I posted this on Covers as well...
Been to all 3 home games, missed the Col St game and had to watch it on TV. (Will be going to UCLA, ASU, Stanford and maybe Oregon or Washington along with all the home games)
Some thoughts:
-We are really missing Tom Schneider... Kay has filled in admirably but has missed 2 chip shot FG's and Larson isn't up to par on kickoffs, but the coverage has been pretty good. Tom might be back this weekend but probably not until O-State.
-Our WR's are the best in the country, hands down. DeSean is ridiculous, and he draws so much attention that nobody is talking about Hawk, who is probably our best all around WR. He's incredible over the middle, hasn't dropped a pass in his life and runs terrific routes. Really showed his playmaking ability with that KR against La Tech on the first play of the game. Rob Jordan is great too, and he's probably the best downfield blocker of the bunch. WR's are even better than advertised.
-Longshore is still struggling. The line gives him all day, but he is still not nearly on the level of guys like Brennan/Brohm/Booty/Woodson. He still flat out misses 15% of his throws, and makes 2-3 really bad decisions a game. Luckily, the teams we've been playing haven't been good enough to capitalize, but he's had at least 5 or 6 picks dropped. He still has not shown any ability to play on the road,and I'm really worried about him this weekend.
-Justin Forestt is the best runningback that nobody is talking about. The dude is INSANE - I actually think he's a more consistent runner than Marshawn - he NEVER loses yards, never goes east/west, and has incredible shakes and is really hard to bring down. He doesn't have outstanding hands like Money did, so it's hard to line him up in the slot, but he is a great running and a good pass blocker as well.
-Jahvid Best is the truth - he's had 5-6 absolutely eye popping plays this year, and behind Jackson is our most explosive playmaker. He's too small to run between the tackles yet, but he's a great change of pace to Justin and he will be a player to watch later in the year and next year.
-The offensive line is very, very good. They're fantastic pass blockers and have been absolutely mauling everyone on the run. I can see why Mack is rated as the best Center in the country, he's mean as hell. Tepper and Gibson are a little raw but still enormous and skilled and as is have late round NFL potential and will continue to develop.
-Main concern of the year was the d-line, and they are struggling. I'll give them credit, I think they're actually overachieving becuase they are banged up and not that good to begin with, but this is gonna be a problem when we play the upper echelon Pac-10 teams.
-Thomas DeCoud is an absolute freak. I think he's actually the most valuable player on the entire team... guy makes 4-5 incredible tackles a game, is a blanket on pass defense and is so smart and is always in the right place... the last game against Arizona was a sight to behold: he was involved in about a million tackles and pass breakups, had a huge pick and almost another, caused a fumble and was all over the field.
-The rest of the secondary is pretty mediocre. We are leaving Syd in single coverage a lot of the time to help out the other corner, but he's just not nearly as good as Daymeon was and gets burned a few times a game. I think we are gonna have major problems with Oregon's passing game.
-Linebackers are very, very good as expected. Z is out but should be back for Oregon, and Mike Mo has been a pleasant surprise. These guys are really the heart of the defense, and while Cal tends to let up a lot of yards, we actually let up very few big plays because these guys are so good.
-The playcalling on offense this year has been flat out awesome. Tedford is really showing his genius again, just like in 2004... that spread nonsense with Dunbar didn't work, and we're back to what Teddy does best - running over people, completing a high percentage of passes, taking calculated risks, playaction and keeping teams off balance
-Another thing to note is that the team chemistry this year is FANTASTIC. The guys are really, really supportive of each other and believe that they can win the Rose Bowl or a National Title. These guys rival the 2004 team for chemistry, and are unquestionably much more talented. As I said before, the biggest difference is SPEED all over the place now.
About the Oregon game:
Remember that in 2003, 2004 and 2006 Oregon started out 6-0, 3-0 and 4-0 only to finish barely at .500... this year's team looks pretty unstoppable, just like last year before we killed them.
I don't think that history will repeat itself, especially since we are in Autzen this year, but Tedford always brings his best gameplan against Oregon.
I think that we are going to struggle defending the pass, but our linebackers should be able to defend Dixon running the ball. Jon Stewart is incredible, and I don't know why he's not getting more hype - I thought he was better than Marshawn last year, and that Oregon was retarded for not giving him the ball 25 times a game. (Belotti basically admitted that over the summer too).
If Nate plays well, we should be able to pass on them, and I still don't think that anyone can stop our running game, and Oregon's run defense is average at best.
Both teams know that this is probably their most important game of the season (along with ASU and USC) and will hold no punches... I think it's going to be a pretty wild affair.
That said, I think that Cal +4 is pretty accurate... Cal is probably a 1 point favorite on a neutral field, and gets about 5 points because playing in Autzen is real tough.
Then again, I disagreed with Cal being a narrow fave last year (I had Oregon -2, and the line was like Cal -4) and we beat them by about a million, so I could always be wrong.
