Cal's Offense vs Everyone Else On Their Schedule So Far

[pezsez1]

The Cal offense went into the RZ 6 times and 6 times they came away with a TD. If you want to make an argument that this is an average defense, you better explain why there weren't any FG attempts or turnovers inside the RZ.

What about the times we stopped Cal outside of the RZ?

Also, per your stats, our D only let Cal move into the RZ a total of four times... that's actually very good, especially considering Cal has like the 17th-best offense in the nation.

Our D also had three fourth-down stops and got a turnover. And we held in the third quarter until our offense was able to finally put up second-half points and pull away.

If you add up all the "good" things our defense did along with the "bad," what you end up with is an overall average outcome. And I'll say the exact same thing about our offense. It wasn't our best showing in any phase of the game... even our special teams (a great PR, but also a muffed punt) were hot and cold.

But if you only focus on the bad stuff, then of course you'll think it was all bad.

[Duck07]

The Cal offense went into the RZ 6 times and 6 times they came away with a TD. If you want to make an argument that this is an average defense, you better explain why there weren't any FG attempts or turnovers inside the RZ.

What about the times we stopped Cal outside of the RZ?

Also, per your stats, our D only let Cal move into the RZ a total of four times... that's actually very good.

Our D also had three fourth-down stops and got a turnover. And we held in the third quarter until our offense was able to finally put up second-half points and pull away.

If you add up all the "good" things our defense did along with the "bad," what you end up with is an overall average outcome. And I'll say the exact same thing about our offense. It wasn't our best showing in any phase of the game... even our special teams (a great PR, but also a muffed punt) were hot and cold.

But if you only focus on the bad stuff, then of course you'll think it was all bad.

No, an average defense would have forced at least one fg, even in those daunting situations they were placed in.

I don't see how you can take those 2 TDs away and still think that 4/4 in the RZ is average. Next the argument will be if you take away the first 2 drives of the game where they went 150 yards on 15 plays and scored 2 tds as well taking away the 2 short fields where they also scored 2 TDs - then our D actually played extremely well and we should be giving Pellum a ton of credit.

[Boom]

How many times did that awesome defense force Cal to kick a FG in the RZ? 0 times.

The Cal offense went into the RZ 6 times and 6 times they came away with a TD. If you want to make an argument that this is an average defense, you better explain why there weren't any FG attempts or turnovers inside the RZ.

As far as college football goes... I don't see how they are not average.

Who's above average in the Pac12?

[pezsez1]

I don't see how you can take those 2 TDs away and still think that 4/4 in the RZ is average.

Well, that specific stat is below average.

But allowing Cal to get into the RZ only four times all game seems to be an above-average accomplishment. Holding Cal to 1/4 on fourth-down conversions during the meaningful portions of the game seems above-average (including that beastly 4th and 1 at midfield).

Holding Cal to just one TD in the third quarter (after miscues on offense/special teams opened the door for Cal to get back into the game) was above average.

You're focusing too much on what the defense did wrong, and you seem to be ignoring everything they did right.

[pezsez1]

Also, for the sake of accuracy, wanted to throw this in there:

Our defense did force Cal to settle for a third-quarter FG, which Cal missed. I'm just not sure if that was technically in the RZ. Point is, though, that Cal didn't just march down the field and get TDs every time.

The defense also forced three turnovers... two turnovers on downs (the second was at the start of the 4th), and a fumble.

[pezsez1]

And here's the first-half possession summary for Cal. Seriously, after giving up two long drives to start the game, our defense buckled down and did its job. Cal only needed to go 38 yards to get 14 points late in the second quarter after our 15-yard punt and then Freeman's fumble. And when Cal had one last chance to hold the ball and take a lead into halftime, the D forced a quick punt, letting our O get a bit of separation.

15:00 1 04:05 CAL 25 9 75 Touchdown
08:49 1 01:39 CAL 25 6 75 Touchdown
04:29 1 01:50 CAL 22 5 29 Punt
01:04 1 00:36 ORE 40 1 -22 Fumble
13:31 2 01:35 CAL 39 4 9 Downs
10:23 2 01:31 CAL 29 3 -9 Punt
08:52 2 03:37 CAL 33 9 67 Touchdown
04:58 2 01:27 ORE 5 4 5 Touchdown
01:56 2 00:45 CAL 20 3 8 Punt

Before that 15-yard punt, I think we had Cal pretty much beat... but that and the fumble gave them some life. Instead of sticking in the dagger, we let Cal hang around and turn a complete blowout into a scrappy, sloppy game.

