Cal Football 2021: Beating Sac State and Explaining Victory

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he's there he's every [ __ ] where coin dang coin dang we sang that song at the game we figured it works if you watch Ted lasso you know the song I mean it would be great it works but he's not on the field he's not on the field great in theory it is great in theory and it sounded great with like eight of us singing it at the stadium in the student SE like near the student section it was absolutely great but um yeah I'm here we're here we're here also with the one and two bears one and two bears but before we get into that I am taking care of my parents pug Molly which is great she loves me will not let me out of her sight but has a very unfortunate habit of barking at not nothing which she's currently doing right now she's staring at a door and barking at it and I can hear her so if you hear that please excuse 2020 2021 life you know how it goes can't get out to veg Vegas yet to use our bluewire studio so uh until until then you guys will have to do with the Pug appearances yeah I mean you've heard my dog on the air too so and we I think we've heard Andy's Dog on the air as well so you're getting all the dogs this is a dog friendly podcast all the dogs all so yeah one and two all right we got a win we did to be expected exactly as we drew it up MH a nice close game with Sacramento [Music] State I well all right let's let's just I guess we should just get into it so we have a lot of fan takes that people have said so I'm thinking we'll go over the general stuff we'll go over like what it was like to be there all that then we'll go into all of the the our listeners and the takes that they sent us we'll read it and then we'll kind of talk about it because I think they all kind of hint at something different and they all kind of tap on something that we might want to talk about so we're going to use our listeners to to uh push the conversation about this game but of course if there's other tangents that we go on about the game that's it's bound to happen it's it's Andy and me talking so we're we're bound to on tangents we're going to let the listeners have control of the Pod as it should be power power back to the people power to the people exactly exactly let's ride the roller coaster all right um so the game it was um it was a little cloudy all day kind of overcast I actually liked it that way considering it was a 1 p.m. kickoff so no sun in my face all day long absolutely great cuz I was in the stands for this one I was not in the Box um and student section still came out in full force uh it was packed the mik men still need some work on when they are supposed to do chance and when or not uh the student section was sitting to start the game which was very disappointing uh but the alumni band was there the band of course did not start on the field but they did everything on the sidelines they did do their regular halftime show the sack State band was there they played some BTS songs which was I was taken back by I never heard a marching band play K-pop music and so it was a it was like a I was like whoa they're playing they're playing BTS and I was like wow I guess that that tells you how uh how worldwide they are now um but that was an experience uh Jaylen Brown was also an attendance at the game he's hanging out in Berkeley I don't know if he's still in Berkeley right now but he's been hanging out in Berkeley he's been working out at uh hos Pavilion uh you can see the pictures on the Cal Men Basketball I think Instagram or their Twitter handle there pictures there uh and then he led a chant um which was very awkward it was a very very awkward chant um he would yell out what uh UC see Berkeley and the crowd would yell out you see Cal and it was like like what do you see you see Berkeley you know the the it's the the ad the ad that you see in like on game days right when you're watching at home on TV TV except yeah but it'd be it Jaylen would say you see Berkeley like you like see with your sight Berkeley and the crowd would yell you see Cal I was like this is this is like a d tier chant it makes it sound like our name it's UC Cal which we already have enough confusion with yeah yeah not great damn it not great bad to worst um but outside of that uh it was fun to see uh Justin Wilcox on the sidelines with uh crutches him hobbling down the tunnel and walking his way over it was kind of funny because he would always stand on the opposite end of the direction the play was going right so if he's going from south to North like from the South End Zone to North End Zone he would stay on the south end of the of the bench and then when it flipped he'd go to the other side that it was just kind of his thing to I guess I guess avoid like just people running across and and all the the chatter uh but yeah he's on crutches it looks like he will be for the foreseeable future yeah ailles is no joke man that hurts y the fact that he's coaching right now is if you were if anyone was questioning the toughness of just W Cox well we don't know if it's an Achilles he just said he re injured previously did they say it was announced it on the TV yeah they said it was an Achilles great well Cal football PR just put it out as that he reinjured he re-aggravated like an injur a previous injury um so yeah if it is in ailles then yeah if they set down the broadcast that's what it is and yeah yep so that's where we're like it Molly's not a fan no Molly's not a fan but is have you ever w wied this have you ever witnessed a coach with a season long like debilitating injury like on crutches to start the season and now he's like you know hobbling around the the sidelines on his two crutches I would say that just put him in a wheelchair like I I think honestly that might be the better option so at least he wheel himself up and down the sideline like to see him on crutches like with you know with his like game book like in his hand it was uh I feel like I feel like you could you could ease yourself a little bit I still think that wheelchair it's like if the play is coming at you you're done for yeah you're done whereas like crutches you can still kind of jump out of the way I don't know could we get him could we get him like an elevated like lifeguard seat you know like or like a tennis a tennis ref you know one of those just have him like right at the 50 yard line just a little yeah a little little not in the Box per se but you know if I were to guess I would actually say it's probably a Le I'm prettyy sure it's might yeah it might give you an unfair actual ability to yeah to see um which I don't see why he wouldn't be up in the Box I think he could easily be up in the Box gota be down with your players yeah but yeah I mean it sort of seems like the theme of this season right now is like when it rains it pours yeah Willcox is hurt and Ian he's just got to be going through it right now I feel for the guy it just it's a you know this team could be three and0 and maybe that injury doesn't happen or who knows and you know it's a very different story for Cal but instead it's it's 0 and three and you know as we'll talk about later we lost o and three oh I'm sorry one and two uh it's one and two and we lost our you know the best two recruits we've had in the last 10 years so tough [ __ ] t two weeks tough two weeks tough two weeks tough two weeks yeah let's let's uh let's get into the game stats tell me how it went Rob all right so Sacramento state with head coach former Cal quarterback Troy Taylor to visit Berkeley got a nice little warm Ovation when they announced his name uh on the field I think he gave a little wave to the crowd not I can't remember too fondly uh but it was a nice little moment but Cal beats Sacramento State 42-30 the Bears uh LED behind a pretty stout rushing attack 246 yards on the ground as a team averaging 7.5 yards a carry no sack adjustment was needed cuz tra or chase didn't take any sacks Chase was 22 of 34 one interception 28 yards two touchdowns and a long of 45 that long 45 went to Jeremiah Hunter on his lone touchdown of the game Jeremiah Hunter seven targets five five receptions 78 yards and 20 yards after catch Trayvon