socaltownie said:
oskidunker said:
"yes, there is currently poor competitive balance in football, and that makes me less and less interested in college football every year ... I never watch any of the 3 play off games and think the chances of Cal making it into the 4 team playoff is almost zero"
This exactly how I feel. Cal is never even in the Pac 12 championship by early November-which makes the last part of the season not very interesting. I used to be an eternal ,optimist but sadly reality has caught up. The early season wins over patsies used to fire me up but now I realize they don't count fora lot. We are never competitive in the conference since Rodgers left. Every year we are told this will be the year. It would take-a miracle at this point.
I actually think this isn't precisely true. The Sonny years sucked but I have a lot of hope in the Wilcox regime and feel like we are actually in a decent spot. What hurts us is that we play a harder schedule (the LA schools) than the Washingtons and Oregons but I think it helps recruiting and alumni engagement so probably a wash.
Hoop feels so much more daunting - with our S16 teams countable on 1 hand.
The Sonny years and the Wilcox years SO FAR are pretty similar in results. Kind of mirror reflections of each other. 4 years of bad defense followed by four years of bad offense with some highlights but losing conference records every year. Sonny recruited top offensive players who left with the coaching change and some good defensive players that formed the basis for Wilcox's best defenses. Wilcox's recruiting his first few years has been lackluster, bottom half of the PAC-12.
However, recruiting has really improved with this years class, notably on offense. Next year is looking good too. Musgrave should have plenty of weapons to put together a decent offense for the first time under Wilcox. A lot will ride on who our next QB is. I think Martin looks really good and hope his commitment sticks. I am very hopeful for the future of Cal football under Wilcox. It helps that the fan base really likes Wilcox, because if they they love him after 4 years of finishing near the bottom of the PAC-12 they will be beside themselves if he can challenge for the conference championship.
Basketball.....I have said enough but will again say our situation this fall and in subsequent years will not be the fault of a AD or a coach who was long gone before anyone on the team arrived. Our results will be based on the coach the AD hired and his coaching of the players he has brought in (other than Kelly and Anticevich).