Week 4: California scout/discussion

[catinfl]

I know there's gonna be a ton of people who think this will be a game that we have a good chance of losing, but I don't see it. Cal's defense is decimated. They did go on the road to Northwestern and win a game, but NW isn't that great. They lost to Northern Illinois last week. I expect Arizona to run the ball and the offense to have a big game. Maybe we can actually win in a blow out this game and not give me a heart attack?

[azpenguin]

Sonny Dykes is going to want very badly to come out of Arizona Stadium with a win. The defense is going to have to figure things out in a hurry because Cal can sling the football. Defensively, Cal may be hurting, but if the defense leaves the offense in a position where one mistake can be costly like tonight, look out.

On another note, Cal shouldn't be able to control the clock like Nevada did tonight, so that's good.

[catinfl]

Sonny Dykes is going to want very badly to come out of Arizona Stadium with a win. The defense is going to have to figure things out in a hurry because Cal can sling the football. Defensively, Cal may be hurting, but if the defense leaves the offense in a position where one mistake can be costly like tonight, look out.

On another note, Cal shouldn't be able to control the clock like Nevada did tonight, so that's good.

Exactly. This will lead to a lot more drives and Arizona should be getting back TJG and Neal. I expect the offense to have a big game.

[illcat]

The Cal game would be a good game where the offense and defense got on the same page.

[qwertyus]

I don't expect a blowout, but I think we'll see a better game than the Nevada one, simply because this is a slightly more one-dimensional team (I don't think they'll be able to control the clock with the run game like Nevada), with a more pocket-passing QB (not a lead-foot kind of guy, but certainly not as athletic/run-capable as Fajardo), who's also much less-experienced. Fajardo started 32 games before last night, and Goff's started in less than half the number of games. That's likely a large difference in maturity, which isn't to say that Goff's going to be super rattled all game, just that he's just not going to be quite as on-point as Fajardo. Goff settled down as the season progressed last year, but he still threw 2 picks against us LY in his own house. This year, the way our offense can play, at least at home, any turnovers forced by this defense will be absolutely huge.

We could lose this game, but I wouldn't bet on it. Cats by 10 or more.

[azcat49]

We shouldn't have to send 8 in the box to stop a feeble running attack like Cal has. We still are going to have to generate a pass rush though.

Just dont see how Cal slows our bball offense. I think we score 40 plus and win something like 45-24

[ASUHATER!]

in their 2 games, cal has 93 rush attempts for 369 yards, or just under 4 yards per carry. not amazing but it's not abysmal. they can run a little when they have to.

[azgreg]

in their 2 games, cal has 93 rush attempts for 369 yards, or just under 4 yards per carry. not amazing but it's not abysmal. they can run a little when they have to.

114 yards on 45 carries for a 2.5 yard average against Northwestern (who gave up 221 yards on 55 carries for a 4.0 yard average against N Illinois) and 255 yards on 48 carries for a 5.3 yard average against Sacramento St. Cal does not have a good run game.

[ASUHATER!]

well...it's better than usc's.

[RondaeShimmy]

Its a whiteout? That's just idiotic

[azcat49]

Its a whiteout? That's just idiotic

Why is that? Sounds cool to me. Lets see if we can pull it off for football. Iknow we are wearing our road whites next week

[azgreg]

Here's what I don't like about whiteouts in football. "Let's all wear the same color as the visiting team!"

[qwertyus]

Here's what I don't like about whiteouts in football. "Let's all wear the same color as the visiting team!"

...Except our white jerseys are probably our best-looking ones, plus the fact that the Bears will wear blue or gold?

[azgreg]

Here's what I don't like about whiteouts in football. "Let's all wear the same color as the visiting team!"

...Except our white jerseys are probably our best-looking ones, plus the fact that the Bears will wear blue or gold?

When's the last time we wore white at home?

[ASUHATER!]

Here's what I don't like about whiteouts in football. "Let's all wear the same color as the visiting team!"

...have you ever watched a whiteout?

the visiting team doesn't wear white as well. that's not allowed. visiting teams wear their home jerseys.....watch any nfl game anymore. 3/4 of teams wear white at home and their home jerseys on the road.

[azgreg]

Here's what I don't like about whiteouts in football. "Let's all wear the same color as the visiting team!"

...have you ever watched a whiteout?

the visiting team doesn't wear white as well. that's not allowed. visiting teams wear their home jerseys.....watch any nfl game anymore. 3/4 of teams wear white at home and their home jerseys on the road.

I'll repeat. When was the last time we wore white at home.

[btfd16]

Here's what I don't like about whiteouts in football. "Let's all wear the same color as the visiting team!"

...have you ever watched a whiteout?

the visiting team doesn't wear white as well. that's not allowed. visiting teams wear their home jerseys.....watch any nfl game anymore. 3/4 of teams wear white at home and their home jerseys on the road.

