/30 seconds. Love this offense.
20. lol @ the fake injury.
21. lol @ the extremely audible booing from Cal fans. I helped on that.
22. lol @ Goff’s choice words. This was a good moment.
23. Enwere also a pleasant surprise this year. Run blocking good in the red zone. T his can be a real difference maker, a legitimate power run game in the red zone.
24. hey look a kick 7 yards deep in the end zone. What do ya know…
25. Texas looking like they could do their own 2 minute drill until Jalen Jefferson goes up for a sweet pic. Lack of vision by Heard.
26. Friendly call on the clock stop @ :19. Don’t think he got out.
27. Even the 34 yarder didn’t look that great, but without any more time I guess you can’t do anything else. If they have 30 more seconds I think we push for another TD.
28. Tied @ half!
29. Nice fumble to start the half. Looney got held it looked like too. Nice to get a little pressure, though just looked like an awkward play by Texas.
30. Don’t tell Lawler Cal’s athletes aren’t on Texas’ level across the board.
31. Texas could have used some Goff leadership during their lull in the 3rd quarter
32. Announcer mentioned on a 3rd and 10 that Texas’ OL was “starting to lose the battle against our DL.” This obviously surprised me, but watching the next few play syou could see the DL was actually doing a little better job of compressing the pocket. Heard’s legs prevented what would have been a couple sacks with most QBs. 3 straight runs by Heard like this @ the 9-10 minute mark of the 3rd. This had to exhaust our defense, even though we eventually get it back without them scoring.
33. Couple more solid run stops too, including a stop by Darius White. Defense honestly looking okay here.
34. Another great pressure where Heard has to desperately heave it. Might have been lucky there was a guy in the neighborhood, or that coulda been grounding. Very good series for the D.
35. Goff doesn’t run much but he used it effectively when he did.
36. Watson didn’t have the big runs KM did, or the short yardage success Enwere did… but he ran hard and took some strong hits when he did. Like what I see there too.
37. Just ran all over them on the 2nd to last TD drive. Its been at least 6 years since I’ve seen that at Cal, possibly longer.
38. 38-24, 5min left 3rd q. Texas O still stagnant. Heard with a run, then they get a hold on another well covered play.
39. More good D, Texas offense looks entirely lost unless Heard gains on a keeper.

