Usually on Tuesdays we check in with our upcoming opponent, but Oregon has a bye week this week. So what are the Quackers up to on their bye week? Since classes started Monday, they will devote more time to academics than practice this week.
The schedule doesn’t include a game this week for the Ducks (3-1, 1-0 Pac-12), but classes begin at the university today, and an "improvement week" of practices Tuesday and Thursday are also on the schedule, UO coach Chip Kelly said Sunday.
It will be back to basics, with an emphasis on fundamentals.
"We go back to ball security, we go back to finishing blocks, we go back to tackling, we go back to one-on-one coverage," Kelly said.
The Ducks will be off today, Wednesday and Friday. Regular practices resume Saturday, the start of the next formal game week given the presence of a Thursday night game on Oct. 6 against California in Autzen Stadium.
The Bears, meanwhile, will use the bye week to devote more time to preparing for the Ducks.
Game planning for the Ducks won’t being until Wednesday. Coach Jeff Tedford said Tuesday will be a generic practice where the team focuses on fundamentals. But Wednesday, Cal will start installing the game plan for Oregon. The Bears will have Friday and Saturday off, but counting next Sunday, Monday and Tuesday, Cal will devote five practices to prepping for the opponent instead of the usual three. That could come in handy preparing for the Ducks’ explosive offense, especially since Cal has a lot to correct defensively and could probably use the extra work.
After the jump ESPN's bowl projections have the Bears in San Diego or Las Vegas, SBN Seattle breaks down Polk's 70-yard reception, and the Giants' failure to make the playoffs means AT&T Park will have an all-grass field for the remainder of Cal's home games.
Football
- Mark Schlabach predicts a Cal-Utah State matchup in the Kraft Fight Hunger Bowl. Brad Edwards,meanwhile, predicts and intriguing Cal-TCU Las Vegas Bowl.
- Wilner gives the Bears a C- in the loss to Washington. He criticizes the Bears' red-zone performances, the pass defense, and some silly mistakes that you cannot make on the road (penalties, dropped passes).
- In Ted Miller's Pac-12 Rewind and Look Ahead he calls the Cal-Washington game the best game last week. The Washington defense earned a smiley face for holding the Bears to one TD in five red zone trips.
- SBN Seattle has a great breakdown (with pictures!) of Washington's ability to open up the middle of the field and get a linebacker-on-RB mismatch for Polk's 70-yard touchdown reception.
- Since the Giants have failed to make the playoffs, there will be no scheduling conflict for any of the remaining home games. JO also reports that the field will be fully sodded from the USC game onward.
- Pac-12.org has an article on how Marvin Jones balances family life, academics, and athletics.
- As Tedford and Pendergast try to fix some issues on defense, Stefan McClure will see more playing time.