Grades and Thoughts on Cal/Hawaii Game:
Hawaii: Not a particularly talented team, definitely a couple notches below the Bears. They struggled to hold on to the ball, including dropped passes, don’t have a ton of team speed and aren’t particularly stout in the front 7 on defense. However, they were really well coached. Very impressed with how physical and aggressive they were on defense, especially at LB. Their defensive system is designed to get in the offense’s backfield which I like. Offensively, their scheme was strong, play calling was excellent and the halftime adjustments they made to their run game (going with more pulling and off tackle runs) was brilliant. Solid OL and RBs, They will be better than they were last year. I suspect they win 4+ games in the MWC.
Cal Offense:
QB: Webb was overamped to start the game. His feet were nervous in the pocket and he was inconsistent with his accuracy. He also missed some easy check downs and seemed to save his worst plays for third down. That said, he got better as the game went on, had good command of the huddle and showed some toughness on his TD run. Longer term, he has to get rid of the ball quicker and needs to show more poise and feel in the pocket (both of his sacks were Maynard esque). He will be a strength of our team. GRADE: B
RB: The numbers were solid. TBs averaged 6ypc in the game. Three big plays by Muhammed who flashed his quickness and speed and showed better patience and vision. He killed me by not relaxing into his top gear when he split the safeties only to slow down anticipating contact, costing us 4 points. His dropped pass cost us another 4. Enwere was a nice surprise. He definitely looks quicker to my eye and finished runs well. Watson had a rough day, mainly because the OL failed to open holes on his runs. GRADE: B+
WRs: Strong day for this unit. Only drop I can remember was Stovall. Vanilla gameplan was built on screens and quick hitches and the WRs flashed the YAC we had hoped to see. Hansen looked exceptional, feisty and confident going up after the ball. Bug Rivera had a wonderful game as well. Great depth here as expected. GRADE: A-
OL: Interesting in that Stuckey did not play and Uluave got a lot of reps. As promised we saw a lot of shuffling at C and G. Not sure that’s ideal going forward given the need for continuity. Hawaii blitzed A LOT and brought 5 or 6 more often than not. Thought our pass protection was very good, as good as I’ve seen in Dykes era. A few things to get cleaned up here and there but overall solid. Run blocking was a different story. We were confused by run blitzes (which we saw a lot of) and were really inconsistent. Thought Mekari struggled here relative to Cochran and thought we ran better with Granado in than with Ooms. GRADE: B-
Team Offensive Outlook: Our play calling was purposefully vanilla (or at least I hope it was). Too many screens and fake screens, not nearly enough crossing routes, slants and vertical plays. Run/Pass balance was not good. I thought Spav had a mixed day as a play caller and wonder how effective we will be in that regard with both he and Dykes on the sidelines. I see upside everywhere personnel wise. This can be a really special unit.
Cal Defense:
DL: Really disappointing though somewhat expected given what I saw in camp. We lost the LOS to Hawaii all day long. Not nearly enough penetration on run plays and our pass rush was inconsistent and overall poor. I thought Hawaii held a ton, especially the tackles but our DEs failed to adjust to their “technique” DE contain in the 2nd half on running plays was very bad. Saffle worse than Wilson though Saffle flashed to the positive several times. Our 2nd string DTs got abused. Manley in particular. We’re not quick up front and we don’t get off blocks well. Not enough competitive toughness and fire here. GRADE: D+
LB: Worst unit on the field for the Bears. Considering the quality of the opponent, perhaps the worst LB play I can remember as a Cal fan. Slow to react, bad angles, poor gap integrity, missed tackles, the list goes on and on. Mostly, I was disappointed by our lack of physicality and toughness. Downs looks mentally lost and is not a good tackler. Somewhat of a mitigant is that these guys clearly prepared to play against the pistol and appeared unable to make the adjustment to what Hawaii was running. This group has to play up the field and they have to play faster. GRADE: F
DB: A mixed bag. Most of the shoddy tackling was by this unit with Vanderbilt the worst culprit. In the first half, the safeties struggled in coverage. In general, our zones were not well executed. That said, we had some nice plays on the ball in the air and were physical against the bigger Hawaii WRs. While he made some mistakes, Franklin had a solid debut. Rambo flashed as well (along with some silly mistakes). The sloppy field was hardest on this group. Grade: C-
Team Defense Outlook: We’ll see some big positive jumps between this game and SDSU with better tackling, better schematic preparation and a solid turf under our feet. We also have some younger players who are going to make some big jumps (perhaps not as soon as SDSU). We forced some TOs and showed the ability to make some plays. If our defense is going to find itself this season, it’ll do so on the back of TOs and big plays on key downs. Personnel wise, I’m really worried about our DT depth (I’m more positive on the upside of the DE group), our depth at CB (where was Albert and the true frosh?) and Vanderbilt at safety. KV had a really poor game and with our front 6 having big issues, we HAVE to get better play from him. Our LB play can only improve and I think Jordan K will likely replace Downs in a game or two. He had a rough game but he’s far earlier into his learning curve. Mostly I question Kaufman’s ability to prepare and get the most from this group. I’d trade him right now for Hawaii’s DC.
