There are some great quotes in that article. Remember, not all of these will be HCs talking, but still these are (purportedly) genuine P12 coaches.

Great article. I think the comments on UW were most surprising. I thought Lake's hire was a continuity type of move - not a blow it up.

I love what they said about Furd even more than what they said about Cal.
"...program in decline..."

The one thing that concerns me is this

Quote:

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"(Bill) Musgrave is going to clean a lot of that stuff up. They need to be simpler and find what works for them. The offense to this point looks like they've fit players into a scheme. It has to be the other way around."

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I keep waiting for someone to tell me we are going to design an offense around the players we have and their particular strengths. That we aren't going to try to jam players into a certain scheme (cough, Beau Baldwin). The problem is I'm not getting this feel from Bill Musgrave yet. A lot about how he's not planning to simplify his offense, etc.

I just have to bank on the fact our coaches are professionals who know their craft far better than I and at least this particular coach seems to think we are going to not fall into the scheme trap. Fingers crossed.

Before deciding how he's going to proceed, wouldn't it make sense for Musgrave to be able to work directly with the players? Spring practice was only 4 sessions, how the heck is Musgrave gonna know what the players can and cannot handle if they haven't had any significant opportunities to work together?

Cal_79 said:

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Before deciding how he's going to proceed, wouldn't it make sense for Musgrave to be able to work directly with the players? Spring practice was only 4 sessions, how the heck is Musgrave gonna know what the players can and cannot handle if they haven't had any significant opportunities to work together?

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Yes. Exactly.

Sebastabear said:

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Cal_79 said:

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Before deciding how he's going to proceed, wouldn't it make sense for Musgrave to be able to work directly with the players? Spring practice was only 4 sessions, how the heck is Musgrave gonna know what the players can and cannot handle if they haven't had any significant opportunities to work together?

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Yes. Exactly.

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Agreed...and would also point out that Musgrave has consistently made adjustments to his "system" according to personnel. At Minnesota, he made AP the focal point of the offense while his time with the Raiders featured Carr's best seasons.

Edited to add my favorite quote (as only a self-immolating Cal fan could have this as a favorite) because it points out what we already knew and provides a glimmer of hope that it won't take much improvement on that side of the ball to result in a huge positive jump in the overall record:

"if ... they get the offense working."

Everyone in the Pac knew our offense was broken!

Curious then, why you're concerned Musgrave hasn't said what he's going to do when he is still figuring out what he has?

Cal_79 said:

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Curious then, why you're concerned Musgrave hasn't said what he's going to do when he is still figuring out what he has?

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No, I think you misreading what I wrote (or I wasn't clear). Musgrave has explicitly said he's not planning on simplifying the play book for college kids (vs what he ran in the NFL). He's said he doesn't think scheme adjustments will be needed. I've heard this from him directly. That's what I'm a little nervous about.

Thanks. Are designing an offense around the players and not simplifying the play book mutually exclusive? I'm more interested in fit than simplicity. I want what works.

91Cal said:

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Sebastabear said:

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Cal_79 said:

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Before deciding how he's going to proceed, wouldn't it make sense for Musgrave to be able to work directly with the players? Spring practice was only 4 sessions, how the heck is Musgrave gonna know what the players can and cannot handle if they haven't had any significant opportunities to work together?

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Yes. Exactly.

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Agreed...and would also point out that Musgrave has consistently made adjustments to his "system" according to personnel. At Minnesota, he made AP the focal point of the offense while his time with the Raiders featured Carr's best seasons.

Edited to add my favorite quote (as only a self-immolating Cal fan could have this as a favorite) because it points out what we already knew and provides a glimmer of hope that it won't take much improvement on that side of the ball to result in a huge positive jump in the overall record:

"if ... they get the offense working."

Everyone in the Pac knew our offense was broken!

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The 2019 offense looked considerably less broken after Saffell and Garbers got healthy.

Big C said:

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91Cal said:

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Sebastabear said:

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Cal_79 said:

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Before deciding how he's going to proceed, wouldn't it make sense for Musgrave to be able to work directly with the players? Spring practice was only 4 sessions, how the heck is Musgrave gonna know what the players can and cannot handle if they haven't had any significant opportunities to work together?

---

Yes. Exactly.

---

Agreed...and would also point out that Musgrave has consistently made adjustments to his "system" according to personnel. At Minnesota, he made AP the focal point of the offense while his time with the Raiders featured Carr's best seasons.

Edited to add my favorite quote (as only a self-immolating Cal fan could have this as a favorite) because it points out what we already knew and provides a glimmer of hope that it won't take much improvement on that side of the ball to result in a huge positive jump in the overall record:

"if ... they get the offense working."

Everyone in the Pac knew our offense was broken!

---

The 2019 offense looked considerably less broken after Saffell and Garbers got healthy.

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Agreed...

I heard a take on the Giants and Gabe Kapler yesterday that would seem to be applicable here that went something like this:

Kapler doesn't have the talent as a manager to overcome the lack of talent on the roster and the roster's lack of talent will only exacerbate his shortcomings as a manager.

The only way that the Cal offense performed well last year (or at any time in the last three seasons for that matter) was when the talent stood out. A significant portion of the positive results were Garbers' scrambling ability...such as the Big Game-winning TD run. It made up for the lack of success to that point, but you couldn't give credit to the offensive play-calling/scheme.

