He's not negative yet he points to the draft losses, the impact players on defense (Nickerson and Drew) not being available and what he judges to be the #4 most difficult schedule in the country as reasons that ". . . Sonny Dykes should be the Pac 12 coach of the year this season if he can coax a 2nd straight bowl season of out the Bears." He calls it a rebuilding year.
Lots of interesting tidbits to discuss:
- He loves the addition of Webb (Has him slated as 3rd team All Pac 12 behind Rosen and Falk) and says we have talented QBs in the wings behind him yet rates our QB unit as 11th best in the Pac 12? I think the magazine put the unit rankings to bed before Webb committed.
- He has DRob playing CB backing up Allensworth and Franklin.
- The only defensive player to crack his 4 All Pac 12 Preseason D teams is none other than Marloshawn Franklin.
- He likes our OLine, ranks it 18th best in the country and 3rd best in the Pac 12. Borrayo is 2nd team All Pac 12 and Stuckey as 4th team.
- Our defense was slightly better than I thought last year when looking at the Yards Per Point metric which I really like as it assesses how hard it is for the other team to score on you. The higher the #, the more stout the defense. This and yards per play against are the two KPIs I track most closely. We finished with 14.8 yards per point scored. That's pretty average nationally yet it ties the best mark Cal has had since 2009.
- Our offense (as MoonPod has suggested) was fantastic last year in many ways yet it was not as efficient as it was in 2014. You want fewer yards per point and we were at 14.0 last year compared to 12.9 the previous season.
- Phil Steele's Pass Defensive Rating is different and better IMO than the one the NCAA uses and we didn't do too badly, finishing just below the median at #79 (up from 122nd in 2014)
- He likes (doesn't love our recruiting class) ranking it 28th nationally, very close to Oregon, Stanford and Washington
- DRob is his #2 WR recruit; Stovall is #37. He uses the Very Highly Touted ranking to obfuscate the forced rankings to get a broader view of talent. Cal had 5 VHTs according to Steele's aggregated rankings (he uses 8 recruiting services) - DRob, Stovall, Stuckey, Gilliam and Edmonds. We had a ton of Highly Touted's which is his next tier that separates talent from the hoi polloi - The entire class made this list save for Goode, Udeogu, Paul and Kunaszyk
- He sees this as a rebuilding year because of our schedule and the fact that we finished 119th on his returning experience rankings. He has finishing 4th in the Pac 12 North and rates us 49th in his power poll (which does NOT consider who you play). That puts us ahead of only Colorado (by one spot), Arizona and Oregon State in the Pac 12 and below San Diego State and Texas - Yikes!
- On the other hand, he thinks we're going to score 32.5 ppg and finish in the top 15 in passing offense. Unfortunately, he thinks our defense (at least in terms of points allowed) to take a big step back and finish at 34.1 per game
- Interestingly, he thinks our DL could improve slightly and our PDR to improve again. He's worried about our linebackers and general youth on defense
- He's not a big fan of Sonny Dykes. Athlon rated Sonny something like 44th nationally. Phil has him at 11th in the Pac 12.
- Says Drew is out for the year
- Happy to see how many Cal players actually played last year. Way more in the seasons passed. While we lose a lot of yards gained on offense and tacklers on defense, we have a ton of kids back who saw significant snaps. We may not be as raw as Phil thinks we will be
Non Cal tidbits:
- Ranked Stanford's Special teams at #6 nationally, so Pete Alamar has finished #1 and #6 in two of his three seasons on the farm.
- He loves SDSU, has them as 3rd best non BCS team and thinks they will be favored in every game they play this year. However, some of his stats show they got lucky last year with turnovers and close game wins.
- He also loves Texas and thinks they bounce back in a big way. Rates them as the #1 most improved team in the country. Thinks their new scheme will make them the TCU of 2014.
- Rates Hardy Nickerson as the #4 draft eligible ILB in the nation!!
