Started By
Message
Scouting Cal and North Texas Recap
Posted on 9/3/23 at 5:02 am
Posted on 9/3/23 at 5:02 am
Cal looked balanced, impressive and athletic away at North Texas. Most points against a FBS opponent since 2014. Big bodies and good athletes. 669 total yards, 27 / 39 for 312 through the air to 10 different receivers (min. gain 10 yards) and 56 rushes for 357 yds, 6.6 ypc and 6 tds by 8 players. Ran 95 plays from scrimmage if my math is right.RB Ott had 188 yards and 2 TDs in 2.5 quarters. Gave up no sacks. D had 3 interceptions, forced 2 fumbles. Held NTex to 27 rushes for 41 yards. Cal kicker went 1/3 on fgs with a long of 31 and had an XP blocked.
Cal - North Texas YouTube Highlights
Several injuries to follow this week including starting center and QB. Good recap here:
Cal Football Game Summary: Bears Clobber North Texas 58-21
Cal-North Texas box score
Cal and their fans should be lit for a night game against an SEC foe. I hope we are focused, and I'm sure we held a lot of stuff back today, but this looks be a tough game and a great test on the left coast. We'll have to play very well. Will be interesting to see what the line opens at. Pick'em to Bears -3? Thoughts?
Cal - North Texas YouTube Highlights
Several injuries to follow this week including starting center and QB. Good recap here:
Cal Football Game Summary: Bears Clobber North Texas 58-21
quote:
WHAT IT MEANS: Cal won a game it was expected to win, and they did it in convincing fashion. The Bears' offense, which has been a weakness the past six seasons, came alive with a big performance, suggesting Jake Spavital's offense may be more productive than past Cal offenses. It's too early to draw grand conclusions, though; North Texas is not USC. Or Oregon. Or Washington. Or perhaps any team in the Pac-12.
Cal-North Texas box score
Cal and their fans should be lit for a night game against an SEC foe. I hope we are focused, and I'm sure we held a lot of stuff back today, but this looks be a tough game and a great test on the left coast. We'll have to play very well. Will be interesting to see what the line opens at. Pick'em to Bears -3? Thoughts?
This post was edited on 9/3/23 at 11:42 am
5
Posted on 9/3/23 at 6:23 am to atwitsendAU
quote:All 17 of them will be fired up!!
Cal and their fans should be lit for a night game against an SEC foe
In all seriousness, the game is far from sold out and AU has bought their fair share.
It’s a scary game. CBS Sports app early line last night showed AU -6.
Posted on 9/3/23 at 7:09 am to Rig
quote:
CBS Sports app early line last night showed AU -6.
Interesting line. I figured it would be 2-3 .
Maybe we are better than we think we are.
Posted on 9/3/23 at 7:36 am to atwitsendAU
I was surprised they beat North Texas so bad tbh.
Posted on 9/3/23 at 7:38 am to LanierSpots
I thought the same. Initially believed they’d be favored
Posted on 9/3/23 at 7:43 am to AUtigR24
NTS had some transfers out.
Posted on 9/3/23 at 8:20 am to BigTastey
quote:
NTS had some transfers out.
Yeah. They're in Auburn.
I think Cal will sell a bunch more tix after what we both showed today. Would like to see AU repped well there and loud.
This post was edited on 9/3/23 at 4:20 pm
Posted on 9/3/23 at 12:50 pm to AUtigR24
Cal's starting qb who is a running threat similar to John Franklin got hurt against North Texas. The backup ben finley a NC state transfer came in and threw for 279 and 1td and 1 int
This post was edited on 9/3/23 at 12:51 pm
Posted on 9/3/23 at 4:17 pm to Scoper
Did we get an update on Hunter's availability for Cal?
Posted on 9/3/23 at 4:26 pm to Tickytiger
I’m gonna go out on a limb and say he isn’t playing. Just a feeling.
Posted on 9/3/23 at 5:47 pm to atwitsendAU
The Cal O-line and their 1st two RBs look pretty good. The Auburn front 7 is gonna have to get it together or it could be a long day for the defense.
