What a fun weekend and we're not done yet.
Stanford looked like many here had predicted (but not I) with an awful offensive performance and a less than elite defensive one. Don't sleep on Pat Fitzgerald's team this year, that's a very salty defense with a couple of players on that side I wish were playing for Cal. Absolutely hated seeing Scarlet wearing Cardinal colors.
Pac 12 in general disappointed. Arizona did not look good and are going to struggle to compete at the level they did last year. WSU with a bad loss in horrible weather. ASU as some had predicted (another good call by DO) struggled under the bright lights and disappointed. Texas A&Ms DEs are as good as any I've seen and Christian Kirk is the REAL deal. I still believe ASU is the favorite in the Pac12 south. UCLA's Josh Rosen looked like the 2nd coming yesterday. They were playing a Power 5 team and he shredded them. Lights out good. Wowza.
For Cal, Texas looked as bad as we had hoped. ND might be as good as their faithful have been dreaming about. No doubt Swoopes is lost mentally and those young players looked sloppy and inexperienced. Cal will have every chance to win in Austin. Look for Texas to have a challenge again next week against a game Rice team. That is not a cupcake. Could see it being very close through three quarters at least.
First weeks are interesting. You learn less than you think. So many teams are going to improve as new players get their feet wet, OLs start to gel and coaches work through the myriad mental and physical mistakes that mark first games. For Cal, this was our best first game performance in many a season. The opponents skill and talent level likely masked many of our deficiencies yet what we controlled was very good.
Stanford looked like many here had predicted (but not I) with an awful offensive performance and a less than elite defensive one. Don't sleep on Pat Fitzgerald's team this year, that's a very salty defense with a couple of players on that side I wish were playing for Cal. Absolutely hated seeing Scarlet wearing Cardinal colors.
Pac 12 in general disappointed. Arizona did not look good and are going to struggle to compete at the level they did last year. WSU with a bad loss in horrible weather. ASU as some had predicted (another good call by DO) struggled under the bright lights and disappointed. Texas A&Ms DEs are as good as any I've seen and Christian Kirk is the REAL deal. I still believe ASU is the favorite in the Pac12 south. UCLA's Josh Rosen looked like the 2nd coming yesterday. They were playing a Power 5 team and he shredded them. Lights out good. Wowza.
For Cal, Texas looked as bad as we had hoped. ND might be as good as their faithful have been dreaming about. No doubt Swoopes is lost mentally and those young players looked sloppy and inexperienced. Cal will have every chance to win in Austin. Look for Texas to have a challenge again next week against a game Rice team. That is not a cupcake. Could see it being very close through three quarters at least.
First weeks are interesting. You learn less than you think. So many teams are going to improve as new players get their feet wet, OLs start to gel and coaches work through the myriad mental and physical mistakes that mark first games. For Cal, this was our best first game performance in many a season. The opponents skill and talent level likely masked many of our deficiencies yet what we controlled was very good.
