Apart from the ridiculous traffic delay on West bound I-90, Homecoming weekend was great. Attendance was disappointing, particularly the student attendance given the weather and 2:30PM start time, but I was expecting it. 4 home games in 5 weeks is rough on us traveling alumni, but the students had no excuses. Oh well...
As for the game, it was a great performance against a team that I think it pretty solid. The best takeaway is that we showed that we were clearly the better team. We didn't win because we made goal line stops or that we benefitted from bad calls. We were better offensively, defensively, and we controlled the game despite 2 terrible INTs and not forcing Cal into a single turnover. We also held maybe the top running back in the conference to 70 yards.
Cam Ward has looked great these past 2 weeks. His decision making isn't always great, and he makes some easy reads harder than they need to be, but damn, he is incredibly calm and confident under center. He has some Mahommes like qualities about him, and as I said in a previous thread, if he doesn't declare for the NFL draft, he's going to be hard to handle next season. In 2023, we have the benefit of missing USC & Utah. With that said, those INTs yesterday were horrendously bad. The last one was especially bad, as it occurred on 1st down on a play where he could have run for 10 yards himself. Good coaching opportunity though. I don't see that continuing with him.
As for concerns, there are several. Despite their impressive performance yesterday, I'm still not sold on our defense. I think they do a nice job overall, and the effort and tackling are good, but I think wide open offenses will give us problems. Our road games against Stanford, Oregon State and Arizona, games that we'll need to win if this is to be a "special" season, are far from gimmes.
Our running game is also a mess right now. I like our two backs, but the play designs need work. That damn delayed read-option run that we use is a joke. It's not just us. I see so many teams try and use it, when only a few of them have the personnel to pull it off. The frustrating thing is that we have a QB who should be great at it. Cam needs to be coached on selling the fake better and pulling the ball more often. I'd also like to see us use more traditional stretch plays and quick hitters. It seems like 90% of our runs have a bob and weave element to them, and sometimes we just need a straight handoff to Jenkins and let him hit the edge.
Anyways, this has been a fun season so far. I'm still not convinced that we're a great team, and this next 3-game stretch (at USC, at Oregon State, Utah) could be rough, but I think we have the type of coach, QB, and defense that won't get down and will rally down the stretch even if we hit a rough patch in October. We close with Stanford, ASU, Arizona, and UW, and I could see us winning all 4 of them.
As for the game, it was a great performance against a team that I think it pretty solid. The best takeaway is that we showed that we were clearly the better team. We didn't win because we made goal line stops or that we benefitted from bad calls. We were better offensively, defensively, and we controlled the game despite 2 terrible INTs and not forcing Cal into a single turnover. We also held maybe the top running back in the conference to 70 yards.
Cam Ward has looked great these past 2 weeks. His decision making isn't always great, and he makes some easy reads harder than they need to be, but damn, he is incredibly calm and confident under center. He has some Mahommes like qualities about him, and as I said in a previous thread, if he doesn't declare for the NFL draft, he's going to be hard to handle next season. In 2023, we have the benefit of missing USC & Utah. With that said, those INTs yesterday were horrendously bad. The last one was especially bad, as it occurred on 1st down on a play where he could have run for 10 yards himself. Good coaching opportunity though. I don't see that continuing with him.
As for concerns, there are several. Despite their impressive performance yesterday, I'm still not sold on our defense. I think they do a nice job overall, and the effort and tackling are good, but I think wide open offenses will give us problems. Our road games against Stanford, Oregon State and Arizona, games that we'll need to win if this is to be a "special" season, are far from gimmes.
Our running game is also a mess right now. I like our two backs, but the play designs need work. That damn delayed read-option run that we use is a joke. It's not just us. I see so many teams try and use it, when only a few of them have the personnel to pull it off. The frustrating thing is that we have a QB who should be great at it. Cam needs to be coached on selling the fake better and pulling the ball more often. I'd also like to see us use more traditional stretch plays and quick hitters. It seems like 90% of our runs have a bob and weave element to them, and sometimes we just need a straight handoff to Jenkins and let him hit the edge.
Anyways, this has been a fun season so far. I'm still not convinced that we're a great team, and this next 3-game stretch (at USC, at Oregon State, Utah) could be rough, but I think we have the type of coach, QB, and defense that won't get down and will rally down the stretch even if we hit a rough patch in October. We close with Stanford, ASU, Arizona, and UW, and I could see us winning all 4 of them.