I certainly thought it had after the first two games. I knew that Texas would present more challenges than Grambling or SDSU, but the way our defense played in the Texas game has me pretty concerned going forward.
Some of it was certainly Heard, Johnson and some of the other speedy players Texas puts out there. Still, there were many times when it seemed like Texas players caught passes with no Cal players even in the vicinity. Same thing when Heard got past the LOS; no Cal players in the vicinity. IMO, that suggests something more than just a speed deficit on the part of our DB's and LB's. That suggests real issues with defenders understanding and remembering their defensive assignments..
We are really lucky to have a schedule with allows us to start conference play with two of the less challenging conference teams we will encounter. We essentially have two to three weeks to get this defense right. (Not sure that Utah looks all that imposing, either, notwithstanding their ranking.)
Do you think our defense has improved? Significantly? Do you think our defense will improve significantly over the remainder of the season? I think our biggest problem is a lack of speed and physicality - everywhere. If we have faster, more physical freshman players, perhaps we should burn a few redshirts? Which of them would you play? (I'm talking about defenders, here.) And what about Albert? I thought he was a JC transfer who was supposed to come in pretty much ready to go. Is that not the case?
Some of it was certainly Heard, Johnson and some of the other speedy players Texas puts out there. Still, there were many times when it seemed like Texas players caught passes with no Cal players even in the vicinity. Same thing when Heard got past the LOS; no Cal players in the vicinity. IMO, that suggests something more than just a speed deficit on the part of our DB's and LB's. That suggests real issues with defenders understanding and remembering their defensive assignments..
We are really lucky to have a schedule with allows us to start conference play with two of the less challenging conference teams we will encounter. We essentially have two to three weeks to get this defense right. (Not sure that Utah looks all that imposing, either, notwithstanding their ranking.)
Do you think our defense has improved? Significantly? Do you think our defense will improve significantly over the remainder of the season? I think our biggest problem is a lack of speed and physicality - everywhere. If we have faster, more physical freshman players, perhaps we should burn a few redshirts? Which of them would you play? (I'm talking about defenders, here.) And what about Albert? I thought he was a JC transfer who was supposed to come in pretty much ready to go. Is that not the case?
