1. It was clear the Cal linebacking department was the biggest weak link of this whole defense, because we only had three capable linebackers to fill four spots. If we had one of either Cecil Whiteside, Chris Martin or Chris Little available to us, how much better would this group have been?

Kodiak: Dramatically better.  Part of the strength of the 3-4 is being able to rush or drop any backer at any time.  That's hard to do when one of the positions simply isn't getting it done.  Also, we could have used players who have pass-rushing ability.  Our base rush-4 look was often ineffective at getting pressure against better lines.  In fact, some of our blitz packages didn't work because our guys weren't very proficient at getting to the QB.

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Instead of going for new and exciting, Jeff Tedford is returning to the old but tried and true. Jim Michalczik is on the verge of leaving the Oakland Raiders and returning to coach the California Golden Bears offensive line, reports Jim McGill of Bear Insider. He will rejoin the also-returning Eric Kiesau at receivers coach and steady Ron Gould at running backs coach to try and revive a Cal offense that sunk into the Bay since his departure, much in part due to the struggles of the offensive line.

Michalczik is best known for taking Tom Holmoe's offensive line recruits that had been performing poorly before his departure, and whipping them into ultra shape to make Cal the best rushing offense in the conference in 2004 and 2005 (yes, even over Reggie Bush and LenDale White at Southern Cal). Behind Ryan O'Callaghan, Aaron Merz and Marvin Philip, Cal enjoyed bountiful success in the run attack. Their departures were hard to atone for, as Cal struggled to lock down key offensive line recruits, but those issues can be partly attributed to the SAHPC/treesitter fiasco rather than anything wrong with Michalczik's recruiting style. Still, Michalczik did find and develop Alex Mack into the best offensive lineman in the Pac-10 for 2007-08, as he powered Jahvid Best to incredible rushing numbers in his senior season; Mack would also win the equivalent of the Academic Heisman award and be selected by the Cleveland Browns in the first round.

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1. Tosh Lupoi has now developed two first-round caliber draft picks in Tyson Alualu and Cameron Jordan. Is he the most indispensable member of our staff?

LeonPowe: I think moreso due to the recruiting prowness rather than the d-line coaching. We've been lucky enough to have talent development at all levels - especially looking at Ron Gould (RB) - but the recruiting. . . the players we're starting to bring in are very very exciting.

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Avinash: How do people feel about this compromise plan, courtesy of Brian Cook:

MGOBLOG PLAYOFF PLAN: Six teams, no autobids, byes to the top two teams. No more than two teams per conference, and those teams can't play each other in the first round. Home games until the final, one the week after the championship games, one on January 1st, final at the Rose Bowl January 8th, leave bowl system alone.

 

This preserves almost all of the urgency of regular season and guarantees that the champion is also the team with the best season-long resume since five of the top six lose and anyone not 1 or 2 wades through three elite opponents, staking an undeniable claim.

This year's hypothetical bracket:

1. Oregon vs winner of 3. TCU / 6. Ohio State
2. Auburn vs winner of 4. Wisconsin / 5. Stanford

If Auburn had lost to Alabama they would probably have fallen to fifth (ballparking it) and gone from a first round bye and January 1 home game to a first round game in Madison or Palo Alto—a freaking huge deal. Losing one game boots Boise and Michigan State, and two is fatal for everyone. Since the current system frequently sees one-loss teams into the championship game it's difficult to argue this system cheapens the regular season.

Berkelium97: I assume this means no more BCS bowls, so the Rose, Fiesta, Sugar, and Orange bowls are all gone?

It seems like an adequate way to determine the national champion, but I'd rather have the traditional BCS bowls.

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Background: After the Oregon Ducks lost the BCS National Championship Game to the Auburn Tigers, Nike was quick to come to the rescue of their favorite sons. Phil Knight...err, the sad Oregon fans needed all the solace they could get after an undefeated regular season, an undefeated run through the formidable Pac-10 round robin, and two straight conference titles. (Cheer up guys, in a few years Auburn probably won't have the title either! You can all be miserable together!)

The ad was quite fresh, quite polished, quite slick. Far too slick in fact, as it was ripe for mockery. Our astute commenters were up to the task of pointing out the funniest aspects of the Oregon program in their advertisement replacements. And it starts, as it should, with computer notebooks.

via i1090.photobucket.com

Suggested by chowder and designed by freshfunk, you two are the winners of CGB's first photoshop contest. More photoshop contests to come in the future!

After the jump, worthy photoshop runner-ups.