Clark right behind him with seven targets as well four catches 70 yards and a touchdown the Bears uh rushing wise as I as I said was outstanding Damen Moore uh 87 carries or 87 yards 87 yards the Damen Moore 87 yards 12 carries two touchdowns 7.2 yards per carry and then you know the funny stat about this is we had four Running Backs play and outside of Marcel Dancy who only got four carries for six yards the rest all had a A plus seven yard average per carry pretty dang amazing um in terms of the defense oh this was not a pretty game man uh tattersol and isfa still led the way with the most tackles on the team tattersol with 10 total tackles isfa with nine um the only other like fun stats here isfa had one tackle for a loss and Ethan Saunders one of my guys had a tackle for loss as well no sacks couple of pass breakups here and there a couple of QB hurries but that was pretty much the game the Bears you know got off to hot start again on offense de Moore four-yard Rush then s Sacramento answered with a seven yard rush then Damen Moore four yard rush Jeremiah Hunter 45 yd pass uh then to start the start the second half niik rigio of course finally ran one back 99 yard kickoff return and then Sacramento state with a two- yard rush touchdown C aners with a Trayvon Clark reception for for 12 yards and touchdown Sacramento State answers again with a pass for 34 yards and touchdown and then and garbers rushes 16 yards for on a Scramble for a touchdown and then it was a field goal and a pass from Sacramento State to get it up to 30 that being said Sacramento State also missed two field goal attempts so if you were to put that back up and they missed a Pat I believe so if you put that back up they should be we we should have or we could have only won by five that's yeah they were really bad misses yeah but those are the the stats for the game uh Andy your takes on the game generally well I because I want to save it for what the fans are saying I'm not going to say speak too much here I just want to call out specific plays that were amazing Chase on the play one Hunter beat two guys on that touchdown so sick he beat the corner beat the safety and and Chase also stepped up into that throw the fact he got that ball where it was like this probably one of the most impressive throws I've ever seen a make yeah like he stepped up and then like almost like took his arm over and forward and then full into motion and release like there was no pause or regathering and using that form of momentum it was so sick it was such a dope play um The Run was super impressive as well and my boy Damen Moore just keeps doing what you know what what what do we say 1300 13 touchdowns or something like that the he's on Pace he's could be on Pace on Pace like the guy has lived up to his billing and the running game is one of the most exciting things I think for us in a long time because it's what we've been asking for and it's been largely absent and now if we were to able to build a team team around the Run instead of the pass obviously still we have an effective passing game but a team that can do the Wisconsin formula you know the defense just has to shore up and uh you know I think overall people expect these games to be blowouts but they forget like Troy Taylor was the OC at Utah and was doing you know was a very effective coordinator against pack 12 teams I'm not surprised our defense looked bad I I really wasn't it it didn't look great and yeah there was a lot of blown assignments there's a tremendous amount of pis the linebackers were in terrible Position will Cox basically fired Trey Watson in the postgame presser like there wasn't it there's a lot to work on but at the same time I thought that I wasn't I just I didn't walk away from it I understand that their quarterback had has does not have a history of success and that's concerning but as far as the head coach the identity of the team the fact that they were able to move the football for as much as they did was surprising but the fact that they were able to move it effectively was not and that was my that's all I'll say for now what were your thoughts I think you're spot on I mean I'm looking I mean people were like oh we didn't get any sacks against an FCS school but for me like sacks are so how do you how do you say it it's they're like wins in baseball right it's it's it's so it it's by the skin of your teeth right there were a bunch of times where we got to the quarterback and as he's going down he like Chucks it to the sideline and he throws it away like coming out of the pocket right and like yeah that doesn't go in as a sack on the on the in the record book but that's pretty much a sack it's just he got the pass off to throw throw it away right um it's QB under pressure and I think that one of the things that I was looking for as I was rewatching it was what people called out and just said that the pass rush looks really bad and what I I saw was a collapsing pocket in a lot of different situations like you said and a quarterback that just got out of it and I just think we've struggled with QBs that have done that yeah you know out strong really isn't all that mobile but even still was able to kind of take advantage of it and then if you look at TCU you know that was where a lot of breakdowns happened for us I me we basically lost the game on that play you know where quarterbacks snuck out so um and I so that's why I kind of go back to linebackers I think it's there's too much space with our linebacking core right now and it's crazy because it's like yeah tatter had 10 tackles and I'm like damn remember the days when you and I would just sit back put our hands behind our head and be like we were going to get 18 tackles today I mean yeah I mean the inside linebackers that's like one of the key points of of discussion is why has there been a significant drop off um and I have some thoughts that I wanted to to talk about with you in terms of I know people talk about the coaching staff and why this defense is regressed and struggling and I have some uh some I don't know if they're hot takes but there are there are some different versions of uh opinions and I want to I want to talk about that but we'll get to that in a little bit um on your note of Damen before we get into the the bigger bigger uh or the more in-depth stuff from the from the fans that have written into us so sophomore running back Damen Moore this is from The Game notes for the ew game leads the Golden Bears rushing attack with 79 yards per game fourth in the Pack 12 averages 5.8 yards per Rush has scored at least one rushing touchdown all three games this season with a total of five in 2021 to date two scores at TCU and uh two versus sex State Mo's five rushing TDS are the most in the first three games of the season for Cal since Shane ven who is actually calling the udub Cal game on Pack 12 Network this week posting who posted six rushing touchdowns in the first three games of the 20 2010 season Moore also ranks third in the Pack 12 in both Total touchdowns 15th in the NCAA and total points scored 22nd in the NCAA more has also rushed for at least 70 yards in all three games with a game high of 87 plus a season long of a 32 yard rush against STX state which he almost broke away for even longer if he didn't get that Sho string tackle you know I mean I think one are we on the all right so great it's Damen Mo hype time awesome so the thing that I think he does so well that I we just have not had at Cal in so long is he doesn't he has amazing Vision yeah his vision is so good so if you look at his first two scores what happened well the defense actually played the with the direction of the run really well but Damien has his head up sees the other side of the fields open and just cuts back to the right and it's it's an easy score he did the same thing on the second touchdown and it's just like watching this guy sit back see how the play unfolds you know sometimes he follows his blocker sometimes he you know he's not afraid to bounce it outside in another in another Direction his lateral movement to me is what makes him such a special running back and it's just a running back that we haven't had Patrick glair ended up being more