Archive for Strategy

California 88, Washington 85 (3OT)

(Torrent is here; highlights of the final minutes of regulation and overtime are here, here, here & here; video tribute by danzig is here) Only watched the game on my Blackberry last Saturday, so didn’t get time to see it until an hour or so ago. Here are the notes I typed up while watching. […]

Posted by: Avinash on Tuesday, January 13th, 2009

Inside the Civil War Playbook: Oregon 65, Oregon State 38

Days later, the entire Pac-10 continues to reel from the obliteration of Oregon State’s vaunted defense in the Civil War. With a Rose Bowl berth on the line for Mike Riley’s Beavers, how could the Ducks march into Reser Stadium and torch them in such spectacular fashion? Sample notes extracted from Oregon’s coach-in-waiting Chip Kelly […]

Posted by: Avinash on Wednesday, December 3rd, 2008

The Bears are Roaring: Arizona Previews

The Bear Will Not Quit talks on Arizona’s spread offense “How do you defend against [archnemesis/former Texas Tech OC’s Sonny Dykes’s spread] offense? 1. You must limit yards after the catch. When this offense racks up 40+ points, it is due to big gains off short passes. Think of how the Patriots used Wes Welker […]

Posted by: Avinash on Friday, October 17th, 2008

Inside the Playbook: USC 28, Arizona State 0

After starting the season on a fairly upbeat note, the Arizona State offensive line has again crumbled into a jumbling mess, giving up ten sacks in its last three games and turning Rudy Carpenter into the Incredible Human Punching Bag. One has to wonder where exactly ASU’s pass protection is going for the second straight […]

Posted by: Avinash on Monday, October 13th, 2008

Inside the Playbook: USC 44, Oregon 10

Thanks to tipsters that might or might not have originated from this page, we have obtained exclusive copy of Nick Allotti’s defensive plans for the USC game. Despite the seeming brilliance that lies from such a gameplan, the Ducks fell a little short. In order to avoid copyright issues, we have created our own renditions […]

Posted by: Avinash on Monday, October 6th, 2008

Significant Terps: Cal – Maryland Preview

(Just a programming note: Cal-Maryland liveblog starts at 11:30-11:45 AM EST, 8:30-8:45 AM PST. Mmm, bleary-eyed.) Offense-We’re not so different after all: In a hotly debated quarterback controversy, both Jordan Steffy and Chris Turner had their roles to play in the 2007 season. After Steffy epitomized the low-risk offense (67.3 completion percentage with 98 yards […]

Posted by: Avinash on Friday, September 12th, 2008

The Pac-10 Report: Week 2

Note: Hippies in trees being removed by the Stairway to Heaven. Confused? Click here. Maybe the feed will go up again. This segment allows Cal fans to check in with reports around the blogosphere from various Pac-10 teams and Cal opponents. Let’s start with the Trojans and their tilt with Ohio State. USC Conquest Chronicles: […]

Posted by: Avinash on Tuesday, September 9th, 2008

Tearing It Down, Building It Up (Treesitters, Cal-Wazzu Previews)

With their days numbered, the hippies can now be seen live. ABC7 has put up a feed of the Oak Grove for Cal fans everywhere to view the carnage. Well, mostly of those two hippies freestyling and yapping at cops, but whatever. If we can’t get the game online, hopefully you’ll be able to watch […]

Posted by: Avinash on Friday, September 5th, 2008

The OC (Frank Cignetti at Fresno State, Part II)

After about a month’s break since publishing Part I of the series, we’re going to dive back into the basic tenets of what we can expect from our new offensive coordinator Frank Cignetti. You’re getting all the nice political answers from Frank at Ted Miller’s blog, but here we’re going to dive into the trenches […]

Posted by: Avinash on Wednesday, August 13th, 2008

The OC (Examining Frank Cignetti, Part I)

We’re inching towards kickoff–and by inching, I mean baseball season sucks. Over the next few weeks, I’m going to be eyeing several key points of Cal’s 2008 season, culminating with the crucial quarterback battle. I’ll start by discussing our new offensive coordinator and what his playcalling and personality at Fresno State was like. Frank Cignetti’s […]

Posted by: Avinash on Monday, July 7th, 2008