OK movie, I will hold and raise you the bears Siulagisibai Fuismano, 6’4” 320. From Kadena Japan. The Aggies will be dealing with a very, very LARGE team with the bears. But- can the big bears actually move very fast? That is the big question.

And Montana State has no shot against Texas Tech

As of a few days ago, both veteran noseguards for the Bears missing practice. Bear coach says "personal reasons". A few items from a Bear blog on a recent practice:

"Chase Garbers - 6/12
Devon Modster - 6/12
"Dead even during 1-on-1s. There was one INT during the period. The pick was by Jaylen Martin. He came down with it after contesting a throw by Garbers.

"The Wide Receivers struggled to catch the ball during the 1-on-1 period today. Catchable balls were dropped and some just could not hold onto it as they went to ground."

Bear offense excelling at the run and short passes.

Hopefully the slip and slide drills pay off.
https://www.sfgate.com/cal/article/Cal-football-fall-camp-slip-slide-video-14293544.php

FCS-FBS matchups to watch

https://blog.seattlepi.com/oregonsportsnews/2019/08/09/fcs-fbs-matchups-to-watch/

PAC-12

UC Davis vs California. UCD was 1-1 against FBS opponents in 2018 under head coach Dan Hawkins, former head coach of Colorado. UC Davis is a contender for the FCS national championship while Cal isn’t a contender in its own half of its own conference. And, these Bears like turnovers just enough to make this a high-risk game for the PAC-12.

Not a question. Cal’s D held Washington, WSU and SC under 20. They are faster and more athletic than Davis in addition to having the size advantage.

“......South Dakota State vs Minnesota. The SDSU Bison ”.

Oh well. It’s a Dakota team and it’s hard to tell jackrabbits from bison

..agreed.... couldn’t remember who they were playing but didn’t really matter. Don’t think they know who is going to be QB.

We held top-10 Stanford to 30. :grin:

The UC Davis Hornets.

The California equivalent

#2 ? Bear QB Modster / UCLA transfer, has eligibility issues. May miss 1-2 games, meaning Bears may only have one modestly proven QB.

A freshman NG, 6'5", 285, Brett Johnson, getting airplay in Berkeley. Very active.

NfehT, you are very correct. The bears are bigger, faster and more athletic than the Aggies. You missed the scholarships. Bears have a dozen more and are a PAC 12 team. So are we taking about a 40+ game? A 50+ game. Maybe more. Will this be like men playing with boys? I love the player Siu. Great personal history. I have been to Kadena a lot of times.. It has a very large Marine Base in Okinawa. It’s a very tense place to be in as the locals and Japan want us out! Okinawans are the longest living humans on the planet; so eat more fish! Go Ags.

Stanford didn't beat us by 40, and they were top 10. Was Coach Shaw going light on us due to the Gould connection?

Berkeley fans not convinced yet the offense has improved much. QB play below average, lost RBs, and inconsistent play calling. Monster D. Some Cal fans think an average part of their defense, is run defense.

I have no clue how this will turn out, but what I am pretty sure of is that if NDSU were playing a so so team from the worst P5 conference, the bison would expect to win. So that's what I'm coming down on this game -- FCS or not, if we want to reach our potential as a program we'll eventually need to treat games like this as winnable.

Post of the Week?

Line play.

Hopefully the people who are in a position to influence the outcome expect to win every game in the sense of having a plan and a belief that if they execute the plan and get some breaks that they’ll win.
I think the computer rankings from last year set a reasonable expectation of how the teams will perform since both are largely intact. Sagarin rating for Cal vs UCD predicts about a two touchdown difference between the teams, given Cal is at home. Cal would be touchdown underdog to NDSU on Cal’s field.

that was the last time the two met and ags with a first game QB - that game was a big goner from the start. Far different in my opinion going into this one. Kal with a mediocre QB and in my opinion Maier the better QB. Aggie O should score points- how the ags hang in this one will be dependent on the defense. I think Kal -14 is a reasonable line. It would be nice to make a showing like weber did a couple years back.

Is our O line improved over last year, cause we were limited vs Stanford. Parks a stud, we seem to have depth, knock on wood. Our main weapon was Doss.

movielover. I do not know about O line other than I think most are back so a year of experience under their collective belts. Yes running was limited at Stanford, but Tehran Thomas was out and the offensive strategy was different than other games ....close to the vest and short passing game. I still can’t believe how many dropped passes there were. Give Stanford D credit.