I'll repeat. When was the last time we wore white at home.

Who cares? What's the significance of the last time we wore white at home? It's better than another red out

[ASUHATER!]

Here's what I don't like about whiteouts in football. "Let's all wear the same color as the visiting team!"

...have you ever watched a whiteout?

the visiting team doesn't wear white as well. that's not allowed. visiting teams wear their home jerseys.....watch any nfl game anymore. 3/4 of teams wear white at home and their home jerseys on the road.

I'll repeat. When was the last time we wore white at home.

you never mentioned arizona. you were talking about whiteouts. i gave some facts about whiteouts.

[RondaeShimmy]

I hate the road jerseys, the sleeves look horrific (the colored ones look passable and gradient isn't so bad) and the font on the number is bad enough but add a gradient and they look even worse. But aside from that the crowd/scenery should be good, probably just something to sell tickets I would assume. Can't help but think that if everybody is wearing white it'll be more apparent how many fans leave (if any).

[azgreg]

you never mentioned arizona. you were talking about whiteouts. i gave some facts about whiteouts.

We're in a thread discussing the Cal game. WTF do you think I was talking about?

[OSUCat]

We need to have our DB's playing better. It seems that they have no situation awareness. I.E. if its 3rd and 15 the defense is likely going to throw 15 yards, not 40 yards, so maybe be a little closer to the defense when he makes his cut. Or if Arizona are blitzing, maybe drop into the blitz zone instead of giving up 15-20 yards on a easy slant.

[ASUHATER!]

you never mentioned arizona. you were talking about whiteouts. i gave some facts about whiteouts.

We're in a thread discussing the Cal game. WTF do you think I was talking about?

you said :"Here's what I don't like about whiteouts in football. "Let's all wear the same color as the visiting team!""

arizona hasn't had a whiteout. your absolutely only point of reference and point of this post would be talking about other whiteouts that schools have done. anything else makes 0 sense at all. therefore, you were not talking about an arizona whiteout.

[azcat49]

Last time we wore all white was 1983 against ASSU I think. Cal will be wearing there dark,jersey and we will be in all whites

[UAEebs86]

Last time we wore all white was 1983 against ASSU I think. Cal will be wearing there dark,jersey and we will be in all whites

1982. 1983 game was in Tempe.

[azcat49]

Close is my middle name. It was the game that started the streak. We got two safeties and jumped out to a big lead crushing there rose bowl hopes

[RondaeShimmy]

Hmm in the promotion the helmet shows no stripes on the helmets but at the beginning of the season they showed it had stripes.

[azgreg]

I stand corrected. I wasn't aware that the team was going to wear all white as well.

[illcat]

I realize to some of you that the color of uniforms is as almost important as to where your next free beer is coming from. But come on is it that big of a deal? When half of the posts devoted to a thread about the defense are about the color of uniforms.

[azpenguin]

They can wear practice jerseys an shorts for all I care, as long as they can get some three and outs on defense.

[UAEebs86]

'Cats open as 14 point favorites.

[NYCat]

Ridiculous line, so were the Nevada & UTSA lines

[illcat]

They can wear practice jerseys an shorts for all I care, as long as they can get some three and outs on defense.

+1

[azgreg]

[azgreg]

[EastCoastCat]

This game concerns me.

[azgreg]

This game concerns me.

You're not alone. One of "whoever has the ball last wins" type of games.

[illcat]

This game concerns me.

No doubt the way the Cats defense is playing.

[qwertyus]

This game concerns me.

You're not alone. One of "whoever has the ball last wins" type of games.

Whooping on possibly the worst team in the B1G (and that's a hotly contested title with Purdue, Indiana, and Illinois), in a game that they almost gave away anyway, plus beating down an FCS team at home. That's their 2-0 record. I don't think we'll shut them down, not with their passing offense, but I think we could hold them to 28 points. I think we can score 35 or more on them.

[OSUCat]

I am not worried about this game. Its at home, Anu is going to do very well. The defense won't have to face a good defense or a four year starter at QB.

[azgreg]

For those interested here is a Arizona thread on one of their boards.

http://bearinsider.com/forums/showthrea ... what-long)

[UALoco]

For those interested here is a Arizona thread on one of their boards.

http://bearinsider.com/forums/showthrea ... what-long)

Funny.... their posts all use statistics and are very insightful. They are hopeful and not overly critical of their team that was ofer last year in the Pac 12. In our forum we can't bash the defense enough and can't get over the uniform/whiteout situation.

[NYCat]

Well they did attend Berkeley, those hippies are smart

[UAEebs86]

Well they did attend Berkeley, those hippies are smart

Does that include the ones who think RR invented the Pistol offense?