of like a vertical type Runner he wasn't someone that I think really had that lateral skill set as much as Damen Moore does he has the ability Damen Moore has the ability to break tackles and you know go to that you know third fourth tackle uh but the one piece he's missing and he just just will not have is that Breakaway speed and that's you know that's the difference between him I think even even having one or two like 60 plus yard touchdowns this year and we saw it last year against Stanford right it's like he can still get caught down by that last DB um and that's my only luck the guy is he's such a breath of fresh air and so when Jaden a actually decommitted did I say his first name right all right um I actually was like well who cares you know I was like him I was able to just be like whatever don't I don't care because we have Damen morph at least two more years so I was like I you're talking to me about it there's something you know I don't mind and it's like maybe he's looking at that and being like Oh running back room's crowded the second one hurt a little bit more um but yeah I don't know are you what are your thoughts on on Damen Moore so far I think he's great I think the onew punch that they're kind of creating with him and D Carlos Brooks D Carlos Brooks is my guy right like I've been I've been clamoring for him to get game time for two years now um so for me to to get to see him I think D Carlos has that Breakaway speed but the one thing with d Carlos is he hasn't had enough has had the same amount of reps that Damen has right and damen's instincts when he's has the ball in his hands as you said his vision is where he sees the gaps how he hits the hole when he bounces outside his decision- making with the ball in his hands is is looks like a a vet right it feels like a vet he doesn't have maybe that top tier athleticism I think D Carlos does and you saw you saw that in the first game you saw that in the second game you saw a little bit more of that in um the sack State game and so this onew punch that you're trying to create with the two of them where it's their skill sets are similar enough but just the athletic style is a little different where now you can plug and play of them and you're always going to have fresh legs and the other team isn't going to look at one or the other and go oh they're passing on this they're running up the middle on this like you know like when when CV was in like it was always we're going to we're going to run it up the middle and we're going to power you down sometimes he bounce it outside but he's he's more the guy that I'm going to I'm going to tackle or I'm going to break like seven tackles and G get gain 18 yards like that's that's what I'm going to do um and you kind of you kind of saw that coming he wasn't the the complete back that we kind of envisioned him to be um and we're kind of seeing what his role is and granted this year I don't think he's as healthy again right that whole thing of he's he's still dealing with some Knox is what it sounds like so we'll see what happens when he gets fully healthy but the younger guys are taking advantage of that space and to see like Dancy get relegated that far down is wild is super wild um so I think that speaks volumes to hey they recruiting and it it speaks volumes to the Player Development like I mean we're we'll talk about other coaches but like man tip of the cap to Aristotle Thompson man like the dude has the dude has coached up some pretty outstanding running backs and they're playing to their potential now and so like not only is it the recruiting but it's actually the the coaching aspect of it too and then of course we got to give it some love to Angus mccar and that o line because that o line is is ripping apart dline D lines when it comes to the Run game right they're they're making some massive running lanes for some of these guys and that's what's huge I thought you were going to give the hat hat tip to Bo Baldwin because I believe Bo Baldwin was coaching running backs and was the lead recruiter on these guys he was so yeah look at that look at that full circle baby uh um okay so two more big picture things before we go on before we go on since we're talking about Damen Moore let's talk about the offense let's talk about the big picture cow stuff for a little bit all right um I'm going to read you these stats then we'll go into some PFF and some S&P plus stuff so far this season Cal's offense is averaging 30.3 points per game and 435 yards per game both highs during Justin Wilcox is Aaron Berkeley C's total offense yards per game ranks third in the Pack 12 with the Bears fifth in both rushing and passing uh 177 rushing yards per game and 258 yards per game in the air the Bears yards per R per game rushing if held up for the year would be Cal's highest in a season since 2012 that's insane Cal produced 13 plays of 15 yards or more against sack State last weekend six on the pass seven on the rush the most in any game under coach Willcox over their last two games the Bears have had seven passing plays of at least 30 yards four cow receivers are averaging 17.9 yards or more per reception kakoa Crawford 27.3 Trayvon Clark 22.7 Jake tonas 19.8 and Jeremiah Hunter 17.9 so do we have any more offensive worries after we were upset after the Nevada game uh I think you would your only concern would just be the Past coming you know you're past the P the ghost of yesterday yeah I I think that the yeah the offense definitely looks good there's obviously recent cbias was playing in FCS team most recently right and the struggles of Nevada are probably still pretty fresh in everybody's mind but you know the hope would be and that's why that's why you know I'm excited excited for Saturday one because I don't know if I'm spoiling this but like let's you know depth chart which you know shout out to you rob today for pointing out Jeremiah Hunter is the starter is the starter K Co Crawford according to coach will Cox uh has said that he will most likely be available this Saturday mhm I mean if he if he's coming off of a injury where he hasn't played in the week might make sense and especially after the game hunter but continue please I think that there's an opportunity for this to be validated through the next two games where you're like okay what did Will Cox do in the off season well he went out and he clearly wanted to address changing and solving the offense not this last offseason off offseason before that um and has done so but we're not quite there yet where I think we can definitively say that this offense is like 100% legit like two wins in your first two pack 12 games where you're putting up good numbers I think everybody will get behind and be like okay now we just got to focus on game management special teams defense those three but once again I think if you were just to play you know Mystery World alternate reality Loki variants if in a different loky variant we were 3 and 0 and these were offensive numbers I think people might be praising wox a lot more than they are right now I think you're right I mean we need to figure out how to get the timekeepers to change up our variant so we can go live in that one all right so we'll talk let's look at the PFF stuff all right and the S&P plus so I haven't looked at S&P Plus in a while but it's I think it's the perfect time to look at it after our out of conference schedule is now over Cals one and two right what do you think we rank uh offensively in S&P plus 54 that was pretty good 52 wow pretty good pretty good where do you genius what do you think we rank what do we think we rank defensively 92nd 74th oh lot better than you think right what do you think we rank overall well uh let's do some quick math here 71 66 so all things considered if I gave you just those stats would you say not bad like could be better like what what would you what would you gauge it just from the S&P plus rankings I think the defense taking a fall from top 25 to S to 70th is pretty gnarly and but like that does give me a lot of more hope going into I mean I was already expecting us to beat udub but I think you know seeing something like that is just it's a feather and the cap to that confidence because