Quote:
Originally Posted by RPMadMSU
MSU 27 - Cal 17.
Cal has trouble adjusting to their new D verse a live opponent and MSU's run game wears em down early and keeps em on the field. Defensively, MSU's speed rush rattles Cal's patchwork, and inexperienced line, as well as the young Riley early, and Cal makes the switch to Longshore in the 2nd half, but they don't have enough possessions to come back.
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An interesting prediction, but I'm not sure where some of this comes from.
I posted on the Cal board that last season by the end of the ASU game Cal's defense was a wierd 3-3 in a way. Cal kept DT Matt Malele on the field, but he had a knee injury that limited his mobilty severely. With starters DE Rulon Davis out, and DT Mika Kane also ineffective due to injury, the Cal linebackers got a lot of experience fighting off blocks. I don't see them having much of an adjustment, especially as they have been against the Cal O-line in practice, so they know what to expect. Also Cal's LB corp goes 10 deep, and will be hard to wear down.
On the O-line for Cal, they have 2 3 year starters (C Alex Mack, RG Noris Malele) and LT Chet Teofilo has considerable game experience from last season. RT Schwartz is a redshirt freshman, but was part of what most pundits considered one of the best linemen classes of the year when he signed in 2006, and LG Chris Guarnero was good enough that during the 2007 spring practices, they tried C Alex Mack at tackle with the idea that Guarnero would take over at center. They decided against that, but Mark Boskovich received playing time at guard last season and lost out in training camp to Guarnero, so I doubt there is much of a drop off, if any. They key is going to be Mack though. He is the veteran and makes all of the line calls, telling the O-line how they will block each play. If he is healthy all season, the Cal O-line will be dominant, even if some of the players are a bit inexperienced.