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(1) Marshall moves on to Colorado.  Not a complete surprise here.  I was thinking that he had at least one more year to turn things around, but I wasn't discounting the possibility of him moving on or getting fired this year.  Remember when Marshall was first hired there was a lot of skepticism surrounding his hire?  A lot of people pointed to the fact that despite coaching in the NFL (under the assumption that a coach has to be more accomplished to coach in the NFL rather than college), the teams that he coached for all had pretty weak offensive lines.  Who were those teams?  The Cleveland Browns (2007-2008), and the Houston Texans (2002-2005). 

2008 Cleveland Browns
#26 in the NFL for yards per rush attempt
#8 in the NFL for least amount of sacks given up

2007 Cleveland Browns
#6 in the NFL for yards per rush attempt
#3 in the NFL for least amount of sacks given up

2005 Houston Texans
#9 in the NFL for yards per rush attempt
#32 in the NFL for least amount of sacks given up (68 sacks)

2004 Houston Texans
#22 in the NFL for yards per rush attempt
#25 in the NFL for least amount of sacks given up (49 sacks)

As you can see, it seemed as if Marshall's offensive lines got better as the years went on (sort of), but he did have a few years of really horrible offensive lines.  I'm talking about those years with the Texans.  In 2005, the Texans gave up the most sacks in the NFL.  Things weren't much better in 2004 either.  Of course, sacks given up is also dependent on how good your QB is, and how good your receivers are too.  But without going back to look at the film of those teams, statistics are the next best way to gauge their effectiveness. 

Anyways, I guess the skeptics were right.  Marshall... not that good.  Next. 

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(In light of yesterday's slopfest that resembled a national championship game between the Oregon Ducks and Auburn Tigers, and the fact an undefeated and worthy TCU Horned Frogs squad will be excluded from the final picture of who should be number one, this discussion seems all the more relevant. Enjoy.)

Avinash: So I'm ready for the first round of the NCAA Division I Playoffs! What about eight teams?

Bracket 1
#7 Oklahoma at #1 Auburn (in my playoff I'm going to make sure there are no rematches except in the title game!)
#5 Wisconsin at #4 Stanford

Bracket 2
#8 Arkansas at #2 Oregon
#6 Ohio State at #3 TCU

Or a Plus-One!

#4 Stanford vs. #1 Auburn
#3 TCU vs. #2 Oregon

Or...oh, the stupid system we have right now.

TwistNHook: The question to me is less "Would you rather" because that answer is fairly obvious.  It's more, when the BCS ends in 2014, what do you see occurring?

The Bowls don't want to change anything, because they have everybody over a barrel.  The TV channels have to pay a lot, so they might want to maximize their investment.  Who knows?

Which system would you prefer to watch? The BCS or one of the possible playoff systems? And do you believe a true national champion in college football was determined last night?

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Use this thread to discuss the last college football game for almost eight months.

Monday, January 10
TIME (ET)	MATCHUP	TV	PPV	MOBILE	TICKETS
8:30 PM ET	No. 2 Oregon vs. No. 1 Auburn TOSTITOS BCS NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP GAME				Tickets

Why watch the national championship game?  You don't like Oregon (except for those lovable characters at Addicted to Quack) and you don't like the SEC.  You cannot possibly stand an entire offseason of Oregon bandwagoners or SEC homers proclaiming their dominance over the college football landscape.  You'll be happy to watch one team go home with bruised egos, so you're tuning in tonight.

Oregon, as you all know, is led by LaMichael James and Darron Thomas on offense.  Auburn will have to remain extremely disciplined on defense if they want to avoid giving up big plays.  You can bet they've spent hours watching how Cal shut down the Oregon offense.  Unfortunately for the Tigers, defense was not their strong suit this year.  They can give up points in bunches.  Their strongest player on defense is DT Nick Fairley.  To exploit him, Oregon will have to use their draw plays and zone reads to get him to over-pursue or misread the play.  He's a great player, but Oregon should be able to limit his effectiveness.

Cam Newton leads the Auburn offense.  He's a solid passer who completed over 67% of his passes for nearly 2,600 yards, 28TDs, and only 6 interceptions.  In case you haven't heard, he's also a decent runner.  He ran for 1,400 yards and 20TDs and he also caught a pass for a TD.  He is Auburn's offense.  Oregon will have its hands full trying to shut him down.  This game will probably come down to the play of Oregon's linebackers.  Auburn uses a lot of pre-snap movement and those LBs will have to diagnose plays quickly and shed their blockers to prevent Cam, Mario Fannin, or Onterio McCalebb from breaking free and gaining huge chunks of yardage.  On passing plays Oregon will have to do its best to keep Newton in the pocket because he's obviously a lethal scrambler.  If (and when) he breaks free, those LBs need to wrap him up immediately.

Winner: Auburns offense is better, but Oregon's defense is much better. Oregon wins by a feather.