In Chris Petersen's six years at Washington, he had only one great offense (2016 Playoff year), which was the lone year that Jeff Tedford was on staff as an offensive analyst. Do you think there is a connection? I'm starting to think Petersen has lost his creativity on that side of the ball.
Lee M.
How good can the Cal Bears be this year? Their defense looked lights out on Saturday night.
Matt W.
It's the eternal question: Was Cal's defense that good or Washington's offense that bad the other night? (Also, did playing at 1 in the morning maybe possibly have an effect?)
Let me start with the second part first. I immersed myself in all-things Cal this spring in reporting the Bears' State of the Program piece. So it was pretty cool to tune in Saturday night and see much of what Justin Wilcox prophesized at the time come to fruition. We knew Cal's defense, and its secondary in particular, would be exceptional, but the Bears desperately needed some offensive playmakers to emerge. And they did. The guy he talked up the most, sophomore RB Chris Brown, has rushed for 277 yards his first two games. Former junior college transfer Marcel Dancy is averaging 8.7 yards per carry. And Michigan transfer Kekoa Crawford, who hadn't even arrived yet when I was there, made a huge catch on the Bears' winning drive the other night.
Mind you, QB Chase Garbers did not do much up until that last drive. He'll need to be more productive going forward. If he does, Cal could have a really good season.
As for Washington it's hard to overlook the numbers at this point and raise that very question about Petersen. It's just strange to me, because he was one of, if not THE most innovative offensive coaches in the country while at Boise State. In his defense, it's a lot easier to throw things against the wall when you play most of your games in the WAC with nobody watching and aren't necessarily expected to win the other ones. He presumably feels more pressure mot to screw up at Washington.
But more importantly you're only as good offensively as your quarterback. Jake Browning won a lot of games, but outside of that one magical season as a sophomore, often showed why perhaps Petersen couldn't entirely trust him. And I know everyone's got a lot riding on Jacob Eason, but he did not look like an all-everything passer Saturday night. I wouldn't go ruling out either him or Petersen, though, based off one very strange, very close loss. It may really be that Evan Weaver, Ashtyn Davis and the rest of that Cal's defense is just that good.
Lee M.
How good can the Cal Bears be this year? Their defense looked lights out on Saturday night.
Matt W.
It's the eternal question: Was Cal's defense that good or Washington's offense that bad the other night? (Also, did playing at 1 in the morning maybe possibly have an effect?)
Let me start with the second part first. I immersed myself in all-things Cal this spring in reporting the Bears' State of the Program piece. So it was pretty cool to tune in Saturday night and see much of what Justin Wilcox prophesized at the time come to fruition. We knew Cal's defense, and its secondary in particular, would be exceptional, but the Bears desperately needed some offensive playmakers to emerge. And they did. The guy he talked up the most, sophomore RB Chris Brown, has rushed for 277 yards his first two games. Former junior college transfer Marcel Dancy is averaging 8.7 yards per carry. And Michigan transfer Kekoa Crawford, who hadn't even arrived yet when I was there, made a huge catch on the Bears' winning drive the other night.
Mind you, QB Chase Garbers did not do much up until that last drive. He'll need to be more productive going forward. If he does, Cal could have a really good season.
As for Washington it's hard to overlook the numbers at this point and raise that very question about Petersen. It's just strange to me, because he was one of, if not THE most innovative offensive coaches in the country while at Boise State. In his defense, it's a lot easier to throw things against the wall when you play most of your games in the WAC with nobody watching and aren't necessarily expected to win the other ones. He presumably feels more pressure mot to screw up at Washington.
But more importantly you're only as good offensively as your quarterback. Jake Browning won a lot of games, but outside of that one magical season as a sophomore, often showed why perhaps Petersen couldn't entirely trust him. And I know everyone's got a lot riding on Jacob Eason, but he did not look like an all-everything passer Saturday night. I wouldn't go ruling out either him or Petersen, though, based off one very strange, very close loss. It may really be that Evan Weaver, Ashtyn Davis and the rest of that Cal's defense is just that good.
I hope beating UW at home and that last offensive series is a harbinger of things to come. 
