I've been feeling all week that Cal is going to beat Utah. The reasons were pretty simple. Cal passes the ball and defends the pass better than Utah. Cal stops and runs the ball just as well as Utah. Cal leads the country in forced turnovers. Cal is near the top in sacks. And Cal will have the best player on the field, at the most important position. Washington's physical domination of USC last night was the clincher.
People have been saying "Cal hasn't played anybody." Well, Cal put 30 on UW at Washington and USC could only muster 12 at home. Washington's defense is better than Utah's. And I am convinced Cal's victory in Husky Stadium is way, way more impressive than Utah's demolition of a bad Oregon team at Autzen.
I provided the stats to back my Cal victory assertion earlier in the week. Now they mean a lot more. Utah was feeling great about themselves after thrashing the quacks, and all this week everyone has been singing their praises. NOBODY, including Utah was taking Cal seriously. Utah has been thinking about playoffs, USC, ASU, and UCLA. Utah's defensive personnel watched video of Cal's OL and laughed all week. Yesterday they saw that same UW defense that throttled USC, and by extension, Cal's offense, in a MUCH different light.
It won't be easy to go from not taking Cal seriously, feeling good about themselves, to all of a sudden realizing they have a really tough opponent on their hands. But putting that aside, I think this is a great match-up for Cal and EXPECT Cal to win.
People have been saying "Cal hasn't played anybody." Well, Cal put 30 on UW at Washington and USC could only muster 12 at home. Washington's defense is better than Utah's. And I am convinced Cal's victory in Husky Stadium is way, way more impressive than Utah's demolition of a bad Oregon team at Autzen.
I provided the stats to back my Cal victory assertion earlier in the week. Now they mean a lot more. Utah was feeling great about themselves after thrashing the quacks, and all this week everyone has been singing their praises. NOBODY, including Utah was taking Cal seriously. Utah has been thinking about playoffs, USC, ASU, and UCLA. Utah's defensive personnel watched video of Cal's OL and laughed all week. Yesterday they saw that same UW defense that throttled USC, and by extension, Cal's offense, in a MUCH different light.
It won't be easy to go from not taking Cal seriously, feeling good about themselves, to all of a sudden realizing they have a really tough opponent on their hands. But putting that aside, I think this is a great match-up for Cal and EXPECT Cal to win.
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