but the big thing I remember I mean we could go back in podcast history and I remember when Sunny dyes was High coach and you and I were looking at S&P plus and we're saying if we could just keep our offense as a top 30 offense and have a defense that was 60th with in S&P plus this team would be hell of good we were never able to make it happen and then with Willcox we're saying oh this we could just have a top 30 defense a top 30 defense but then the offense could just rank in the top you know the top 60 offense we'd be good so we're there everybody we've made it but we're it's different than we expected and it's way more to the it's not as extreme it's like that's the thing we talked about today that I think was really interesting that um that Drew brought up shout out Drew about about the the the the lack of identity on defense whereas like the takers became an identity and there was hype that then came around it and it was oh the secondary you got to watch out for the secondary the linebackers were the takers before the takers existed it was oh you got to watch out for the C linebacker C linebacker crazy right we've never had it on the dline no one's ever been like oh watch out for their D line but those identities are missing so that's why I think it's harder right now because you're like what are we and so if it's a movement towards we're going to be an offensive identity it feels out of character you know it's like watching a show and you're like wait it's like watching Nate and Ted lasso Ted lasso season two what the what the hell wait a second right like that's what it's like it's like you're it's just that and I think that's why it's so challenging and we've sort of skewed towards the middle of the pack and I I think people have set expectations and will Cox and Co have set expectations that it will be more like 30s and 40s than 60s and 70s and so here we are in 60s and 70s and people are kind of like and recruits are kind of like I thought this was going to be different I thought this was going to be that step I mean do you remember I mean you brought up a good point like do you remember when we were looking at Sunny dyes and plus and what what you wanted from the next head coach or what you wanted from like a balance projection standpoint you were like if we can maintain like a you were willing to give I remember you were willing to give up some offense because it wasn't sustainable right you're willing to give up some offense like let's say drop it in like the top 40 if you could get the defense into like the top 100 or the top 80 like that's and I think that you were like that's and I agreed with you I think uh that that was probably like a good spot to be at we've brought that we've brought that offense up we're we're in that level now right like maybe we can go a little bit higher maybe that progresses as the season progresses because it it definitely looks like the offense is getting better structurally every single game yeah um I mean the big thing working against you there is it's it's three games and it's out of conference two of them one of them was Nevada and the other one was Sacramento State right so I think that's the first thing someone might throw back absolutely no I totally I I can take that I I can agree but just from like a just from what we've seen so far like let's look at the PFF rankings for a second I mean where do you think our offense ranks in PFF in terms of the entire country like an overall grade on the offense is it just like a Traditional School grading system uh it's like yeah one through one through 100 78 80 80 80.2 where do you think that so you're on fire today tonight what where do you think that places Us in in terms of a ranking of the entire C or entire [Music] country 45th 22nd oh man there goes that literally half 20 20 seconds yeah well offensive grading I guess that's where my initial thought was uh so PFF is saying we have the 22nd best graded offense so far through the first three games yeah I mean that's just wild dude it's wild yeah they have us ranked I think I believe as the 40 44th overall best team in the country wow they're very high on us sitting at one and two I believe we're the only team that's sitting oh no Louisiana Tech is right below us 49 sitting at one and two but I don't think there's any other one and two teams in the top 50 yeah well I mean we handed the 2C TCU game away right handed it away I mean the NADA game too really yeah the B game too with Carson strong really I felt like he made the they made the plays to win the game we literally just did not execute extra points I mean so that's where we're at yeah that's where we're at I mean it's good to see the data kind of support the the optimism that we've tried to keep here yeah and I'm sure like I do want to acknowledge I'm sure people are tired of like the sunshine pumping it's like we're not really just trying to Sunshine pump for the sake of doing it it's that you know as I go on Twitter today and of course with the news of the decommitment Justin Martin you know it's it's a it's a land of negativity right now with Cal football there's people saying that this seems like the end of the will Cox era and there's others that are you know talking about oh we need to make a change at the top and we'll never be able to compete if we don't get big recruits I think that's total [ __ ] sorry I just do because you cannot tell me that Utah hasn't been able to do exact ly what we're trying to do right now they have literally done it for years for years our issue is like we just get I don't know what it is are we expecting to win national titles is this what we're expecting of our program right now this is this is the exact same conversation we had yest or last week to end the podcast we talked about this for like a good like 20 minutes last week yeah it's the exact same yeah we're back here again here we are time is a circle flat circle all right let's go to the listeners let's go to the listeners all right let's start let's start with our friend Kevin Diaz who says are we absolutely certain that Brett Johnson wouldn't be more effective out there even if he's only able to use one hip well Kevin I'm glad you asked because Jake hayner the quarterback for Fresno State beat UCLA with pretty much one hip so um so maybe I mean so here's the thing they Brett Johnson traveled with the team TCU Brett Johnson is on the sidelines like standing up and down and and with his teammates you can't tell me that there's not even an inkling of a chance that he comes back and Suits up this season with the rate at which they're going and like him traveling like Andy you've been you've been around the football team right when guys are when guys are out with like a full injury like they're done for the year do they travel with the team from what I understand you don't you're rehabbing you're usually here I can't [Music] remember yeah I can't remember I mean cuz it's it's money right on I mean that's what it comes down to like you have to buy them plane ticket it's the food they all of that stuff and if a guy can't even suit up for you to play why would you take him on that trip I I don't know honestly I agree financially doesn't make sense hotel room it flights it's food it's Transportation all those things I think are super valid does this team Miss Brett Johnson holy hell absolutely yeah my goodness and am I dying to see achil Calhoun like the Calhoun Brett Johnson combination like that I can't wait we need it it's obvious so that's a huge loss and and we knew it at the time I just don't know if we and and it befuddles me why we haven't been able to recruit better on the D line I mean but don't you oh okay so so on that point I think I mean look at our recruits that we have for the upcoming class right they're mostly in the front seven Nate barell Jackson Moy demonic Williams um Curley Thomas all these guys they're all dline or linebackers and so so that's why I'm like uh it's the it's the end okay sure we lost two offensive guys but all these defensive guys with the defense struggling is still sticking like they're they're locked in so I don't know what you're really getting mad at are you really getting mad at like a flashy