[qwertyus]

/thread hijack begins

Nobody said they were football smart. More bookish types over there. You know, my Grandpa's house is actually a mile and a half from the campus. You can see the clocktower from a hill 2 blocks from his house. It's less hippies there now, more Asians and WAY more out of state people. Gotta balance those budgets. A friend of mine goes there on a Field scholarship, and he just planned for 5 years right from the get go, because there's no way he'd be able to get all of his classes in 4 years without lots of summer/winter session classes. It's nice that we don't have quite so much of those kinds of scheduling problems here. 'Course out-of-state tuition still sucks bigtime...

/thread hijack over

[RazorsEdgeAZ]

Some guarded quotes from Sonny Dykes in Media conference call last night. (by @RBBearTerritory)

Dykes says Arizona runs some 3-3 stuff, but no different than what he expected

Stopping Arizona run "will be important for us," Dykes says ... "It's tough when you're as balanced as they are"

"This is a much faster fb team than we've played. They make their living on big plays," Dykes says of Arizona

#Cal has a couple extra days to prep, Dykes says "they're not incredibly complicated; that's why they're good"

"Spirited, lively, competitive, physical," Dykes says of Sunday practice. Calls it best practice of the year. #Cal #CalFootball

And Uh, Jon Wilner's take on game:

It’s the first league game for Arizona freshman Anu Solomon, who has looked reasonably comfortable at home. As you’d expect of the quarterback in a Rich Rodriguez offense, Solomon is as capable with his legs as with his arm.

Last year, the Bears came closer to beating Arizona than any team in the conference – a five-point loss in Berkeley.

The Wolf Pack had success moving the ball on short- and middle-distance passes that are comparable to those in Cal’s playbook. (Quarterback Cody Fajardo threw for 321 yards and 3 TDs.)

*** The game will test the Bears’ conditioning: It should be in the 90s on the field at kickoff, and Arizona will undoubtedly take as little time as possible between plays.

Don’t be surprised if the Bears, whose travel squad is limited per league rules, carry more defensive linemen and defensive backs than they would for a typical conference roadie.

*** The betting line opened with Arizona as a 17-point favorite, but that dropped to 12.5 … and might continue to fall.

If the Bears limit turnovers — they have three in two games — I like their chances, not only to remain competitive deep into the second half but also to win.

The difference in talent between the teams is not nearly as great as the point spread … or last year’s respective records … suggests.

http://blogs.mercurynews.com/collegespo ... e-week-52/

[azgreg]

Line down to -10

[azcat49]

I think it is a 7-10 point AZ win although I could see Cal aking some mistakes and we strecth it out to 14-21

[EVCat]

Whiteout: It is visually impressive when done well. Regardless of what color we are wearing...it's not like the players look up into the stands and go "ohmigawd...we MATCH!!!" and play better. It's just a thing meant to please the eyes. I am fine with it.

Cal: I honestly hope we blitz less BECAUSE they can't run well. I don't want situations where one broken tackle leads to run confidence, and I imagine they will screen the shit out of us to make up for lack of rush attack. And blitz vs screen = disaster. I am perfectly fine with picking our moments, doing a better job disguising where the 4th rusher is coming from, and keeping them in front of us. Because in the red zone, they won't have the ability to run over us. Our defense is what it is...we have some dings, and we are not dominating at the point of attack. So keep our shape, force the QB to make the play over and over again, don't overrush the edges and allow for the QB to pick up cheap yards, and don't blitz a short pass/screen team. Make them make the play....then make them make it again...then make them make it again. We have played a couple of super experienced QBs the last two weeks. Let's not give this Cal kid positive numbers in the short passing game with blitzes that won't get there anyway.

We have to take the ball away. And get off the field on 3rd and long. And if we play this straight up, with their lack of a run game, we will be in good position to do both on most drives.

[btfd16]

For those interested here is a Arizona thread on one of their boards.

http://bearinsider.com/forums/showthrea ... what-long)

Funny.... their posts all use statistics and are very insightful. They are hopeful and not overly critical of their team that was ofer last year in the Pac 12. In our forum we can't bash the defense enough and can't get over the uniform/whiteout situation.

Agree 100%. I really enjoyed reading their board. They all seemed to really use their heads and stats to provide actual info rather than focus on silly little things, like us, or automatically assume every game is a win and their shit doesn't stink.... looking at you DD.

[EastCoastCat]

This game concerns me.

You're not alone. One of "whoever has the ball last wins" type of games.

Whooping on possibly the worst team in the B1G (and that's a hotly contested title with Purdue, Indiana, and Illinois), in a game that they almost gave away anyway, plus beating down an FCS team at home. That's their 2-0 record. I don't think we'll shut them down, not with their passing offense, but I think we could hold them to 28 points. I think we can score 35 or more on them.

Cal is certainly not great, but neither are we.

It seems we've been a bit fortunate at the end of our last couple of games and this one could bite us in the ass.