Kind of weird to think 4 years ago with a Gould team that the ags scored 4 touchdowns against Oregon. Of course Oregon nearly doubled them up in points.

In retrospect, that is shocking. In the second half we rammed one down their gullet from the 20, old school power run game. I think their excuse was they had 2s and 3s in the game

How about an unorthodox strategy? (It is a given protecting Maier is a top priority.)

Alternate in QB #2 at some point, if he is highly mobile. Different tempo, different options. Could neutralize their size. Early 3rd quarter might be interesting, no halftime for coaches to confer and strategize. Go super uptempo.

Cal fan site says 2 Bear NGs still haven't reported to practice. No official word.

SI says the Bear secondary may be number one in the nation.

Bruce G story today focuses on the Defense: Coach Tucker says our D Line is our strength. Looks like we have 5 seniors there, Ocansey back, Jamison listed as DL.

Tucker: "Bryce Rodgers had a really good off-season. He's a guy that … when he was in there for us last year, he was definitely a difference-maker. Strong against the run, over 300 pounds, but he can really pass rush. He emerged as a quiet leader for us."" [i.e., don't trust the roster # of 285#s.]

I wonder if Cade Peacock might redshirt?

Try to score 17 points, don’t turn the ball over, and let cal be cal on offense.

Tremendous early season challenge. Be competitive and get out injury free = win.

This is a challenge similar to an FCS playoff game. UCD is a heavy underdog similar to playing Eastern Washington last fall. We’re healthier now than we were in that game and face less adverse conditions,
Interesting to note that the team ranked just above Cal in the final Sagarin ratings was South Dakota State. Cal wasn’t so great that they’re unbeatable. I don’t expect Davis to win, but this is a winnable game.

A few years back we had a DL, Taylor Prenovost transfer from UCLA, never played although on roster several years. Now his brother a 6’0 240 lb lineman is on Cal

The challenge is a bit different than an upper echelon FCS matchup. Davis sets up the run through the pass and Cal has the best secondary a UCD team will have ever faced. The mitigating factor is that Cal probably has the worst offense in the nation among Power 5 programs. Everything they return is bad.

KOCK ON WOOD ... we saw this coming. The Bears delayed announcing this.

BEAR INSIDER: "“We talk all the time about job swapping,” [Defensive coordinator] DeRuyter said. ...

"Expect to see some of that swapping ***at the nose guard position where Luc Bequette is expected to fill in for Aaron Maldonado and Suilagisipai Fuimano who both remain injured***. “He’ll (Bequette) be in on some packages and we’ll have other guys on others,” DeRuyter said when asked directly about the senior defensive end."

"...Redshirt [walk on] freshman Erick Nisich has also impressed at the position at fall camp and figures to factor into the nose guard rotation."

Maldonado - 285#
Suilagisipai - 320#

The Bears were looking for someone to partially replace graduated NG Chris Palmer, 335-pounds and a key to their 3-4 last year.

"Other notes from Thursday’s practice:

"During the first 11-on-11 drills, Garbers led the first-team offense against the first-team defense. The beginning of the drive focused on designed run plays to Christopher Brown Jr. and QB-designed run plays. Garbers and the offense moved the ball with relative ease and the series concluded with a TD pass to Nikko Remigio."

https://bearinsider.com/s/1569/cal-fall-camp-day-13/2

I think someone already posted on this but alcohol will be served at all cal games starting 2019. But this is new: all entering the stadium will have to go thru metal detectors! I have no idea if this is the new normal as I have not been to college or nfl game in years. After some thought maybe I would feel a bit more comfortable enduring that for safeties sake. I wish sac would impose that rule. Actually, sac should make anyone going into the parking lot go thru a detector as their lots are downright more dangerous than their stadium.

Recent Bear analysis claims their O line / new depth chart showing a lack of depth? A True freshman as backup, and O line having problems in scrimmage?

Same folks claim they have at least 3 OL who can bring heat from the edge, and Deng, their new MLB / 6'6" - who cut wreck havoc on crossing patterns.

We should have a coaching advantage, right?

Do we know that Trimble & Bland are out this year? Would explain 4 new JC linebackers.