Grading the Bucks--Week 3: Cal

This was a sloppy sloppy game.  OSU has some major issues to fix on BOTH sides of the ball.  Cal is straight up bad. This shouldn't have been close and the Bears had a late lead.  This is unacceptable.  The lack of fundamentals and maturity is concerning.  A win is a win, but this isn't good enough to win down the road (although the B1G is a train wreck).  I gave a pass for UCF as I think they have talent.  With Cal, no excuses.

Offense: C-
 The loss of Hyde was painfully apparent.  There was no clear running threat on the inside which certainly hurt Braxton's ability to both run and throw.  There were some sparks (Miller's run was incredibly well executed), but more issues than there should have been.  Miller still looks tentative and indecisive throwing the ball.  The interception was just atrocious; 10 seconds in the pocket and he threw it right to a wide open corner.  The horror of that play wipes out the explosive run in my book.  The WRs let Braxton down in the first, but stepped up later--when Braxton started missing big.  Nevada and Southern Utah had no issues scoring...yet we couldn't consistently move the chains...ouch.  The yards are nice to look at, but the lack of a consistent offensive gameplan is a major sticking point.

Defense: D+
Cal....Cal for God's sake.  Fundamentals were horrendous by 8 of the defenders.  Missed tackles abounded.  Note to Curtis Grant: when you finally get on the field, you probably shouldn't leave a steaming pile of crap in your wake if you want more playing time.  Spielman had to be punching a hole through the concrete wall watching this defense.  Our secondary spends more time trying to line a guy up and blow him into the next zip code than fundamental tackling.  I'm really questioning if Travis Howard knows proper tackling technique as every hit is geared at making Sportscenter (even if he doesn't bring the ball carrier down).  I would be remiss if I didn't applaud the perform of 3 individuals: Jon Simon was double teamed all game and he still affected the outcome, Jon Hankins absolute controls the middle of that line, and Bradley Roby had a spectacular game.  Beyond those 3, this defense has major major issues.

Special Teams:C-
Missed PAT...enough said.  It almost cost us the game.  Punting/returns were fine, but can't have a failure in the kicking game like that.

Coaching: C
The offensive and defensive gameplans were bland.  Still no throws downfield early to stretch the defense (but Braxton is clearly iffy with the deep ball).  The loss of Hyde should have seen more Zach Boren pounding the rock inside but we saw none of that.  Hall still had some tentative running after the injury.  Defensively, I'm more frustrated with the lack of fundamental tackling than gameplan.  5 sacks show that the D-line is starting to affect the game, but the secondary isn't improving (other than Roby).

Overall: C-
Get. Better.