This was even more apparent when Garbers went dow...it didn't appear that the play-calling or scheme changed to maximize results based on Modster's talent.

I like what I've seen of the stats for Musgrave's offenses in showcasing the talent that he had to work with...and hope he gets a chance to show it at Cal!

91Cal said:

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Big C said:

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91Cal said:

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Sebastabear said:

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Cal_79 said:

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Before deciding how he's going to proceed, wouldn't it make sense for Musgrave to be able to work directly with the players? Spring practice was only 4 sessions, how the heck is Musgrave gonna know what the players can and cannot handle if they haven't had any significant opportunities to work together?

---

Yes. Exactly.

---

Agreed...and would also point out that Musgrave has consistently made adjustments to his "system" according to personnel. At Minnesota, he made AP the focal point of the offense while his time with the Raiders featured Carr's best seasons.

Edited to add my favorite quote (as only a self-immolating Cal fan could have this as a favorite) because it points out what we already knew and provides a glimmer of hope that it won't take much improvement on that side of the ball to result in a huge positive jump in the overall record:

"if ... they get the offense working."

Everyone in the Pac knew our offense was broken!

---

The 2019 offense looked considerably less broken after Saffell and Garbers got healthy.

---

Agreed...

I heard a take on the Giants and Gabe Kapler yesterday that would seem to be applicable here that went something like this:

Kapler doesn't have the talent as a manager to overcome the lack of talent on the roster and the roster's lack of talent will only exacerbate his shortcomings as a manager.

The only way that the Cal offense performed well last year (or at any time in the last three seasons for that matter) was when the talent stood out. A significant portion of the positive results were Garbers' scrambling ability...such as the Big Game-winning TD run. It made up for the lack of success to that point, but you couldn't give credit to the offensive play-calling/scheme.

This was even more apparent when Garbers went dow...it didn't appear that the play-calling or scheme changed to maximize results based on Modster's talent.

I like what I've seen of the stats for Musgrave's offenses in showcasing the talent that he had to work with...and hope he gets a chance to show it at Cal!

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I am tired of people making the injury or talent excuse for Cal having the worst offense in the PAC-12 and one of the worst in the country the 3 years with Baldwin at the helm.

One of Baldwin's "best" adjustments was after trailing 10-0 then tied 13-13 with FCS UC Davis late in the 3rd quarter (despite a healthy Garbers and OL) he abandoned the playbook (that UC Davis obviously knew well) and just took advantage of our vastly superior size and talent and ran the ball the rest of the way, with Brown ending up with 36 carries.

Looking forward to seeing what Musgrave can do, especially once he has a better idea of our strengths.

calumnus said:

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91Cal said:

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Big C said:

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91Cal said:

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Sebastabear said:

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Cal_79 said:

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Before deciding how he's going to proceed, wouldn't it make sense for Musgrave to be able to work directly with the players? Spring practice was only 4 sessions, how the heck is Musgrave gonna know what the players can and cannot handle if they haven't had any significant opportunities to work together?

---

Yes. Exactly.

---

Agreed...and would also point out that Musgrave has consistently made adjustments to his "system" according to personnel. At Minnesota, he made AP the focal point of the offense while his time with the Raiders featured Carr's best seasons.

Edited to add my favorite quote (as only a self-immolating Cal fan could have this as a favorite) because it points out what we already knew and provides a glimmer of hope that it won't take much improvement on that side of the ball to result in a huge positive jump in the overall record:

"if ... they get the offense working."

Everyone in the Pac knew our offense was broken!

---

The 2019 offense looked considerably less broken after Saffell and Garbers got healthy.

---

Agreed...

I heard a take on the Giants and Gabe Kapler yesterday that would seem to be applicable here that went something like this:

Kapler doesn't have the talent as a manager to overcome the lack of talent on the roster and the roster's lack of talent will only exacerbate his shortcomings as a manager.

The only way that the Cal offense performed well last year (or at any time in the last three seasons for that matter) was when the talent stood out. A significant portion of the positive results were Garbers' scrambling ability...such as the Big Game-winning TD run. It made up for the lack of success to that point, but you couldn't give credit to the offensive play-calling/scheme.

This was even more apparent when Garbers went dow...it didn't appear that the play-calling or scheme changed to maximize results based on Modster's talent.

I like what I've seen of the stats for Musgrave's offenses in showcasing the talent that he had to work with...and hope he gets a chance to show it at Cal!

---

I am tired of people making the injury or talent excuse for Cal having the worst offense in the PAC-12 and one of the worst in the country the 3 years with Baldwin at the helm.

One of Baldwin's "best" adjustments was after trailing 10-0 then tied 13-13 with FCS UC Davis late in the 3rd quarter (despite a healthy Garbers and OL) he abandoned the playbook (that UC Davis obviously knew well) and just took advantage of our vastly superior size and talent and ran the ball the rest of the way, with Brown ending up with 36 carries.

Looking forward to seeing what Musgrave can do, especially once he has a better idea of our strengths.

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I get what you are saying. On the other hand, a game like UC Davis isn't a game you are trying to win as much as trying to figure out what you do or do not have. You just don't want to lose. I am sure he figured from the start that he could win the game by running over UC Davis, but that wouldn't be very informative nor get a lot of reps in some of the other formations that they would need to master against better opponents later.