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Golden Nuggets: Sonny Dykes Cal vs. Texas press conference notes, Daniel Lasco injury update

Cal football breaks down the San Diego State game, Keenan Allen ties a Chargers record, and Arielle Ship is a goal scoring machine.

By cldpc
John Hefti-USA TODAY Sports



Here are some notes.

  • On Daniel Lasco: Dykes called Lasco "day-by-day." Said he's healing from his hip injury. "The good thing is we have lots of depth at running back."
  • On Griffin Piatt: He's doing more in practice everyday. ... He's going to do some contact in practice this week.
  • Dykes expects Matt Rockett to play and that Nathan Broussard will see more time in the lineup.
  • On Texas: For us a program, it's really just the next game on the schedule. It's all been just about improving and getting better. They're an athletic team that runs well and can play fundamental football. We'll have our hands full, they have a talented front. It'll be a challenge.
  • On Texas quarterback Jerrod Heard: They have a lot of good football coaches and bright minds on their staff. They made the switch to Heard; he's a dynamic playmaker. Very fast in the open field... You have to do a good job keeping lanes, pursuing, maintaining leverage."
  • On Texas defense: I'm sure it's going to be important for them to pressure Jared. ... We're going to need to do a good job picking up their blitzes.
  • On Texas players: They've got a lot of talented offensive players, real gamebreakers - Daje Johnson & John Burt are big time playmakers; their two RBs are both big physical guys. They're very good [on special teams]... Johnson was pretty dominating in the return game last week - particularly on punt returns.
  • On special teams: We've covered punts pretty well this year... We haven't been a very good kickoff coverage team - we've worked on that a lot this week.
  • We're excited about the challenge, looking forward to playing our first road game of the year. It'll be a great environment.
  • "Our players are focused on trying to win a game against a very good team... For us, it's about trying to be 3-0."
  • On the Rose Bowl Cal-Texas controversy: "I've heard a lot about it. ... I don't know if our players are going to see it as extra motivation." Our players are focused on trying to win a game against a very good team.

Women's Soccer

A halftime adjustment in formation served as the catalyst for No. 16 California as junior Arielle Ship scored two second half goals to lead the Bears to a 2-0 win over previously unbeaten St. Mary's at Edwards Stadium.

Field Hockey

Freshman Janaye Sakkas put Cal field hockey on the board first against Bucknell, but it was the Bison who ultimately came away with the win after outshooting the Golden Bears 10-4 Sunday afternoon at Penn State Field Hockey Facility.

Rugby

The Golden Bears sent a contingent of student-athletes to participate in the 9/11 Heroes Run on Sunday at Lafayette Reservoir, with California's entry sponsored by alumnus Scott Anderson in support of the cause for veterans, survivors, first responders and their families.

Men's Water Polo

A strong first period on defense helped the Cal men's water polo team build a lead and the offense took over from there as the No. 3 ranked Bears added on in the third and fourth periods to beat No. 12 UC Davis 16-7 on Sunday.

Around the National Football League

Keenan Allen

This wasn't new.

"It doesn't surprise me," Chargers head coach Mike McCoy said. "That's Keenan Allen."

It was more like renewed.

Allen had a career game Sunday in the Chargers season-opening 33-28 victory over the Detroit Lions. His 15 receptions tied Kellen Winslow for most in franchise history. Allen's 166 yards were the most in his young career. He caught all but two of the passes thrown his way. He made one-handed grabs, leaped for balls, turned back across his body.

It was, really, what we had come to expect. Not every game, of course. But not seldom, either.

From our sister site Acme Packing Company: By the Numbers: Aaron Rodgers continues dominance against Bears

Football is often a game of numbers, and today's 31-23 victory by the Green Bay Packers is no exception. After looking through statistics and notes, we can put together important numerical nuggets from the game.

Here are a few of the key numbers that stood out from Green Bay's victory in Week 1:

74%

That's Aaron Rodgers completion percentage the last three games he's faced the Bears. The Packers have won all three of those contests, with Rodgers going 58-of-78 for 804 yards and 13 touchdowns (no picks). As a team, the Packers have outscored Chicago 124-54 in those three games, and Rodgers now holds a 13-3 career record against the Bears.

California 35, San Diego State 7 - Press Quotes

Sonny Dykes

  • On kickoff coverage and blocks: "That's been our biggest issue," Dykes said. "We haven't gotten off blocks at the point of attack. We worked on that for about 30 minutes at tonight's practice. We worked on it very diligently, and that's what we've got to do."
  • Dykes complimented the referees, saying he thought Saturday's game was "very well officiated."
  • On linebacker Raymond Davison inclusion in the depth chart: "Ray's one of those guys, a lot like Darius Allensworth, he's physically able to perform at a higher level now," Dykes said. "He's just gotten bigger, stronger, faster and he's maturing and has developed into a good football player."
  • On Nate Broussard's return from injury: "I thought he played well" against SDSU, Dykes said. "It's been a long two years. I'm just really excited he was back out there competing for us."

Jared Goff, Michael Barton

  • On coming back from an early deficit: "It just shows our character," Goff said. "For (San Diego State) to go down and score on the first drive . that was it for the rest of the game. They just couldn't score. When you have a defense that can do that, it helps so much."
  • On the performance of the defense: "It was good to have our defense carry us through the game and have the offense feed off our energy instead of the other way," Cal linebacker Michael Barton said. "Our veteran leadership showed a lot and we made big plays when we needed to."
In head coach Sonny Dykes' first season at Cal, the Golden Bears had a quantifiable all-time bad defense at 45.9 points per game surrendered. Its porous defense resulted in Cal finishing 1-11 on the year.

Two years later, Cal has already doubled that win total through just two games and ranks in the top 15 nationally with 10.5 points per game allowed.

Cal followed up an expected dominant opener against Grambling State with a 35-7 rout of San Diego State.

After giving up a score to the Aztecs early, Cal buckled down and shut them out the rest of the afternoon.

Cal exploited evident weaknesses in the San Diego State, namely its impotent passing attack. At the same time, the Golden Bears limited San Diego State running back Donnel Pumphrey's explosive plays.

Perhaps Cal just took advantage of a struggling opponent, but that's something the Golden Bears failed to do defensively two years ago and even at times in 2014.


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