Game Day Thoughts

The Sonny Dykes era at Cal has gotten off to a rough start. 1-4 after the Bears 44-22 loss to Washington St. Starting with Northwestern, Ohio St., and Oregon in their first four was tough. I thought that playing the Cougars at home would be a better than decent shot to get win #2. It didn't work out that way. It didn't help that two of Cal's early drives ended inside the 10-yard line with fumbles. After the turnover fiasco in Oregon last week, one would think that ball security would be a priority. Instead, Cal duplicated their five turnover performance of a week ago. Cal can have a truly potent offense but they're not good enough, as a team, to repeatedly offer up gifts to their opponents.

Cal true freshman quarterback Jared Goff had his first 500-yard game. In five games, he has, I believe, four of the top-5 passing yardage games in Cal history. Amazing. It's too bad that touchdowns aren't always coming with those terrific yards. Goff has a serious arm and serious passing talent. It's not all Dykes' pass-happy offense that's generating these numbers. Well, a lot of it is, but Goff is for real. 

Not only is Goff for real, but Cal has some real nice talent at receiver. Chris was ridiculous yesterday. 14 catches for 231 yards and a touchdown, an 89-yard touchdown. Harper, Bryce Treggs, Darius Powe,  are Richard Rodgers are all impact pass catchers.

It doesn't get easier for Cal. UCLA is up next.

Speaking of talented quarterbacks, Florida St.'s Jameis Winston was out-a-sight yesterday. I had been hearing a lot of great stuff about this redshirt freshman but I hadn't seen him play. #8 Florida St. was hosting a tough #25 Maryland team. The Seminoles made them look more like Georgia St. 63-0. It didn't help that Maryland quarterback quarterback C.J. Brown was knocked out of the game on an illegal hit in the first half. I was stunned when a penalty wasn't called on this play. It wasn't like it happened in a crowd. It was out in the open and easily seen. This was the sort of hit that has brought about all of the recent safety measures in the college game and in the pros. Maryland was still getting spanked at the time but it really spiraled out of control after that. It doesn't take anything away from what Winston did. He was awesome. 5 touchdowns, 393 yards. The numbers are super but his poise and throws were even better. I have yeat to see a full game from Louisville's Teddy Bridgewater but Jameis Winston's performance yesterday was maybe the best that I've seen from a college quarterback in recent years. 

ESPN's Game Day show had an excellent piece on the relationalship between Washington quarterback Keith Price and Seattle Seahawks quarterback Russell Wilson. The young professional thrower reached out to the young amateur thrower upon being drafted by the Seahawks. It's a cool relationship and I appreciate ESPN bringing to us. Wilson is a tremendous football player and a tremendous person off of the field. I just wish that he wasn't playing for the Seahawks. It's a real shame. 

Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones said that the didn't consider signing Peyton Manning because he already had Tony Romo. I really have nothing to say about that.

It was great to see the Josh Freeman soap opera end in Tampa Bay. It was only a couple of years ago that Freeman's future as an NFL quarterback was white hot. He was drafted after Matt Ryan and Mark Sanchez but was playing the best of the three first round selections. Now, he's looking for a new team. He's only 25. He still has a future in the NFL. 

Chip Kelly is sure quick to say how fantastic his coaching deeds and "innovations" are. He's the only one saying anything positive about his work in professional football, so far. 

Even with the Minnesota Vikings on bye there are some excellent games today.

New England at Cincinnati

Detroit at Green Bay

New Orleans at Chicago

Kansas City at Tennessee-this game drops a bit with Jake Locker out

Denver at Dallas

Houston at San Francisco

my favorite:

Seattle at Indianapolis

That's some good stuff.