40. KM… what can you say? The last TD was entirely him.. 2 runs, 90 something yards, damn.
41. Longhorns definitely got screwed out of a play at the end of the 3rd.
42. Near miss on CB blitz by White on 2nd and goal. Damn, coulda been a killer.
43. lol @ audible ‘F*CK!!!’ after Heard goes out, not sure if its Heard or White.
44. Amazing play Heard for the TD. No one even got close to him.
45. Announcers call it good D despite outcome. I’m not sure about that. But ok. 45-31
46.13min left – KM run for 7, OL still getting good push.
47. Nice Goff dump on 2nd and 3 to save a sack. This is where he gets hurt. Limping a lot. Delay of game due to limpiness. Momentum changing…
48. Gutty throw for 1st down. Run gets stuffed, Texas D seems like they can smell the opportunity. After another quick slant, 3rd and 6.
49. 11:30 left and I think we see 1, maybe 2 max Goff completions here on out. Enwere short of first, but could have gotten it if he slipped one more tackle. Cal keeps O on field but pooches again.
50. Immediate 30 yard or so completion. The Texas O looks different now, first time he’s looked downfield since the first quarter. Then they run a direct snap to Daje. Rubenzer with a tackle the announcers credit with stopping a touchdown. I didn't really get a good look.
51. Oh man… we coulda used that int possibility on the screen play. 2nd and 10, and that probably gets pickedhalf the time.
52. Great pressure, sack on 3rd and 10. Flag for holding too. Seems okay here…
53. Flag declined, sack on 4th and 17. D looking pretty good still… 8:30 left.
54. With ball back in good field position… our first two plays are a run and a quick pass, both complete but 3rd and 7. We are slowing down, but still attempt a fade route on 3rd, which doesn’t go anywhere. Kind of an aggressive call, actually.
55. Heard gets ball on 5… another near sack but he turns it into 6 yards anyway.
56. On our 2nd to last possession, they did actually have Goff try to keep throwing. They just didnt' go anywhere. I remembered more running, but given Goff's limpiness, the playcalls seemed kind of aggressive to this point on this drive. Definitely have to change my impression of the playcalling here. I think they did 'try' to keep the pedal to the metal here, it just didn't work.
57. At 8:10 left, Texas just got stopped with two sacks on 3rd/4th down. Only 31 points at this point (though plenty of yards). I have to say, I'm happy with the Cal performance to this point.
58. pressure definitely improved in late 3rd and early 4th quarter. Heard saved sacks many times, and we still got him a few times
59. mcclure coulda been called for PI… announcers call it uncatchable, but uncatchable stuff gets called all the time. On 2nd and 10 another decent pressure late after a good initial pocket. Same thing on 3rd and 9, but he runs for the 1st down. Should have been anyway, bad spot on the ball (should have been a 1st, but 4th and 1). Texas wastes a timeout.
60. No matter, 1st down. Nice sideline throw for another 1st down, not a ton the CB could do there and not much time for pressure. If anything good job protecting against deep ball.
61. 2nd and 1 they run, get 1st down.
62. Another decent out throw and tackle. 1st down again. Then Heard runs for almost but not quite a 1st down.
63. Texas making tiny mistakes and/or getting screwed on a lot of plays here. Lots of 9 yard gainers, a couple plays where the officials don’t give them the out of bounds, and the aforementioned 4th down that probably wasn’t necessary which also resulted in a burned timeout. Lots of potential time lost, technically.
64. Foreman’s TD to bring it to 7 was just when the D finally broke.
65. First Onside kick. Nice recovery by Stephen Anderson. Any criticism of his later drop must be tempered by this (plus his other receptions).
66. Nice hole/gain by Enwere on first down. 2nd down run by Enwere took too long to develop, shoulda been more up the gut.
67. Ugh that drop hurts though.
68. Big hit on 1st down to cause an incompletion.
69. We are rushing 2, spying heard with 2 guys. Obviously trying to make sure that its not just Heard’s legs that beat us. But he’s got decades to throw. This D might have been a better call at the beginning of the 4th before Heard got into a rhythm.
70. Another first down Texas passing. Same thing. Dump of to Gray, almost another first. We’re giving short passes.
71. 2nd and 4, we bring 4. Decent pressure though incompletion aren’t really a bad thing for Texas.
72. 3rd and 4, we rush 5. QB draw well timed, TD.
73. Haha missed the PAT while typing. Goff’s reaction is amazing.
74. The youtube video wasn’t definitive on the block.. but I did hear a second ‘pop’ noise and White was in the zone…
75. It was missing no matter what though.
76. Disagree strongly with the announcer’s statement that “Even for a Cal fan that makes you sick” – Not sick at all!

SadbutTrue999;842550885 said:

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Re-Watch notes...

Cliffs: Some of my initial conclusions I think I may want to change, after the re-watch.

The injury killed Goff's momentum more than the playcalling.. TF called a few passes on our second to last drive, they just didn't go anywhere (including a deep fade, which seems fairly aggressive). Second, the defensive pressure in the 3rd and 4th was pretty good, actually. Got one actual stop in the 4th (with brilliant sacks on 3rd and 4th down) despite all Texas' momentum, and lots of pressures that would be sacks on 90% of the country's QBs not named Heard. In general defense wasn't as hapless as I thought, and the playcalling was more aggressive than i thought.

We also brought pressure some on their last successful drive. To say it was strictly prevent would be incorrect. The prevent that we did play was smart... we allowed underneath stuff to avoid getting beaten deep.

Also, lots of little things did go against Texas on their last few drives. Lots of 9 yard plays on first down, a bad spot that should have been a first, a challenge and wasted timeout challenging said spot, and at least one play where the refs don't give the Texas guy out of bounds/stopped clock when he should have. NOt sure it mattered the way things unfolded, but could have.

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HOLY CRAP! That is some awesome analysis SadbutTrue999! We had a great time and ran into Easdog and his crew at Scholz' after the game and ended up shutting down that place. LOL. Gawd ... I'm a bit too old to be shutting down bars on weekend nights! And, of course, we ran into Stephen Anderson's mom again at Scholz'...

The entire experience was awesome this weekend. I hope UT wins some games this year and makes our win look even better. Heard is the real deal - they have indeed found their QB.

was really hoping someone was going to read that lol, it took some time to type up

SadbutTrue999;842551011 said:

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was really hoping someone was going to read that lol, it took some time to type up

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I wish I had it in front of my last night when I got home and watched the game on DVR.... That would have been handy!

txwharfrat;842550988 said:

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HOLY CRAP! That is some awesome analysis SadbutTrue999! We had a great time and ran into Easdog and his crew at Scholz' after the game and ended up shutting down that place. LOL. Gawd ... I'm a bit too old to be shutting down bars on weekend nights! And, of course, we ran into Stephen Anderson's mom again at Scholz'...

