[Austroturf]

Well, we have to get by Cal first, and that is hardly a sure thing.

BC

I agree that next week is going to be tough.  That said, I watched a bit of the Colorado-California game and was not that impressed with Cal.  The entire first half was a series of Colorado shooting itself repeatedly in the foot and setting up Cal scores.  In fact, all of Cal's 24 first half points came off of Colorado turnovers (two pick sixes, a fumble leading to a TD and a fumble leading to a FG -- all deep in Colorado territory).  Cal only had one full length drive for a TD, which came in the second half.  Otherwise, they were more or less inert on offense with lots of three-and-outs.  The Bears had a total of 12 first downs and 211 yards of offense.  Colorado had 19 first downs and 318 yards of offense, but 5 turnovers.  Yes, credit goes to the Cal defense for forcing some of these turnovers; but Cal is far from a complete team and struggles to move the ball.  The key to beating Cal is NOT to give their offense good field position.  Those two pick sixes in the first six minutes of play proved to be the difference.  Cal is not built to score more than 20 points in a game if the opposing team isn't providing them with short fields.  It was the same thing against USC and Washington.  If we avoid costly turnovers, I'm convinced we win the battle.  If we do what Colorado did, we lose.  It's interesting that Colorado still had a shot late in the game despite all the turnovers.

[Austroturf]

Well, we have to get by Cal first, and that is hardly a sure thing.

BC

I agree that next week is going to be tough.  That said, I watched a bit of the Colorado-California game and was not that impressed with Cal.  The entire first half was a series of Colorado shooting itself repeatedly in the foot and setting up Cal scores.  In fact, all of Cal's 24 first half points came off of Colorado turnovers (two pick sixes, a fumble leading to a TD and a fumble leading to a FG -- all deep in Colorado territory).  Cal only had one full length drive for a TD, which came in the second half.  Otherwise, they were more or less inert on offense with lots of three-and-outs.  The Bears had a total of 12 first downs and 211 yards of offense.  Colorado had 19 first downs and 318 yards of offense, but 5 turnovers.  Yes, credit goes to the Cal defense for forcing some of these turnovers; but Cal is far from a complete team and struggles to move the ball.  The key to beating Cal is NOT to give their offense good field position.  Those two pick sixes in the first six minutes of play proved to be the difference.  Cal is not built to score more than 20 points in a game if the opposing team isn't providing them with short fields.  It was the same thing against USC and Washington.  If we avoid costly turnovers, I'm convinced we win the battle.  If we do what Colorado did, we lose.  It's interesting that Colorado still had a shot late in the game despite all the turnovers.