09-03-2021, 03:19 PM
(09-03-2021, 02:44 PM)Austroturf Wrote: <snip>
Since those seasons (2009-2015), productivity from our highly-touted QBs has tanked (Burns/Chryst 2016, Chryst/Costello 2017, Costello 2018, Mills/Costello 2019, Mills 2020). Some of this is beyond the coaching staff's control. But the motto needs to be: play the best talents early and often.
I don't think QB productivity tanked after 2015. There are lots of measures for that, but here's the scoop using ESPN's quarterback ratings:
2009 Luck: 143.5
2010 Luck: 170.2
2011 Luck: 169.7
Luck overall: 162.8
2012 Nunes: 119.6
2012 Hogan: 147.9
2013 Hogan: 151.5
2014 Hogan: 145.8
2015 Hogan: 171.0
Hogan overall: 154.6
2016 Burns: 121.2
2016 Chryst: 133.8
2017 Chryst: 123.1
2017 Costello: 139.5
2018 Costello: 155.0
2019 Costello: 121.6
2019 Mills: 144.8
2020 Mills: 139.9
KJ Costello had the best QBR in the Pac-12 in 2018, Davis Mills was 4th in the god-awful 2019 and 3rd in the Covid-awful 2020. I would say that the QB play has been pretty good since the UCLA game in 2017.
Now if you had written that the defense has pretty much tanked in the last few years, I'd agree.
If there's one thing people have learned in Berkeley, it's that you can't put "Cal football" and "Rose Bowl" in the same sentence. The words just don't fit. You'd be better off linking "covered wagons" with "Mars travel." (Bruce Jenkins, Cal '70, SF Chronicle, Nov. 11, 2017)