Cal's defense did give up plenty of big plays but got it together and had some takeaways. I'm certain that we have more depth than NTS especially in the backfield. I feel good that the Auburn O-line will create chances for some big runs and give Thorne time.
Could end up a shootout where the last team with the ball wins.
Cal's defense did give up plenty of big plays but got it together and had some takeaways. I'm certain that we have more depth than NTS especially in the backfield. I feel good that the Auburn O-line will create chances for some big runs and give Thorne time.
Could end up a shootout where the last team with the ball wins.
Posted on 9/3/23 at 7:50 pm to Beachbum87
quote:
gonna go out on a limb and say he isn’t playing. Just a feeling.
Got a feeling he'll be back next week. Freeze taking a page from the Saban playbook.
Posted on 9/3/23 at 8:00 pm to JamalSanders
Would love Hunter back, but we are in good hands while he is out. 
Posted on 9/3/23 at 8:02 pm to wareagle7298
Hunter will be back. Quit playing, fools!
Posted on 9/3/23 at 8:08 pm to jangalang
38-23 AU but doesn’t look good.
Will say we look nothing like FSU or LSU as far as overall speed and talent. They are making bone headed plays and play calls but right now they would both murder us. Gotta get better every week and hopefully get some timely big plays.
Will say we look nothing like FSU or LSU as far as overall speed and talent. They are making bone headed plays and play calls but right now they would both murder us. Gotta get better every week and hopefully get some timely big plays.
Posted on 9/3/23 at 9:00 pm to jangalang
Was going to ask also about the reason he didn’t play yesterday?
Posted on 9/4/23 at 1:28 pm to BigTastey
quote:UNT has a first year coach
NTS had some transfers out.
Posted on 9/5/23 at 3:15 pm to atwitsendAU
Hey y'all, Cal fan here... really looking forward to the game Saturday and the return trip next year, my crew has had that one circled for years for our annual roadie and I expect Cal will bring 8k or so to the game...assuming they can find tickets, of course.
Happy to answer any questions you might have. Most Cal fans are still trying to figure out what kind of team we have. North Texas told us very little, they were absolute trash on D and smaller than some high schools in the DFW area. Cal could've put 70+ up and another couple hundred yards of offense but called the dogs off midway through the 3rd quarter. Defensively, we gave up 2 long passes against our supposedly elite secondary but once that got cleaned up, completely shut down UNT's "good offense". Out side of the 2 pass plays, 51 plays for 108 yards I think... 230-ish yards allowed overall although only 9 yards in the 2nd half and 0 first downs.
Last year was a perfect storm of dog crap for us, injuries obliterated our D and our O sucked beyond belief through a combination of a "Pro" OC with a super complicated offense and the worst OL coach in the history of western civilization who ran a blocking scheme that didn't mesh with the OC's scheme. Result was an OL who tried to get the QB murdered on each play. I'm surprised Plummer still has all of his body parts.
Questions coming into this year were:
New QBs and how would they perform
New OC and OL coaches and could they transform our putrid offense into something tolerable
Overall health and depth
So far the answers are very positive. Whispers from fall camp suggest that his could be the best Cal D in a decade plus but we can't be giving up multiple 50+ yard passes a game. OL blocking has improved immensely. 669 yards gained against a crap opponent without even trying very hard suggest the offense will be capable of 30+ points against teams with a pulse. Health has been good but the 2nd and 3rd string RBs are out and rumors are swirling that the starting C may be out for the season (again). QB Jackson is likely back Saturday but he isn't big and his running style suggests he'll get crippled in a game sooner or later. Backup Finley was pretty good but a better secondary intercepts 4 passes instead of 1 based on the UNT game.