quarterback in a running back who who has already decommitted once right decommitting again without a coaching change or anything of that sort so I don't know I think uh I think I think your Point's valid and I think that there's a lot of returning players coming soon um and freshman coming in soon that we'll see like Ethan Saunders got the tackle for loss like he's one of the guys that I think could get a more expanded role as the season progresses I love the question it was a really good question and yeah BR Johnson one hip I would take BR Johnson with one hip in a lot of situations don't you usually only don't you only have one hip now that I'm thinking about the question don't well I mean don't you have it's right side left is half hi left hi half a hip half a hi half hi yeah all right we got uh one from Pat and one from our dear friend Josh on Twitter uh it's kind of the same so I'm gonna I'm going to read off both and we can go for it Josh asks while a lot of the focus on the secondary any concerns about the front seven that should be brought to light and then Pat ask so with the defense struggling especially in the secondary wouldn't it be prudent for the offense to start game planning a more ball control run first often run first offense to try and keep opponents off the field easier s then done but they have shown they can do it at times this season all right let's go second question first you want to start or you want me to go uh you go I think that that game plan will be exactly what we try to do against ubb that's it I think if you look at how udub has played early on outside of the you know last week I think that you're going to see maybe a little bit of a less of a aerial passing attack and more ball control uh try to win the turnover battle you know it's the will Cox is going to try to win the same way that he's won the last few times and I think he's going to do it so I agree with that and I think if you can continue to prove that you can run in run in situation like we have been where you're down and down in distance and you can still run the ball effectively I think that's will Cox that's his that's his dream for what this offense can be is that I really do the defensive question I'd love to hear your thoughts first uh all right so you you ready for this you're ready for this conversation so we had this we had this uh big like conversation today and our right for California slack Channel um about just since the Justin Mar thing happened like all of us were in there and we were just like talking about other things and we were talking about as you talked about what uh Drew was talking about earlier about momentum and recruiting and we talked about like the coaching stuff and everyone's concerned about the secondary so let's let's start there right everyone's like oh we lost GA right lost G big time like he's our he's the big the big cat were missing so Elijah Hicks Daniel Scott Josh Drayden chiggy all four of those guys coached by G three of those guys for more than two years so if G's not here and he was such a great teacher which I think he is do all all of the fundamentals that he taught and like the instinctual things just go out the door like this season cuz it it wasn't there last year like it was it was all there last year right with all those guys and then we have and they're like and some people were saying oh we we miss or like Marcel Yates for that one year for recruiting I was like uh like he stayed here for a year it's not like it's not like he had developed all these relationships brought them and we got this whole new crop of of uh cornerbacks and safeties cuz those were mostly guys that this staff had already been keeping tabs on um and then we go to Trey Watson and that's where we're at right now we don't know what the we don't know what the Dynamics are in there like will Cox was very upset in that presser if you haven't listened to it go listen to it it's on the Cal Bears YouTube channel the postgame presser um and so a part of me is you had and I think Peter brought up this point which is which I think is great I don't think it's a coaching issue in my opinion I don't I honestly don't think it is not anymore I think it's uh you lost three guys that were drafted in the middle rounds and this is his words you lost three guys that were drafted in the middle rounds to the NFL the next level I think that drop off is what's it's is what the bigger issue is here that's that's my take on like the secondary and and why they I mean there's no way that Willcox is letting like Trey Watson and and Peter Sherman like say we're just going to throw Lou Hearns out there as a true freshman and see what it can what he can do at arguably one of the toughest positions to play in football like I don't think I don't think he would have just like let that go like on a whim he's probably watched the tape with them through practice seeing what he's done see how he's progressed with the coaching that's already in place and the older guys teaching him and that's why he's out there in terms of the older guys regressing that's the one I don't have an answer for because you can say okay sure let's say it's coaching but does does one like offseason of coaching totally regress three to four years worth of coaching from someone else like I don't think it does I don't think it just evaporates right like Andy you you you play a bunch of tennis like if you learn to hit a forehand from one coach for eight years and then you switch your coach for one year I don't think you're going to lose all of those Tendencies on how you hit that forehand that quickly and drastically over a year right I don't think it's I don't think it's you can't break it that simply I think it's probably true to the fundamentals but when it comes to things like game Readiness or situational awareness it probably matters more maybe and I think that's the things that it I think that conceptually it sounded like Willcox knows that these players are understanding the concepts that they are talking to them about and that they have not changed year-over year y but what frustrating him is I think the game awareness the game Readiness the situational awareness and I actually do think that you can pinpoint that on how do you prep somebody to be successful because yeah I mean I do I mean coaches changed a lot in in high-profile Sports especially tennis but like the difference between like a good coach and not a good coach in tennis makes a huge difference um and you'll see it sometimes when guys in the opposite direction like when they're totally on fire and then their coach leaves and it's like things go sideways I don't know it's just more me Playing devil's advocate than anything I think that yeah you can look at the loss of the guys on the second secondary and say yeah they're NFL caliber and yeah we lost you know Cam and jayen and like Ashton and like these guys are really good at the same time like do I think we would be having these issues in the secondary if GA was coaching no the guy got hired by the Dolphins to coach secondary he's incredible teacher I think there's a loss there there's definitely a loss there and it's it's impacting well can I play can I play Devil's Advocate to your Devil's Advocate yeah you talk about G like being a great coach right and I I think he is but the Dolphins also just benched their first round pick from last year who was a defensive back so I'm just saying yeah I'm just saying like I I think I think there's an enamorment with g rightfully so because of how well that def they turned around that defense with sunny dyk's players right like that from a defensive sta staff as a whole particularly because the takers were such a big deal and how well they played in those two years of 2018 2019 and maybe maybe the lofty expectations of expecting that type of play every single year in and year out is unfair to this team and the players but also unfair to put that all on GA shoulders and putting it putting him up on that pedestal it's a good point no I think it's I think that's a good point the the interesting thing though is that GA and Co did that with sunny dkes players but when they've gotten their own players in they haven't