- Outside of his predictions for Cal (which I believe are way pessimistic) I have two other big quibbles with his Pac 12 takes. He loves ASU to bounce back big and I don't see it. He also believes UCLA has a great OL - 2nd rated in the Pac 12. What??
Lots of interesting tidbits to discuss:
- He loves the addition of Webb (Has him slated as 3rd team All Pac 12 behind Rosen and Falk) and says we have talented QBs in the wings behind him yet rates our QB unit as 11th best in the Pac 12? I think the magazine put the unit rankings to bed before Webb committed.
- He has DRob playing CB backing up Allensworth and Franklin.
- The only defensive player to crack his 4 All Pac 12 Preseason D teams is none other than Marloshawn Franklin.
- He likes our OLine, ranks it 18th best in the country and 3rd best in the Pac 12. Borrayo is 2nd team All Pac 12 and Stuckey as 4th team.
- Our defense was slightly better than I thought last year when looking at the Yards Per Point metric which I really like as it assesses how hard it is for the other team to score on you. The higher the #, the more stout the defense. This and yards per play against are the two KPIs I track most closely. We finished with 14.8 yards per point scored. That's pretty average nationally yet it ties the best mark Cal has had since 2009.
- Our offense (as MoonPod has suggested) was fantastic last year in many ways yet it was not as efficient as it was in 2014. You want fewer yards per point and we were at 14.0 last year compared to 12.9 the previous season.
- Phil Steele's Pass Defensive Rating is different and better IMO than the one the NCAA uses and we didn't do too badly, finishing just below the median at #79 (up from 122nd in 2014)
- He likes (doesn't love our recruiting class) ranking it 28th nationally, very close to Oregon, Stanford and Washington
- DRob is his #2 WR recruit; Stovall is #37. He uses the Very Highly Touted ranking to obfuscate the forced rankings to get a broader view of talent. Cal had 5 VHTs according to Steele's aggregated rankings (he uses 8 recruiting services) - DRob, Stovall, Stuckey, Gilliam and Edmonds. We had a ton of Highly Touted's which is his next tier that separates talent from the hoi polloi - The entire class made this list save for Goode, Udeogu, Paul and Kunaszyk
- He sees this as a rebuilding year because of our schedule and the fact that we finished 119th on his returning experience rankings. He has finishing 4th in the Pac 12 North and rates us 49th in his power poll (which does NOT consider who you play). That puts us ahead of only Colorado (by one spot), Arizona and Oregon State in the Pac 12 and below San Diego State and Texas - Yikes!
- On the other hand, he thinks we're going to score 32.5 ppg and finish in the top 15 in passing offense. Unfortunately, he thinks our defense (at least in terms of points allowed) to take a big step back and finish at 34.1 per game
- Interestingly, he thinks our DL could improve slightly and our PDR to improve again. He's worried about our linebackers and general youth on defense
- He's not a big fan of Sonny Dykes. Athlon rated Sonny something like 44th nationally. Phil has him at 11th in the Pac 12.
- Says Drew is out for the year
- Happy to see how many Cal players actually played last year. Way more in the seasons passed. While we lose a lot of yards gained on offense and tacklers on defense, we have a ton of kids back who saw significant snaps. We may not be as raw as Phil thinks we will be
Non Cal tidbits:
- Ranked Stanford's Special teams at #6 nationally, so Pete Alamar has finished #1 and #6 in two of his three seasons on the farm.
- He loves SDSU, has them as 3rd best non BCS team and thinks they will be favored in every game they play this year. However, some of his stats show they got lucky last year with turnovers and close game wins.
- He also loves Texas and thinks they bounce back in a big way. Rates them as the #1 most improved team in the country. Thinks their new scheme will make them the TCU of 2014.
- Rates Hardy Nickerson as the #4 draft eligible ILB in the nation!!
- Outside of his predictions for Cal (which I believe are way pessimistic) I have two other big quibbles with his Pac 12 takes. He loves ASU to bounce back big and I don't see it. He also believes UCLA has a great OL - 2nd rated in the Pac 12. What??
