Athlon predicts Cal at 3-6 in conference and 6-6 overall. So, they pick us to win all our OOC games...

https://athlonsports.com/college-football/pac-12-football-2019-predictions

Very possible. Not sure how thrilled fans will be with a coach who goes 5-7, 7-6, 6-7, that's not a good record.

Hopefully he does better than 6-6 this season and can start building some momentum.

Hard to disagree unless the offense improves. They have Cal winning all non-conference games, but only 3 conference games. That said, they love Cal's defense and Evan Weaver. But they have no confidence in the offense improving.

We have no confidence in our offense improving either.

YamhillBear said:

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Athlon predicts Cal at 3-6 in conference and 6-6 overall. So, they pick us to win all our OOC games...

https://athlonsports.com/college-football/pac-12-football-2019-predictions

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All you need to know about their predictions is the selection of Ludwig as best new coordinator hire. Heck, if he was the only new coordinator hire, he would still not be the best.

As for Cal, 7-5 is the call with a team that plays much better than last year but whose results are tempered by the odd year schedule. To use a battle analogy on this anniversary of D-Day, last year, Cal stormed the beaches, this year, Cal establishes a beachhead and next year, the Bears begin to advance.

71Bear said:

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YamhillBear said:

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Athlon predicts Cal at 3-6 in conference and 6-6 overall. So, they pick us to win all our OOC games...

https://athlonsports.com/college-football/pac-12-football-2019-predictions

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All you need to know about their predictions is the selection of Ludwig as best new coordinator hire. Heck, if he was the only new coordinator hire, he would still not be the best.

As for Cal, 7-5 is the call with a team that plays much better than last year but whose results are tempered by the odd year schedule. To use a battle analogy on this anniversary of D-Day, last year, Cal stormed the beaches, this year, Cal establishes a beachhead and next year, the Bears begin to advance.

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Not an unreasonable position either. Cal will be in a lot of close games due to its good defense and lousy (but hopefully improving) offense. Win most of the close games, a good bowl, lose most no bowl, and somewhere in between is 6 or 7 wins. Again odd year schedule makes it harder.

Half of me says we will go 7-5 this season. The other half says we will go 8-4. (I GOTTA have faith that the offense will be somewhat better, if for no other reason than "progression to the mean".)

The third half of me says we will finish either better or worse than 7-5 / 8-4.

Not so fast with the out of conference games. UCD returns 19 lettermen, won their conference last year, POY QB, currently only ranked behind James Madison and ND State in national FCS. One game at a time. And Ole Miss in Oxford and North Texas has an AA QB who are also supposed to be very good. All tough for a "developing offense."

1031michael said:

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Athlon hasn't predicted anything accurately in a long time.

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Thank you. Our predictions on the BI are probably better.

72CalBear said:

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Not so fast with the out of conference games. UCD returns 19 lettermen, won their conference last year, POY QB, currently only ranked behind James Madison and ND State in national FCS. One game at a time. And Ole Miss in Oxford and North Texas has an AA QB who are also supposed to be very good. All tough for a "developing offense."

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yeah but he's facing our developed defense....

I'm in the 8-4 group only because I'm more optimistic this time of the year and I truly feel we'll take a step forward on offense.

72CalBear said:

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Not so fast with the out of conference games. UCD returns 19 lettermen, won their conference last year, POY QB, currently only ranked behind James Madison and ND State in national FCS. One game at a time. And Ole Miss in Oxford and North Texas has an AA QB who are also supposed to be very good. All tough for a "developing offense."

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But! Is he 6'5 or taller? If not, he's not a concern.

North Texas went 9-4 last year, UC Davis went 10-3 losing to Eastern Washington in the FCS playoffs 34-29. My guess is neither of these teams will be a pushover, in fact they could possibly inflict a loss on Cal.

Go Bears!

GMP said:

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72CalBear said:

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Not so fast with the out of conference games. UCD returns 19 lettermen, won their conference last year, POY QB, currently only ranked behind James Madison and ND State in national FCS. One game at a time. And Ole Miss in Oxford and North Texas has an AA QB who are also supposed to be very good. All tough for a "developing offense."