been as successful yeah and it goes for the linebackers too it's really weird I mean that I think that goes for recruiting cuz remember when we were recruiting with G we whiffed on a lot of defensive back targets right we whiffed on a lot and it kind of left the cupboard a little bit bare um and that's kind of where we're at right now like how many guys in that room like are in the middle between the SE like the senior seniors and like Lou Hearns there's a bunch in there there's a bunch there's so many in there but the fact that Lou Hearns leap frogged all of them to get the starting role I think that speaks volumes yeah L magia Hearns I think the kid's good he's super athletic there's a reason he was a kick return guy for deisel and he has a really really bright future but it doesn't bode well like we also have to we got to talk about the negatives we can't always talk about the positives and if you're going to talk about how great of a coach GA was you also have to admit the fact that he wasn't that great of a recruiter and now we're seeing the repercussions of bad recruiting at a specific position and maybe that's why we've veered into this coaching staff style of recruiters over developers of Talent OR developers of talent that you know we think the other coaching staff members can probably make up I think that's kind of where we're at so yeah I think it's I think that's kind of where we're at but Josh's question is any concern about the front seven that should be brought to light uh yeah we suck at we suck at defending the run up the middle and we suck at protecting against tight end over the middle but that's like a historic thing we're like we were historically terrible against tight ends up the middle so yeah am I am I concerned yes but as we talked about in that slack and um that was my closing argument in our little discussion there was if there's one thing coach Willcox is GNA get right at some point this season in any given season it's the defense like I'm not worried like if you had Sunny dyes as that had coach and you were asking me that we need this defense to to get back into somewhat Rhythm I'm not sure I would say that's the case yeah what do you want to solve pick your problem that you want to solve and do do you end up putting your faith in will Cox being able to fix a defense and I say yes it's why it's so important for the offense to keep doing what they're doing the offense has to bully the defense cuz the defense isn't going to be this year and year out Juggernaut where we limit guys to 24 points a game that's it's just not going to happen like it's still crazy to me that this defense what we average how much do we give up a game I think it's like 30 something or 28 I believe we give up 28 yards per game right now let me double check let me double check we get up 27.7 points per game after week three that's still not a lot like that's not a bad defense but we do have to tighten up some things so that's kind of where we're at is there anything else you want to talk about uh with that or should we move on to some some of the other ones no I'm just looking at recruits right now and it's so crazy like if you go back one year one year in our recruiting class on two 247 was third in the Pack 12 28th nationally and we have Germaine Terry Jay Michael Sturdivant Maven Anderson all offense K Miller offense offense offense and then ail coun defense Derek Wilkins defense k or yep Caleb Higgins basion Sweeney so you you get into this and I was looking at 2020 and it's like 2020s class was like eighth in the Pack 12 yeah and you sort of see it like everyone's three stars so yeah maybe the covers were more bare than we thought I mean not to knock any of these guys because it sounds like we're doing that but you know there's no one miles Williams is basically the same three star as Hearns Lou Hearns except Lou Hearns played at D La sou so that's dope but yeah I mean there's tons of guys like in that 2020 class you're right that were totally Lea frogs look at 201 2019 look at 2019 there's there's guys there so that's that's what I'm talking about it's just like all these guys just being leap frogged and there has to be a reason they're being leap frogged by a true freshman cornerback right yeah I agree there's a there's a lot of death at corner yeah DB but I think a I have I mean isn't there also a fair amount of transfers well um isn't there like a fair amount of people that are also looking at this as being respons like being a part of a core issue with the linebackers in terms of and the linebacker the linebacker play and just giving there's so much space over the middle so they're making it harder for the DBS so we might be isolating the DBS when it's well the DBS are easy to isolate last game because of all the pass interference penalties and all that but well you know the One DB that I feel like keeps getting beat big is calling Gamble and I hate to say it but it's just like it's it happened against ZX State too was just like man it's been it's been a tough early season for him but I hope that the experience helps and that he in he can rebound but I think overall are we looking at the right problem when it comes to the defense that's my question to you Rob and I mean I mean expand please well what we've seen is coins obviously out and then we've seen the linebacker it seems like we're getting beat a lot of these plays like when I look at that one 35 yard touchdown that they had saak state had what was that play well there was he gets open over the middle and then Daniel Scott is just barely late trying to trying to make the pick there and and so I sort of think and then as I look at our games as a whole I feel like we've really been attacked in the middle of the field um or in sort of that 10 to 12 yard area especially like with Quint Johnston and then whoever was the big wide receiver that Sacramento state had Sacramento State really abused Us in the middle of the field tight end which was which is really what the linebacker should be picking up and so I guess the question is to you is is is the deficiency at linebacker actually exposing the secondary in a way that's making the secondary look worse than it actually is I I'm G to give a copout answer um but I I think it's both ways right cuz remember in that presser that we're both alluding to like all of the podcast with wi Cox he was talking about Zone he was talking about man and he's like when they go to man and they go you know two high or single high like they have they have to win those individual battles right and if those individual battles are being lost then what do you do to alleviate that you go to zone right and if you're telling your inside linebackers hey we're going to Zone the cornerbacks are not having a good day which means your tendency is to look to the sideline and not towards the middle to help out those guys when they're when they're running when they're running we don't know what routes they're running right they could be over the middle so if if it's a if it's an in out like over the middle then you're helping your you're helping your DB getting double on them or if they're going outside pushing out so they have to squeeze the pass play Closer to the closer to the sidelines and hopefully your DBS can make make that catch or make that play or maybe it gives enough time for the safeties to come over and help out but the moment you're doing that what does that leave open you're leaving open the middle and that's the one place that we constantly got attacked right right over the middle so I don't have an explanation for the Miss tackles I think that's a fundamental thing that needs to be solved but in terms of why that spot was barely open you there's no Perfect Defense like unless you have like a Daryl Rivas type who can who can put guys on islands like even TCU like had hajes Tomlinson who is leanian Tomlinson's cousin by the way big leanian Tomlinson fan here so um and he's like their best corner right and he was getting beat but they still kept to it and he made some plays down the stretch we don't have that se cornerback right now like ham was that guy Elijah was that guy when he played corner but we've moved him to safety and