Path to Victory-Cal

[echeese]

As the readers of View from the Cheap Seats should realize, I do not think we are a very good football team right now.

The Cal game is very much a turning point game for me.   And OSU will be much the same.

Today I fear we are serious underdogs to TCU, OU, KSU and Baylor.   Cal, OSU are toss up games.  .in fact we are a dog in Vegas to Cal and likely will be to OSU.

At our core we are a fundamentally unsound football team on both sides of the ball and our best players lack experience.   So in all that doom and gloom, what is the path to victory for Cal which features the #1 QB in the land (at least per the NFL draft types) and an excellent WR corps.

While Goff is an excellent QB, he is not a "beat you with his feet" kinda guy ala Zaire Jackson Boykin or Mayfield.    And the one thing we have shown is we can get heat on the QB via our LBs. . .their problem is they come in out of control and wind up leaving their jocks on the field.    Goff will not be able to do that.

We need to play our DBs soft keeping everything in front of them and not allowing the "big play". . . .

So the key to the D is getting pressure, not giving up the big play, getting off the field on 3rd down (14 of 21 vs Rice is putrid) and the final key to victory . . .

We have to record some turnovers.

On offense the good news is we are likely not facing a defense as good as either Rice or ND. . . we should be able to move the ball.  .. 

We have to move the chains. . . Heard was only 2-6 moving the sticks. . .this almost as bad as what our defense gave up. . .we have to get 45%+ on 3rd downs.  .we have to stay out of 3rd and long.

Think this is a week the running game gets untracked though why we have not seen players like McNeil, Warrick or Newsome is simply beyond me.

I look for Heard to be better than last week and wouldn't be surprised to see our scoring in the 35 point + range.

Going to need to be because this D isn't winning any games for us soon.

OTOH, Special teams appear to be special again.

 

[TeamMayhall]

Enjoyed reading this cheese

 

[Aaron Carrara]

Good points, Chuck. Texas will HAVE to make plays on defense in order to win this game. Cal's defense has holes so Texas will score points, but Goff scatters the ball to a talented group of receivers. The DB's will have to play smart because they will be tested all night.

 

[doc longhorn]

Well said, cheese.

However, IMO, the key to our wins and losses lie entirely at the feet of our OL and DL.  It behooves Strong to find a way to mitigate this glaring weakness.  He has to get out of the box - which Bedford tries to do with blitzes and disguises, and he has to find a way to get our RB's in the game.  Up to now they have been pretty irrelevant - downright invisible.  Sadly, Gray is not the type of RB that can make his own holes.  With our OL we have to have someone that can - ala Williams and Campbell.  Anyone got any ideas? 

We cannot rely on Heard to constantly bail out the OL and RB's.  He won't survive the season if we do.

So, all this being said, I don't think the problems in the trenches can be resolved with todays players - the reason being lack of talent and inexperience.

Recruit the hell out of linemen, Charlie - your tenure at Texas depends on it.

 

[Duke C #11]

The match-ups between Cal's QB/Wrs and UT's secondary don't give me a good feeling.  

 

[bcherry168]

Cheese, I agree with most of what you said. But watch out for the short passing game if our secondary plays soft. That will put a lot of pressure on the nickel back and the linebackers.

I have a feeling that our young linebackers are going to be critical. And to defend Cal, our defensive line will HAVE to do better than they have been.

What we will see is much like what we are used to seeing from Tech under Leach and Kingsbury, so we need to be ready for a fast high scoring game.

 

[killrjoe]

While I agree with your assessment of the current state of the team, I disagree that Cal and OSU are make or break games. What these games are is  another step in the progression of this football program. They are opportunities for our kids to show that they are improving at learning their jobs. How Quickly they improve and the amount of that improvement will directly influence the outcomes of these games. You will also gain insight into how good the coaching staff really is. We have a fair amount of talent but they are very young. We won't fall off a cliff if we lose these games as long as there is progress being made. Listen, this going to be a long walk and we've only taken a couple of steps. Patience is the key.

 

[TXHorns99]

My heart says we begin to see the team really turning the corner in this game, and all phases begin to put it together. Won't be perfect by any means, but there will be enough plays made on O and D to put this game in the win column. My head says get the bottle of crown ready!

 

[doc longhorn]

Charlie needs to scour the country and find linemen that are borderline homicidal - literally they have to be growling in their stance.  They need to be vicious, and I mean in the sense of telling the lineman across from them that their whole purpose in life is not just to hurt them, but to end their career.

And then find the big nasty bastards that can back it up and offer them the world to play for him..

 

[Principal]

The short version of what you said Chuck, is that we will be luck to win 4 games this year.

Cal probably won't be one of them.

 

[echeese]

While I agree with your assessment of the current state of the team, I disagree that Cal and OSU are make or break games. What these games are is  another step in the progression of this football program. They are opportunities for our kids to show that they are improving at learning their jobs. How Quickly they improve and the amount of that improvement will directly influence the outcomes of these games. You will also gain insight into how good the coaching staff really is. We have a fair amount of talent but they are very young. We won't fall off a cliff if we lose these games as long as there is progress being made. Listen, this going to be a long walk and we've only taken a couple of steps. Patience is the key.

In my view we have to make a bowl game or we have gone backward overall.   I do understand your point about progress and it sometimes comes in several forms but 6-7 wins is break even.

If you accept the idea that the teams we will be decided underdogs are:

ND TCU Baylor, barring an upset 0-3

And that the games we are decided favored will be:

TT, Rice, ISU Kansas. . .we really need to go 4-0 vs this part of the schedule or really today 3-0 since we already beat Rice.

And then there are the toss up games:

Cal, OSU, OU, KSU WVU

So we have to go at least 2-3 vs this part of the schedule to go bowling. . .3-2 would actually represent an improvement from last year.   At least from a record standpoint.

Your point is that we gain much needed experience for our young guns this year which should give us improvement regardless of wins and losses.

So yes, I see Cal and OSU as "make or break" games since we follow them with TCU, OU and KSU. . . .lose to both, we open 1-3 and very much behind the power curve.

 

[echeese]

The short version of what you said Chuck, is that we will be luck to win 4 games this year.

Cal probably won't be one of them.

A bit of luck isn't going to hurt my feelings. . . 

I think Cal is a coin flip. . . if I were a betting man, I'd take TEXAS and the points. . . .

 

[java]

What killrjoe said! Twice.

 

[Duke C #11]

Charlie needs to scour the country and find linemen that are borderline homicidal - literally they have to be growling in their stance.  In addition to being vicious, and I mean in the sense of telling the lineman across from them that their whole purpose in life is not just to hurt them, but to end their career.

And then find the big nasty bastards that can back it up and offer them the world to play for him..

" Primum non nocere." 

 

[doc longhorn]

" Primum non nocere." 

LOL!  I'm retired now and don't have to follow this.