Special Teams: A pleasant surprise to the upside. Two KOs that were touchbacks. First contact with KOR at the 15 yard line is good (though our gap integrity was still not great). Our own KO returns were very solid. Anderson was reliable as well. Klumph had a poor day and hopefully has worked out his first game jitters. Hawaii’s K/P was exceptional, a notch above. We did not have one return play on with our punt return unit. We played safety defense every time. That said Wharton showed good poise and he’s got some shake to him. Just not sure Dykes will trust us to play for a return. Grade: B+
Coaching: First the positives. Team looks to have handled the awkward travel with aplomb. The team was crisp in terms of TO ratio and penalties. We soundly defeated an outmanned opponent. On the flip side, our red zone and third down play calling/execution on offense were poor. Why did Webb play the entire game? Our defensive staff got outfoxed with Hawaii’s halftime adjustments. Player development with the front 6 since last year are clearly insufficient. Public confidence from Dykes on our defense was clearly misplaced. Grade: C
Other things: The defense simply needs to play faster and tackle better. We can mitigate our talent issues in the front 6 if our players know where to go and get there fast. This is on AK. Our OL needs more running plays and more continuity to establish a personality as a physical unit that can win games for us. Frankly, Hawaii’s OL did a better job in this regard that we did. The next two weeks are huge. We can beat SDSU and will need to improve markedly on defense and see improvement from our QB and OL to make that happen. This is a young and inexperienced team where step function improvement from game to game is not only possible, it’s an imperative.
Hawaii: Not a particularly talented team, definitely a couple notches below the Bears. They struggled to hold on to the ball, including dropped passes, don’t have a ton of team speed and aren’t particularly stout in the front 7 on defense. However, they were really well coached. Very impressed with how physical and aggressive they were on defense, especially at LB. Their defensive system is designed to get in the offense’s backfield which I like. Offensively, their scheme was strong, play calling was excellent and the halftime adjustments they made to their run game (going with more pulling and off tackle runs) was brilliant. Solid OL and RBs, They will be better than they were last year. I suspect they win 4+ games in the MWC.
Cal Offense:
QB: Webb was overamped to start the game. His feet were nervous in the pocket and he was inconsistent with his accuracy. He also missed some easy check downs and seemed to save his worst plays for third down. That said, he got better as the game went on, had good command of the huddle and showed some toughness on his TD run. Longer term, he has to get rid of the ball quicker and needs to show more poise and feel in the pocket (both of his sacks were Maynard esque). He will be a strength of our team. GRADE: B
RB: The numbers were solid. TBs averaged 6ypc in the game. Three big plays by Muhammed who flashed his quickness and speed and showed better patience and vision. He killed me by not relaxing into his top gear when he split the safeties only to slow down anticipating contact, costing us 4 points. His dropped pass cost us another 4. Enwere was a nice surprise. He definitely looks quicker to my eye and finished runs well. Watson had a rough day, mainly because the OL failed to open holes on his runs. GRADE: B+
WRs: Strong day for this unit. Only drop I can remember was Stovall. Vanilla gameplan was built on screens and quick hitches and the WRs flashed the YAC we had hoped to see. Hansen looked exceptional, feisty and confident going up after the ball. Bug Rivera had a wonderful game as well. Great depth here as expected. GRADE: A-
OL: Interesting in that Stuckey did not play and Uluave got a lot of reps. As promised we saw a lot of shuffling at C and G. Not sure that’s ideal going forward given the need for continuity. Hawaii blitzed A LOT and brought 5 or 6 more often than not. Thought our pass protection was very good, as good as I’ve seen in Dykes era. A few things to get cleaned up here and there but overall solid. Run blocking was a different story. We were confused by run blitzes (which we saw a lot of) and were really inconsistent. Thought Mekari struggled here relative to Cochran and thought we ran better with Granado in than with Ooms. GRADE: B-
Team Offensive Outlook: Our play calling was purposefully vanilla (or at least I hope it was). Too many screens and fake screens, not nearly enough crossing routes, slants and vertical plays. Run/Pass balance was not good. I thought Spav had a mixed day as a play caller and wonder how effective we will be in that regard with both he and Dykes on the sidelines. I see upside everywhere personnel wise. This can be a really special unit.