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But! Is he 6'5 or taller? If not, he's not a concern.

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6'0 in shoes. bet the under.

oski003 said:

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GMP said:

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72CalBear said:

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Not so fast with the out of conference games. UCD returns 19 lettermen, won their conference last year, POY QB, currently only ranked behind James Madison and ND State in national FCS. One game at a time. And Ole Miss in Oxford and North Texas has an AA QB who are also supposed to be very good. All tough for a "developing offense."

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But! Is he 6'5 or taller? If not, he's not a concern.

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6'0 in shoes. bet the under.

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Psh. We can send a split squad.

71Bear said:

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YamhillBear said:

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Athlon predicts Cal at 3-6 in conference and 6-6 overall. So, they pick us to win all our OOC games...

https://athlonsports.com/college-football/pac-12-football-2019-predictions

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All you need to know about their predictions is the selection of Ludwig as best new coordinator hire. Heck, if he was the only new coordinator hire, he would still not be the best.

As for Cal, 7-5 is the call with a team that plays much better than last year but whose results are tempered by the odd year schedule. To use a battle analogy on this anniversary of D-Day, last year, Cal stormed the beaches, this year, Cal establishes a beachhead and next year, the Bears begin to advance.

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OK. Continuing with your analogy when will George Patton show up to break us out of the hedgerows and who will that be?

GivemTheAxe said:

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71Bear said:

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YamhillBear said:

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Athlon predicts Cal at 3-6 in conference and 6-6 overall. So, they pick us to win all our OOC games...

https://athlonsports.com/college-football/pac-12-football-2019-predictions

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All you need to know about their predictions is the selection of Ludwig as best new coordinator hire. Heck, if he was the only new coordinator hire, he would still not be the best.

As for Cal, 7-5 is the call with a team that plays much better than last year but whose results are tempered by the odd year schedule. To use a battle analogy on this anniversary of D-Day, last year, Cal stormed the beaches, this year, Cal establishes a beachhead and next year, the Bears begin to advance.

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OK. Continuing with your analogy when will George Patton show up to break us out of the hedgerows and who will that be?

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Sounds like a job for a guy like Joe Kapp. Who will that be? Great question. Maybe some kid who is just starting his HS career at this point.....

Depending on which way the breaks fall, we could be 10-2. We could also be 4-8. Most games will be close and come down to a handful of plays.

I'll stick with 8-4. We'll be with 8 pts of 10-2 and torturing ourselves about what might have been. It is the way of The Bear. It is the way of the Bear fans.

wifeisafurd said:

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71Bear said:

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YamhillBear said:

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Athlon predicts Cal at 3-6 in conference and 6-6 overall. So, they pick us to win all our OOC games...

https://athlonsports.com/college-football/pac-12-football-2019-predictions

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All you need to know about their predictions is the selection of Ludwig as best new coordinator hire. Heck, if he was the only new coordinator hire, he would still not be the best.

As for Cal, 7-5 is the call with a team that plays much better than last year but whose results are tempered by the odd year schedule. To use a battle analogy on this anniversary of D-Day, last year, Cal stormed the beaches, this year, Cal establishes a beachhead and next year, the Bears begin to advance.

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Not an unreasonable position either. Cal will be in a lot of close games due to its good defense and lousy (but hopefully improving) offense. Win most of the close games, a good bowl, lose most no bowl, and somewhere in between is 6 or 7 wins. Again odd year schedule makes it harder.

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The Bears have an experienced kicker who is pretty reliable. That can be a difference maker.

NYCGOBEARS said:

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We have no confidence in our offense improving either.

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Don't include me in your "we". I have confidence we can improve from zero.

NYCGOBEARS said:

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We have no confidence in our offense improving either.

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I have a significant level of confidence in the offense improving. Please don't speak for me on that subject.

Lol

89Bear said:

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The Bears have an experienced kicker who is pretty reliable. That can be a difference maker.