so I don't think we have that guy right now to at least lock down one side that we can we we're like all right he's got this if this other guy's struggling let's shift The Zone a little bit and help him out here or we'll shift the man a little bit help him out here maybe we'll put in a QB spot with our inside linebackers like that one of the big things for us is when we play a running quarterback we'd always have at least one inside linebacker running a QB spy he'd always have his eyes just straight parallel shoulders align to the quarterback goes where he goes usually the Weaver job but we don't have that guy anymore which means we need to play of a more structured defense and pushing guys in zone coverages into areas and it's if we're going to push it out to the sidelines the middle of the zone is going to be as uh as our dear friend Rico put it soft and Squishy and that's where they attacked now the the way to alleviate that it it goes both ways you got to tell your Corners you got to do your jobs and you got to make the plays so that we can funnel our linebackers and everyone in but also you got to tell your defensive line you got to get to the quarterback faster you can't let these plays develop right and so you can let the rest of the guys behind you to react faster so right I mean that's kind of where we're at and I don't know what the I don't know what the fix for it is but as we said like we don't want to keep sunshin pumping but if there's one thing willox knows how to fix and we've seen historically he knows how to fix it's defense I have no doubt in my mind they they'll get this right next question all right so uh of course our very number one podcast listener Sid honestly just concerned about the secondary I know I have this expectation of being better uh quot or parenthesis just overall with the defense and parenthesis because of how we were only a few years ago but as Andy keeps saying I will always be waiting I will also be waiting four games until I freak out one game away we're almost there one game from Full freakout mode and then we give Sid permission to do the Meltdown I think I'll meltdown with it but I feel good I feel good about this udub game I do too really do and I think we just talked about the the DBS enough not to recover it yeah but I feel good about this weekend I think this is a this is a winnable game and if you're two and two want to want to know going into Pat play I think um I'll take those odds yeah I think the fans will get get a little bit of a brighter outl I mean you you beat udub and then you have wazu at home in a homecoming game right yeah and you take to the house against rolovich which I really hope they do rolovich is not even going to be able to attend because the entire city of Berkeley is going to require vaccination yeah it's it's going to be it's going to be hilarious to see what happens there um or I mean I think it's what it's a negative negative PCR test 72 hours before the game right so you can technically do that I don't know if yeah I mean who knows City Berkeley could just come in over the top be like sir either get the Jab or you're not entering you're not entering the city love that but yeah that's and then yeah let's say you do take it and you go into a bye three and two two and no unpa 12 Play taking on Oregon in a Friday night game coming off the buy and Oregon's be Oregon's gonna be on a short week I'll take those ODS yeah me too me too and an Oregon team you beat last year with probably a worst quarterback yeah all right we got uh we got two more here uh one from Brandon he says while you can't put too much stock into beating stack State I'll take a win however they can get it but while I feel garbers and the offense is fine the defense needs to pick it up very hard to beat teams like USC Oregon UCLA if they can't get off the field on third down well Brandon it's it's good that you say that because Fresno State beat UCLA without getting off the field on third down so um it is possible no I kid uh I think that's a valid point uh you can't beat teams like that uh without getting off the field on third down and manageable right like third and eight can't give up the eight like give up the two three yards on a you know on a little dink pass or like a run but you got to wrap them up you got to close it out you got to get your offense back on the field to increase the score differential like you got to do that yeah I think what is USC showing right now that we're scared of I don't know I don't know so do they even belong in that list what is UCLA showing right now that we're scared of not after the Fresno State game I mean the LSU game I thought I was like oh wow okay this team's pretty good but every single I will say this until it's not true every single team that we will play on this schedule is beatable with the defense that we have right now it is plain and simple with what you just said about the offense the offense were to stay consistent as it is today every single team is beatable now that's what we're not expecting we are all expecting to see the previous version of the offense and that's okay we don't have the Pack 12 history to reflect on it but um yeah I mean I think the big thing is I don't I'm not scared of SC are you guys serious we're looking at SC no way maybe those words will come back to I'm just not scared of them only thing I'll say about SC is like everyone like at the at the Cal game like we looked at the score and it's like oh Wu's a 140 on SC and we like laughed and then that was the only points Wu scored for the rest of the game I mean I'm scared about their athletes like there's no question about it like the the size the speed differential is just it's it's that's different for sure but from uh from a game planning and everything like if they're still running that air raid we're pretty good at shutting down an Air Raid Offense less good this year less good this year but schematically I think we still know how to shut it down well see let's see how SE does against um against Oregon State that's a real test yeah Oregon State's got the team I'm most scared of is Oregon State I think Oregon state is gonna beat us I think we're gonna I think we're gonna lose to Oregon State in Arizona nothing ever good comes out of us going to Arizona no way are we losing to Arizona way if Arizona was playing here I'd say sure but the fact that we're playing in Arizona do you remember the last time we played Arizona here it was that double overtime or was it triple overtime way where we went for two where we went for two and then is that his name KH Tate yeah it was khil Tate it was khil Tate the double overtime game where we went for two to win it that was here yeah that was in Berkeley and that was the difference between us making a bow game that was because we but here's the thing dude there's no chance there's no chance next question next question or like comment and this is kind of good to kind of close it all out pelri SP on Twitter says at least we won which is Hell which is a hell of a lot more than I can say about the rest of the Pack 12 that's the spirit yeah that's that's like the spirit of the podcast right now we won we might be bad but so is everybody else and that's okay we won like I don't I'm like we won I don't I this is what this is what upsets me like or kind of as disappointing about our fan base is like we we won what what more do you want like we lost two games then we won one and we're going in a pack 12 play the season hasn't ended yesterday off of a one- win like one and two season it's not like 2020 like it wasn't a one and three season like we still have what nine more games to play including this weekend enjoy it why are you stressing out about a win and how we played we won I I also think too it's like the Nico return is so funny it's the easiest return he's ever had of all the returns that he's had called back the one that wasn't was just like the most vanilla you broke that one tackle and was gone but you have to appreciate C's ability to like kind of step on the throat a little bit of Sacramento State and put that game out of distance yeah like okay great they kicked a field goal and scored a touchdown on a play that D