The entire experience was awesome this weekend. I hope UT wins some games this year and makes our win look even better. Heard is the real deal - they have indeed found their QB.

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well done btw! I'm feeling it still myself today, its not just you

SadbutTrue999;842550732 said:

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Pre-game festivities/ funny story

Highlight of my weekend, having... ahem... a few drinks with Brett Johnson, Cal S 2005-2009 on Friday at Haymaker's in East Austin (found a place with A/C and $2 margaritas... done deal). Had a blast, met up with him again Saturday at Scholz Garten. Suffice to say... learned A LOT about the inner workings of the mid-to-late Tedford teams.

You left out the good part! Dish the Tedford gossip!

In time, :lol: Going to let the borderline blackout settle and remember whatever details I can (plus assess what ought to be shared) before i dump too much.

Impressive list of plays ... well done.

I agree with your analysis of the game/ team. I hadn't really considered the heat/ humidity/ general fatigue, but that would certainly explain why TX looked so much more energetic in that 4th quarter and the Bears looked lethargic on both sides of the ball.

And agree that, had the Bears stayed with our game plan and not gone conservative, we could have traded TDs the rest of the game. TX D was gassed as well - until we made the questionable decision to give them a breather in the fourth quarter.

This was a game where the better team won - barely. We could have/ should have won by a lot more.

I agree also that our D is a shade better, and considerably more deep, than 2014. This coupled with our prolific offense (that still has yet to play a full game with their foot to the floor) will allow us to simply outscore a decent number of our remaining opponents and put us in a position to surprise others.

Go Bears!!

BeachyBear;842551063 said:

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I agree with your analysis of the game/ team. I hadn't really considered the heat/ humidity/ general fatigue, but that would certainly explain why TX looked so much more energetic in that 4th quarter and the Bears looked lethargic on both sides of the ball.

And agree that, had the Bears stayed with our game plan and not gone conservative, we could have traded TDs the rest of the game. TX D was gassed as well - until we made the questionable decision to give them a breather in the fourth quarter.

This was a game where the better team won - barely. We could have/ should have won by a lot more.

I agree also that our D is a shade better, and considerably more deep, than 2014. This coupled with our prolific offense (that still has yet to play a full game with their foot to the floor) will allow us to simply outscore a decent number of our remaining opponents and put us in a position to surprise others.

Go Bears!!

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That was my initial position too but after the rewatch, I'm convinced that a) the offensive slowdown was more a function of Goff being hobbled than a change in strategy/going more conservative. We were still throwing til' the end, and b) While there were some breaks on D, it really didn't look as bad on tape as it felt in person. D was getting more pressure late than it had early, the comeback was more a superhuman effort by Heard and the Bear Raid failing to get a few first downs (Goff's long pass falling short on the 2nd to last drive, and the drop to Anderson on the last one). I had even forgotten the D did in fact get a stop w/ 2 sacks mid 4th quarter.

SadbutTrue999, KUDOS, that took some effort...Well done and pretty much right on the money...Agree with Beachy we should have won by a lot more...Offensive line playing real well at this point of the season...GO BEARS!!!

It sounds weird to say ... But I thought the D played pretty well except for ...

1) Those long pass plays in the 1st half

2) Heard being almost super human out there

Our offense doesn't score 31 straight points without sole defense in there.

Really think Drew getting hurt - was a big reason D collapsed. Wasn't he leading tackler? His health is paramount.

Thanks for the better, more informed perspective.
I'll use your notes when I watch the game again.

I always thought the Goff injury was the major factor in the offensive slow down.

Where I got irritated with the D was not the inability to stop the Heard runs but was the fact that Texas receivers were wide open on 3rd and long plays allowing Heard to make easy completions for first down.
IMO that is still happening way too often and it absolutely killed our season last year. Last year we didn't have the DB depth to stay fresh in the 4th Q, but we should be deep at CB this year so I can't understand how folks are still getting wide open.

SmellinRoses;842551170 said:

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Really think Drew getting hurt - was a big reason D collapsed. Wasn't he leading tackler? His health is paramount.

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I agree
I would say that Devante was also a leading player on D and he was gone much of the time.
The three injuries (Goff, Wilson and Drew) really impacted the game, imo.

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