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It can be, if this year the Bears have a QB who leads drives that get the team into field goal range without turning the ball over.

71Bear said:

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NYCGOBEARS said:

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We have no confidence in our offense improving either.

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I have a significant level of confidence in the offense improving. Please don't speak for me on that subject.

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Oh great! Happy to see you optimistic for once.

NYCGOBEARS said:

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71Bear said:

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NYCGOBEARS said:

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We have no confidence in our offense improving either.

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I have a significant level of confidence in the offense improving. Please don't speak for me on that subject.

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Oh great! Happy to see you optimistic for once.

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I have been nothing but optimistic (long term) since Wilcox took over. He has the program headed in the right direction. The key to whether he can make a quantum jump forward is recruiting. Can he bring in some star players to give the program "cache"? He has proven he has the ability to find three stars who are tough, dedicated players but he needs some playmakers, guys like Lynch, Jackson or Best, who can break a game open in one play. The cliche "a rising tide lifts all boats" really applies to these unique talents.

(Of course, my focus is on Cal. What happens to guys who move on to the next level is immaterial to me)

There were a lot of low scoring games last year. That doesn't mean that the offense is sub-standard. It means that defenses in general have improved. When games are 17 - 14 the outcome is more random than in higher scoring games. In a low scoring game penalties necessarily have a greater effect on the outcome. So do missed or made field goals. We should invest in the best place kicker we can find. If we had the Wersching brothers we would have won a few more games.

Of course Athlon has us winning our non-conference games. Look at who we are playing: Ole'Miss, UC Davis, and North Texas. The only one of those three games we should be playing is Ole' Miss. We should stop playing Division 1AA teams. There is nothing in it for us but the risk of injury and ignominious defeat. If we beat UC Davis, who beat Stanford in 2005, it does nothing for us. If we lose Stanford will be chanting about it at the Big Game the way we chanted about Stanford's loss to UC Davis in 2005. North Texas is almost a Division 1AA team. If we beat North Texas it will do nothing for us either.

MugsVanSant said:

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There were a lot of low scoring games last year. That doesn't mean that the offense is sub-standard. It means that defenses in general have improved. When games are 17 - 14 the outcome is more random than in higher scoring games. In a low scoring game penalties necessarily have a greater effect on the outcome. So do missed or made field goals. We should invest in the best place kicker we can find. If we had the Wersching brothers we would have won a few more games.

Of course Athlon has us winning our non-conference games. Look at who we are playing: Ole'Miss, UC Davis, and North Texas. The only one of those three games we should be playing is Ole' Miss. We should stop playing Division 1AA teams. There is nothing in it for us but the risk of injury and ignominious defeat. If we beat UC Davis, who beat Stanford in 2005, it does nothing for us. If we lose Stanford will be chanting about it at the Big Game the way we chanted about Stanford's loss to UC Davis in 2005. North Texas is almost a Division 1AA team. If we beat North Texas it will do nothing for us either.

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North Texas has been to a bowl game for three straight years. While this doesn't make them Alabama, this makes them NOT almost a Division 1AA team.

petalumabear said:

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72CalBear said:

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Not so fast with the out of conference games. UCD returns 19 lettermen, won their conference last year, POY QB, currently only ranked behind James Madison and ND State in national FCS. One game at a time. And Ole Miss in Oxford and North Texas has an AA QB who are also supposed to be very good. All tough for a "developing offense."

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yeah but he's facing our developed defense....

I'm in the 8-4 group only because I'm more optimistic this time of the year and I truly feel we'll take a step forward on offense.

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Under SD we made every QB look like an all star QB as he set personal best numbers. Under JW last year we made almost every QB look ordinary and held him below his average.
I am more concerned how strong is the other team's defense.
Last year I knew the Bowl Game was going to be hard to win when I learned that our opponent had an equally strong defense. I knew that the game would be impossible to win when Noa and Laird both were knocked out of the game.