Cal Defense:
DL: Really disappointing though somewhat expected given what I saw in camp. We lost the LOS to Hawaii all day long. Not nearly enough penetration on run plays and our pass rush was inconsistent and overall poor. I thought Hawaii held a ton, especially the tackles but our DEs failed to adjust to their “technique” DE contain in the 2nd half on running plays was very bad. Saffle worse than Wilson though Saffle flashed to the positive several times. Our 2nd string DTs got abused. Manley in particular. We’re not quick up front and we don’t get off blocks well. Not enough competitive toughness and fire here. GRADE: D+
LB: Worst unit on the field for the Bears. Considering the quality of the opponent, perhaps the worst LB play I can remember as a Cal fan. Slow to react, bad angles, poor gap integrity, missed tackles, the list goes on and on. Mostly, I was disappointed by our lack of physicality and toughness. Downs looks mentally lost and is not a good tackler. Somewhat of a mitigant is that these guys clearly prepared to play against the pistol and appeared unable to make the adjustment to what Hawaii was running. This group has to play up the field and they have to play faster. GRADE: F
DB: A mixed bag. Most of the shoddy tackling was by this unit with Vanderbilt the worst culprit. In the first half, the safeties struggled in coverage. In general, our zones were not well executed. That said, we had some nice plays on the ball in the air and were physical against the bigger Hawaii WRs. While he made some mistakes, Franklin had a solid debut. Rambo flashed as well (along with some silly mistakes). The sloppy field was hardest on this group. Grade: C-
Team Defense Outlook: We’ll see some big positive jumps between this game and SDSU with better tackling, better schematic preparation and a solid turf under our feet. We also have some younger players who are going to make some big jumps (perhaps not as soon as SDSU). We forced some TOs and showed the ability to make some plays. If our defense is going to find itself this season, it’ll do so on the back of TOs and big plays on key downs. Personnel wise, I’m really worried about our DT depth (I’m more positive on the upside of the DE group), our depth at CB (where was Albert and the true frosh?) and Vanderbilt at safety. KV had a really poor game and with our front 6 having big issues, we HAVE to get better play from him. Our LB play can only improve and I think Jordan K will likely replace Downs in a game or two. He had a rough game but he’s far earlier into his learning curve. Mostly I question Kaufman’s ability to prepare and get the most from this group. I’d trade him right now for Hawaii’s DC.
Special Teams: A pleasant surprise to the upside. Two KOs that were touchbacks. First contact with KOR at the 15 yard line is good (though our gap integrity was still not great). Our own KO returns were very solid. Anderson was reliable as well. Klumph had a poor day and hopefully has worked out his first game jitters. Hawaii’s K/P was exceptional, a notch above. We did not have one return play on with our punt return unit. We played safety defense every time. That said Wharton showed good poise and he’s got some shake to him. Just not sure Dykes will trust us to play for a return. Grade: B+
Coaching: First the positives. Team looks to have handled the awkward travel with aplomb. The team was crisp in terms of TO ratio and penalties. We soundly defeated an outmanned opponent. On the flip side, our red zone and third down play calling/execution on offense were poor. Why did Webb play the entire game? Our defensive staff got outfoxed with Hawaii’s halftime adjustments. Player development with the front 6 since last year are clearly insufficient. Public confidence from Dykes on our defense was clearly misplaced. Grade: C
Other things: The defense simply needs to play faster and tackle better. We can mitigate our talent issues in the front 6 if our players know where to go and get there fast. This is on AK. Our OL needs more running plays and more continuity to establish a personality as a physical unit that can win games for us. Frankly, Hawaii’s OL did a better job in this regard that we did. The next two weeks are huge. We can beat SDSU and will need to improve markedly on defense and see improvement from our QB and OL to make that happen. This is a young and inexperienced team where step function improvement from game to game is not only possible, it’s an imperative.