Team strengths: RB and WR talent, run defense and secondary talent
Team weaknesses: OL has to prove it to me against a decent or better DL like Auburn has, pass rush on D, special teams kind of sucked Saturday- there is talent there but choked against UNT and return game coverage was spotty
Anyways, as I said, happy to answer any questions. For those of you travelling to the Bay Area, there is a good thread on Bear Insider where some Auburn guys came in asking for rec's and the thread is 160+ posts long now. Some good stuff in there. Tailgating culture in Berkley blows, the campus isn't set up well for that but the ones that are there are pretty friendly to non Trojans who aren't D bags. Great stadium location with stunning visuals and the Cal campus is gorgeous. Auburn section will be in the South end zone, many folks will be walking past frat row to get to the stadium... usually they are ok to non Pac12 rivals but it'll be a night game with booze all day... your highest chance of Cal fan d bagishness will likely be there. Most Cal fans are really chill and do not fit the Cal "hippie/commie" stereotype which is more of a Berkeley thing than a Cal thing anyways.
Happy to answer any questions you might have. Most Cal fans are still trying to figure out what kind of team we have. North Texas told us very little, they were absolute trash on D and smaller than some high schools in the DFW area. Cal could've put 70+ up and another couple hundred yards of offense but called the dogs off midway through the 3rd quarter. Defensively, we gave up 2 long passes against our supposedly elite secondary but once that got cleaned up, completely shut down UNT's "good offense". Out side of the 2 pass plays, 51 plays for 108 yards I think... 230-ish yards allowed overall although only 9 yards in the 2nd half and 0 first downs.
Last year was a perfect storm of dog crap for us, injuries obliterated our D and our O sucked beyond belief through a combination of a "Pro" OC with a super complicated offense and the worst OL coach in the history of western civilization who ran a blocking scheme that didn't mesh with the OC's scheme. Result was an OL who tried to get the QB murdered on each play. I'm surprised Plummer still has all of his body parts.
Questions coming into this year were:
New QBs and how would they perform
New OC and OL coaches and could they transform our putrid offense into something tolerable
Overall health and depth
So far the answers are very positive. Whispers from fall camp suggest that his could be the best Cal D in a decade plus but we can't be giving up multiple 50+ yard passes a game. OL blocking has improved immensely. 669 yards gained against a crap opponent without even trying very hard suggest the offense will be capable of 30+ points against teams with a pulse. Health has been good but the 2nd and 3rd string RBs are out and rumors are swirling that the starting C may be out for the season (again). QB Jackson is likely back Saturday but he isn't big and his running style suggests he'll get crippled in a game sooner or later. Backup Finley was pretty good but a better secondary intercepts 4 passes instead of 1 based on the UNT game.
Team strengths: RB and WR talent, run defense and secondary talent
Team weaknesses: OL has to prove it to me against a decent or better DL like Auburn has, pass rush on D, special teams kind of sucked Saturday- there is talent there but choked against UNT and return game coverage was spotty
Anyways, as I said, happy to answer any questions. For those of you travelling to the Bay Area, there is a good thread on Bear Insider where some Auburn guys came in asking for rec's and the thread is 160+ posts long now. Some good stuff in there. Tailgating culture in Berkley blows, the campus isn't set up well for that but the ones that are there are pretty friendly to non Trojans who aren't D bags. Great stadium location with stunning visuals and the Cal campus is gorgeous. Auburn section will be in the South end zone, many folks will be walking past frat row to get to the stadium... usually they are ok to non Pac12 rivals but it'll be a night game with booze all day... your highest chance of Cal fan d bagishness will likely be there. Most Cal fans are really chill and do not fit the Cal "hippie/commie" stereotype which is more of a Berkeley thing than a Cal thing anyways.
Posted on 9/5/23 at 3:37 pm to Fire Starkey
God dammit Rig
Posted on 9/5/23 at 3:44 pm to Fire Starkey
quote:
worst OL coach in the history of western civilization who ran a blocking scheme that didn't mesh with the OC's scheme.
We’ve been there. Hired an OC that wanted zone blocking. But the OL coach didn’t believe in that. Ever won a game 3-2?
The Cal Running back Ott looked really good on the highlights I saw.
Thanks for the great post.
This post was edited on 9/5/23 at 3:52 pm
Page 1 of 3
Latest Auburn News
Popular
Back to top
Follow SECRant for SEC Football News