The big miscues in this game though were shared equally by the offense and defense.

[SuperDuck]

Before that 15-yard punt, I think we had Cal pretty much beat... but that and the fumble gave them some life. Instead of sticking in the dagger, we let Cal hang around and turn a complete blowout into a scrappy, sloppy game.

The big miscues in this game though were shared equally by the offense and defense.

That's a fact. If the Ducks know they've got the game in hand they can go into their long, time consuming drives. That, of course, would also greatly reduce Cal's offensive opportunities.

I'm not in any way saying that we have an elite defense, but they are improving. People just have to look at the big picture of the game to understand that different areas of team, offense, defense and special teams, can and do have an effect on each others performance at times.

Also, don't get me started on the stupid penalties that were called against the Ducks! The uncatchable pass interference call on the opening drive. The holding call on Fischer, the pass interference call against Ifo when the replay showed the receiver grabbing the back of his helmet!

I'm in favor of adding certain penalties to be reviewed by instant replay.

[Tray Dub]

How many times did that awesome defense force Cal to kick a FG in the RZ? 0 times.

The Cal offense went into the RZ 6 times and 6 times they came away with a TD. If you want to make an argument that this is an average defense, you better explain why there weren't any FG attempts or turnovers inside the RZ.

You're cherrypicking the statistics. You pick the worst areas of the D's performance and use them to characterize the whole performance.

[greenyellow]

Don't worry pezsez, I agree with a lot of what you've been saying since the game ended.

[5$]

Ya'll keep pissing and moaning. I am going to spend my time enjoying the season. Buncha Negative Nancys and Debbie Downers up in this piece

[pdxmallard]

Ya'll keep pissing and moaning. I am going to spend my time enjoying the season. Buncha Negative Nancys and Debbie Downers up in this piece

^^

[Cedar Tree]

^^What's even funnier is he's exactly right.

I'd like to hear some proposed solutions. It's easy to say "our defense sucks because ___". Okay, so what should they do about it? Change the defense? Start different players? Fire Don Pellum? Fire everyone?

[Duck07]

How many times did that awesome defense force Cal to kick a FG in the RZ? 0 times.

The Cal offense went into the RZ 6 times and 6 times they came away with a TD. If you want to make an argument that this is an average defense, you better explain why there weren't any FG attempts or turnovers inside the RZ.

You're cherrypicking the statistics. You pick the worst areas of the D's performance and use them to characterize the whole performance.

How is that cherry-picking the stats when 8 games in it is obviously a glaring deficiency of our defense. 85% of RZ trips by our opponents result in a TD. That's a season long trend, not a 1-game nit-pick.

[QuackininBama]

^^What's even funnier is he's exactly right.

I'd like to hear some proposed solutions. It's easy to say "our defense sucks because ___". Okay, so what should they do about it? Change the defense? Start different players? Fire Don Pellum? Fire everyone?

Well pressuring passing quarterbacks would be a good start. If you know they run a version of the air raid offense, and you know pressuring the quarterback will disrupt the timing, why only rush 3 giving the quarterback all the time he needs to find receivers? Or how bout running a "bump and run" defense, disrupting the receivers at the line of scrimmage rather than dropping back 15 yards every play and watching the offense get chunk yards all the way down the field.

[SuperDuck]

^^What's even funnier is he's exactly right.

I'd like to hear some proposed solutions. It's easy to say "our defense sucks because ___". Okay, so what should they do about it? Change the defense? Start different players? Fire Don Pellum? Fire everyone?

Well pressuring passing quarterbacks would be a good start. If you know they run a version of the air raid offense, and you know pressuring the quarterback will disrupt the timing, why only rush 3 giving the quarterback all the time he needs to find receivers? Or how bout running a "bump and run" defense, disrupting the receivers at the line of scrimmage rather than dropping back 15 yards every play and watching the offense get chunk yards all the way down the field.

Looking back, I get the impression that Pellum wanted to keep all of the WSU receivers in front of them to prevent explosion plays. I also tend to think that he may have thought that our 3 man rush would be more effective. Obviously it didn't. Where I had a problem was the lack of adjustments at halftime.