GivemTheAxe said:

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petalumabear said:

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72CalBear said:

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Not so fast with the out of conference games. UCD returns 19 lettermen, won their conference last year, POY QB, currently only ranked behind James Madison and ND State in national FCS. One game at a time. And Ole Miss in Oxford and North Texas has an AA QB who are also supposed to be very good. All tough for a "developing offense."

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yeah but he's facing our developed defense....

I'm in the 8-4 group only because I'm more optimistic this time of the year and I truly feel we'll take a step forward on offense.

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Under SD we made every QB look like an all star QB as he set personal best numbers. Under JW last year we made almost every QB look ordinary and held him below his average.
I am more concerned how strong is the other team's defense.
Last year I knew the Bowl Game was going to be hard to win when I learned that our opponent had an equally strong defense. I knew that the game would be impossible to win when Noa and Laird both were knocked out of the game.

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Last year, with Wharton, Noa and Laird out we could not get a first down. McMorris was our best if little used offensive weapon. Ways, Hudson...They are all gone and this year we will be counting on the underperforming back-ups, transfers and relatively unheralded recruits to not only replace 90% of our already bottom dwelling offense, but improve upon it.

It is the time of year for optimism. If Dancy is healthy and the playcalling is good, he is a star. Same with Modster, if he has guys to throw to. Duncan is our only proven WR. We need several to step up to run Baldwin's spread. I like our TEs and hope we go to more of a power spread featuring Dancy/Brown and playaction passing to the TEs.

oski003 said:

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MugsVanSant said:

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There were a lot of low scoring games last year. That doesn't mean that the offense is sub-standard. It means that defenses in general have improved. When games are 17 - 14 the outcome is more random than in higher scoring games. In a low scoring game penalties necessarily have a greater effect on the outcome. So do missed or made field goals. We should invest in the best place kicker we can find. If we had the Wersching brothers we would have won a few more games.

Of course Athlon has us winning our non-conference games. Look at who we are playing: Ole'Miss, UC Davis, and North Texas. The only one of those three games we should be playing is Ole' Miss. We should stop playing Division 1AA teams. There is nothing in it for us but the risk of injury and ignominious defeat. If we beat UC Davis, who beat Stanford in 2005, it does nothing for us. If we lose Stanford will be chanting about it at the Big Game the way we chanted about Stanford's loss to UC Davis in 2005. North Texas is almost a Division 1AA team. If we beat North Texas it will do nothing for us either.

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North Texas has been to a bowl game for three straight years. While this doesn't make them Alabama, this makes them NOT almost a Division 1AA team.

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Athlon doesn't have any insights that makes them worthwhile. It doesn't take a genius to forecast that Cal is going to struggle on offense.

72CalBear said:

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Not so fast with the out of conference games. UCD returns 19 lettermen, won their conference last year, POY QB, currently only ranked behind James Madison and ND State in national FCS. One game at a time. And Ole Miss in Oxford and North Texas has an AA QB who are also supposed to be very good. All tough for a "developing offense."

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If we don't win all three games easily we should forfeit the rest & shut down the program.

As far as conference games are concerned, there are three that we should focus on. The game of the year, the Mother of all defensive games, will be in Utah where each team has a powerful D with a so-so O. Taking it to Kyle Whittingham's guys is no easy task. I make no prediction on this one.

The second is at Seattle where Peterson has lost some of the guys who made a difference . He loses Murphy, Gaskin, Rapp, Gaines, Browning, and Burr-Kiven, among others. That is a lot to lose on both offense and defense. We handled them pretty well I'd say last season. The difference was the absence of Myles Gaskin. Now, not only he, but other game breakers have left. We have a puncher's chance, in my opinion.

Finally, we owe the Chipster big time. I don't know if any win will make me happier. Last season, we played them the following week after the loss to AZ, which we shouldn't have lost but for the mad ravings of BB for a running QB from So. Carolina. The Bruin loss was probably the worst we suffered. It seemed clear that the team was down in spirit after the debacle with the Wildcats. Here's hoping that kind of result doesn't recur. It would be a nice win on the road.

Among the "could wins" are AZ, SC, and Furd. Definite wins are OSU and WSU. Not much hope against the Ducks.