Scott he went all or nothing on it and okay so this the final score people just look at the final score and then make big reactions about the final score oh my gosh we only beat Sacramento State by 12 well who's their coach oh it's Troy Taylor an offensive coordinator candidate that we wanted to come to our school why because he was super successful at Utah okay okay so that might make sense why they put up points on the board but guess what the game was out of sight at the end and it wasn't out of it wasn't like close like a dice close game it was done the game was done it was over I yeah I mean that's that's I mean they they had to score a touchdown and then try to get an on onside conversion and then would have had to score a touchdown and then a field goal are we seriously tripping about that like yeah I know the bench didn't play but guess what that's fine it wasn't a close game like it was yeah they rallied back they have a good offense they have a good coach like we have a coach that we know has a good track record as an offensive mind so I don't know I mean I just I just we as we've said before like the expectation things like maybe we should all just be like hey we're going to be like six and six 7 and five if we win more it seems it seems to be working right now I mean the one of the comments I put out in like I think uh either nam's novel or Nick's Monday column was people were like clamoring about like the the like how things haven't improved I'm like oh really they haven't like what was the number one thing people were clamoring for after week one after the Nevada loss offense offense offense offense why won't we we throw over the top why won't we throw deep balls why does this offense Turtle what happened in week two we come out we come out firing we come out just throwing down field and we score a bunch of points so okay Improvement what was the biggest thing that people were clamoring for after week two extra points special teams Pats why are we missing why are we going for two complete like just get the points get off the field what did we do we scored on a kickoff return special teams we made all our Pats special teams nothing was shanked nothing was no blocking scheme was weird we cleaned that up right and now we're going into week three and the big thing that people are clamoring for is why is our pass defense so terrible judging by our track record this season that might be the next thing that gets fixed I don't know why people are like being so like I get your I get the concern the concern I understand but at least give the guys a chance and look back at the last four years of a track Rec group before calling for people's jobs and saying that they're not going to be able to turn it around you can't say you believe in the kids and then not give the coaches the benefit of Doubt who have worked with multiple generations of kids over the last five years I just don't think you can that's where I'm at let's just go get that W please please that's all I ask all right Andy we should give the listeners just like a f minute take on what we think is going to happen in the udub game we're going up to Seattle it's a 630 kickoff weirdly on Pack 12 Network because none none of the teams are hyped so it's a udub cal game that's at night in Seattle the last time we were up in Seattle in a night game was the Lightning game the Thor Bowl um and will Cox was talking about that in the presser today about how they ordered peanut butter and jelly sandwiches for all the players which I think is which I think is an awesome story um if you want to listen on that go go listen there's also a little nice little moment where he absolutely Praises Shane Vine and Shane Vine was on the call and he like chain chips in he's like you're too nice um but yeah go listen to that uh it's on the Cal Bears YouTube channel but how do you think how do you think how do you think Saturday's going to to shake out there is an 86% chance of rain on Sunday and a 0% chance of rain on Saturday so it's looking good but if you bring in that Sunday weather to Saturday you could have some Mischief I fully expect this team to go in execute on offense like we have been score 28 plus points and hold the Huskies you know I think maybe you could see the game finish at you know like a 3525 type deal that's what I'm expecting I could be totally wrong been wrong before you've been pretty good with number uh predictions today on the podcast so far yeah I'm feeling good after that the only one I got wrong with last one so hopefully this this isn't a trend that's what I'm expecting what about you I think I think similarly the same like there's there's been some issues with udub and their roster right like they lost a bunch of linebackers this year um due to medical reasons or to transfers they've lost um defensive lineman to injuries they've lost I remember the first game they're top like three wide receivers like didn't even suit up for the game just like on on the day on game day like out granted a lot of them came back uh for that game this past week against Arkansas State I believe so there is room there is some room for concern at the very least because they're getting bodies back but man John Donovan their offensive coordinator and their track his track record not great not great like have you seen some of the have you seen some of his stats let me let me pull this up real quick and then this is what this is what we end on just to give some people a little bit of Hope um regarding the uh the udub game cuz everyone's a little bit upset and and all that right now right so let's take a look give me this looking up these tweets where be the tweets uh uh dang I sent it to someone and it's like farther up than I expected but oh well okay so here's one of the stats is uh not about John Donovan but Dylan Morris and Cal or C chase garbers top two in the league or in the conference in passing yards per game which is pretty funny but here's the here's the thing about John Donovan so John Donovan became the OC of Penn State in 2014 all right Andy let's play numbers game let's see let's see if you can get these right all right Penn State allowed 22 sacks in 2013 that's the year before John Donovan John Donovan becomes the OC in 2014 how many sacks did they allow in 2014 40 44 hey not bad not bad streak is over how many in 2015 45 39 39 okay but still around still around that number okay John Donovan was then fired in 20 after the 2015 season then in the 2016 season who did they hire they hired Joe Morehead who is now the offensive coordinator for Oregon how many sacks do you think Penn State had that first year in 2016 20 24 it's a it's a little Spike all right and then here's also one more thing Penn State hired Morehead in 2016 right their offense goes from 101st to 21st in one season while scoring 37.6 points per game they won 11 games three times between 2016 and 2019 before uh Morehead took I believe the Mississippi State Job yeah so noticeable gains noticeable gains for Oregon but noticeable changes for John Donovan as an offensive coordinator so I could see why Oregon fans or UB fans are not happy um with the John John Donan let's go get that du number for I mean that's plain and simple it's doable win ugly go get it hey just win baby just win you saw it with the Chiefs and uh what's it Ravens game this week you saw it with the Vegas uh Raiders and the Ravens game last week just need to win that's all that matters doesn't matter how you do it no moral victories and wins only victories and losses I think that's it and that's a wrap here on the California golden bearcast a part of the bluewire podcast Network you can find all our stuff anywhere on all podcast services around the world you can also find most of our written stuff at rfor california.com we do have a premium subscription for all of your PFF and play breakdowns of Cal stuff so be on the lookout for that or if you are a subscriber thank you but if you aren't you can go to take a look at that um and I believe the next thing you'll have from us is probably a chat with uh udub dog pound about knowing your enemy that'll probably drop closer to closer to game day but outside of that that's it and as always go go be