Been to all 3 home games, missed the Col St game and had to watch it on TV. (Will be going to UCLA, ASU, Stanford and maybe Oregon or Washington along with all the home games)
Some thoughts:
-We are really missing Tom Schneider... Kay has filled in admirably but has missed 2 chip shot FG's and Larson isn't up to par on kickoffs, but the coverage has been pretty good. Tom might be back this weekend but probably not until O-State.
-Our WR's are the best in the country, hands down. DeSean is ridiculous, and he draws so much attention that nobody is talking about Hawk, who is probably our best all around WR. He's incredible over the middle, hasn't dropped a pass in his life and runs terrific routes. Really showed his playmaking ability with that KR against La Tech on the first play of the game. Rob Jordan is great too, and he's probably the best downfield blocker of the bunch. WR's are even better than advertised.
-Longshore is still struggling. The line gives him all day, but he is still not nearly on the level of guys like Brennan/Brohm/Booty/Woodson. He still flat out misses 15% of his throws, and makes 2-3 really bad decisions a game. Luckily, the teams we've been playing haven't been good enough to capitalize, but he's had at least 5 or 6 picks dropped. He still has not shown any ability to play on the road,and I'm really worried about him this weekend.
-Justin Forestt is the best runningback that nobody is talking about. The dude is INSANE - I actually think he's a more consistent runner than Marshawn - he NEVER loses yards, never goes east/west, and has incredible shakes and is really hard to bring down. He doesn't have outstanding hands like Money did, so it's hard to line him up in the slot, but he is a great running and a good pass blocker as well.
-Jahvid Best is the truth - he's had 5-6 absolutely eye popping plays this year, and behind Jackson is our most explosive playmaker. He's too small to run between the tackles yet, but he's a great change of pace to Justin and he will be a player to watch later in the year and next year.
-The offensive line is very, very good. They're fantastic pass blockers and have been absolutely mauling everyone on the run. I can see why Mack is rated as the best Center in the country, he's mean as hell. Tepper and Gibson are a little raw but still enormous and skilled and as is have late round NFL potential and will continue to develop.
-Main concern of the year was the d-line, and they are struggling. I'll give them credit, I think they're actually overachieving becuase they are banged up and not that good to begin with, but this is gonna be a problem when we play the upper echelon Pac-10 teams.
-Thomas DeCoud is an absolute freak. I think he's actually the most valuable player on the entire team... guy makes 4-5 incredible tackles a game, is a blanket on pass defense and is so smart and is always in the right place... the last game against Arizona was a sight to behold: he was involved in about a million tackles and pass breakups, had a huge pick and almost another, caused a fumble and was all over the field.
-The rest of the secondary is pretty mediocre. We are leaving Syd in single coverage a lot of the time to help out the other corner, but he's just not nearly as good as Daymeon was and gets burned a few times a game. I think we are gonna have major problems with Oregon's passing game.
-Linebackers are very, very good as expected. Z is out but should be back for Oregon, and Mike Mo has been a pleasant surprise. These guys are really the heart of the defense, and while Cal tends to let up a lot of yards, we actually let up very few big plays because these guys are so good.
-The playcalling on offense this year has been flat out awesome. Tedford is really showing his genius again, just like in 2004... that spread nonsense with Dunbar didn't work, and we're back to what Teddy does best - running over people, completing a high percentage of passes, taking calculated risks, playaction and keeping teams off balance
-Another thing to note is that the team chemistry this year is FANTASTIC. The guys are really, really supportive of each other and believe that they can win the Rose Bowl or a National Title. These guys rival the 2004 team for chemistry, and are unquestionably much more talented. As I said before, the biggest difference is SPEED all over the place now.
About the Oregon game:
Remember that in 2003, 2004 and 2006 Oregon started out 6-0, 3-0 and 4-0 only to finish barely at .500... this year's team looks pretty unstoppable, just like last year before we killed them.
I don't think that history will repeat itself, especially since we are in Autzen this year, but Tedford always brings his best gameplan against Oregon.
I think that we are going to struggle defending the pass, but our linebackers should be able to defend Dixon running the ball. Jon Stewart is incredible, and I don't know why he's not getting more hype - I thought he was better than Marshawn last year, and that Oregon was retarded for not giving him the ball 25 times a game. (Belotti basically admitted that over the summer too).
If Nate plays well, we should be able to pass on them, and I still don't think that anyone can stop our running game, and Oregon's run defense is average at best.
Both teams know that this is probably their most important game of the season (along with ASU and USC) and will hold no punches... I think it's going to be a pretty wild affair.
That said, I think that Cal +4 is pretty accurate... Cal is probably a 1 point favorite on a neutral field, and gets about 5 points because playing in Autzen is real tough.
Then again, I disagreed with Cal being a narrow fave last year (I had Oregon -2, and the line was like Cal -4) and we beat them by about a million, so I could always be wrong.
