I’m surprised about the assumption that Chase Garbers is going to be their QB. I think that guys who've got as much of a shot at the job as he had with his results have proved they are unlikely to be better than mediocre. If I was a Cal fan I’d be hoping to see the UCLA transfer. He’s done ok with his limited opportunities with the Bruins.

Rankings at this stage are like playing pin the tail on the donkey. The logic for us as number 2 is that we return so much of our offense intact. Weber and Montana State have the most all preseason all conference players. But if you were to pick one guy to carry a team Barriere would be a good choice.

The element of surprise only lasts a game or two, until the other team looks at film. If we go into the season ranked high and can justify it with our record we will be higher seeded come playoff time. The Northern Iowa coach says home games are the key in the playoffs so you don’t have to play in miserable weather. We learned that ourselves last year.

Stanford last year wanted a bigger score differential than they came away with, I think their post game comments showed that. We exceeded expectations especially with our defense. But we were lucky to get the one touchdown we got.

I sometimes wonder about the reliability of team stats where one unit looks terrific and the other bad. If the offense can’t score I think the opposing team plays more conservatively leading the defense stats to look better. But I think Cal will regress toward the mean (mediocrity) on offense; in other words get better. The new UCLA QB transfer is probably better than what they had. Their defense will remain good against passing teams. They are going to be a tough matchup for us.

Last year’s class of DBs we’re tall as well; two guys were 6’3”.I think some of the tall DBs may grow into quick agile linebackers.

How does that work? Do players not take cheap shots when the sun’s bright?

Doss wasn’t drafted so being in training camp puts him aspiring for the feat of making a team like the Lekkerkerker brothers, Elliot Vallejo, Daniel Fells, Colton Schmidt who all made a roster. But your point is valid, fewer recently. Being in the Big Sky correlated to less talent than prior?

“Not only does Doss come to the NFL via UC Davis –a feat in and of itself –“
Back in the seventies when the Raiders were Super Bowl champions and contenders they had a drafted wide receiver from UC Davis. At the time Davis didn’t have scholarships and was D2. Martini was one of several D2 non scholarship players to make NFL teams. So now it’s a “feat”for getting a look when Davis is scholarship D1?

I find it odd that UCD has only four running backs, counting a redshirt and a true freshman. One would think they need more than that just for practice. I wonder if they’ll have a walk-on or two ?

It’s relative. Eastern lost a BSC defensive player of the year among four all conference 1st or second team defensive players. That’s greater than what we lost.

Doesn’t surprise me but it seems the big sky order is based mostly on last year. That overlooks or undervalues the fact that Eastern Washington lost 27 seniors. Weber and Eastern dominated the all conference teams and most those players are now gone. UCD on the other hand has little rebuilding to do overall and virtually none on offense.

Thanks, I now see that Davis beat them twice, 2004 and 2012.

Anyone want to guess where Davis will be in the Big Sky coaches and media polls?

I think EW and Weber are the two Big Sky teams we’ve never beat. So Weber at home is a big opportunity in this year’s schedule, for that reason alone.

it’s hard to picture us beating those guys with that last drive fresh in our memory. That was ugly. But we’ll beat them one of these days. If we had home field we might have won that game.

3 vs 5 is is not much of a difference, but it’s encouraging both agree we’re contenders, which is about all that can be said before the first game.
Athlon says we need to restock our defense which I think overstates our issues on that unit. We played a unusual number of defensive players and have guys on current roster with playing experience to fill the roles of the departed. Whether they’ll be as good or better remains to be seen. I hope they’ll be better as a unit. More reason for optimism on D this year than prior to last season.

But given the easy requirements for a sixth year of eligibility, playing in less than one third of games if injured or other hardship, there is a follow up question of: why he only played in one game last year? Injury or coaches decision? He apparently played in only the first game.

I see he only participated in the one game. So if he had an injury of some sort he could have four more years. If he was injured I hope he’s fully recovered.