re: Scouting Cal and North Texas Recap

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.