Trap Games: UNT vs. Cal

Coach Andy Mac · May 10, 2023

North Texas qualified for the Conference USA title game a season ago, but the real danger for California is that its season opener against UNT occurs on the road. The Golden Bears have a ton of transfers, and with this being their first game with several new faces, a less-than-ideal situation could present itself.

Breakdown: California has one of the Pac-12's toughest tests when facing Auburn, which has been rejuvenated following the hiring of Hugh Freeze. The Golden Bears' clash with the Tigers comes during Week 2 and falls between dates with North Texas and Idaho, which could lead to some assuming the Golden Bears would have one of the most manageable schedules in the conference. But California faces Washington, Utah and Oregon with each of those games coming on the road in venues often described as among the loudest in the Pac-12.

LINK: https://247sports.com/longformarticle/pac-12-football-biggest-trap-games-in-2023-for-every-team-in-lea-209762327/#2164922

tmjerm · May 10, 2023

Let’s Ball State em on the hot turf!

TheReal_jayD · May 10, 2023

Cal looking at North Texas on schedule:

southsideguy · May 10, 2023

I wonder if we hold a little advantage since our HC coached in the PAC 10

MGNation92 · May 10, 2023

16 minutes ago, southsideguy said:

I wonder if we hold a little advantage since our HC coached in the PAC 10

Honestly feel better about Caponi in this one. Jake Spavital is their OC and is a Air Raid/Kevin Sumlin disciple. There isn't gonna be one thing they run that Caponi hasn't seen/prepared for in his time at Iowa St.

UNTLifer · May 10, 2023

11 hours ago, tmjerm said:

Let’s Ball State em on the hot turf!

Need a Laramie Lee

MeanGreenTeeth · May 10, 2023

1 hour ago, MGNation92 said:

Honestly feel better about Caponi in this one. Jake Spavital is their OC and is a Air Raid/Kevin Sumlin disciple. There isn't gonna be one thing they run that Caponi hasn't seen/prepared for in his time at Iowa St.

So.. Cal got stuck with Spav. Poor bastards..

MeanGreenTexan · May 10, 2023

1 hour ago, MGNation92 said:

Honestly feel better about Caponi in this one. Jake Spavital is their OC and is a Air Raid/Kevin Sumlin disciple. There isn't gonna be one thing they run that Caponi hasn't seen/prepared for in his time at Iowa St.

It wont take long for Bloesch to have his fingerprints all over their offense, and for Wilcox to see how smart he is & can Spavital.
He knows a lot of the defensive personnel here (re: player strengths & weaknesses).
This could be a VERY SLOPPY game as it's going to be 2 teams with new systems they're breaking in for the first time at game speed against an opponent. Both will be trying to figure out what they can & can't do well, with the exception being Cal's defense.

cousin oliver · May 10, 2023

2 hours ago, MGNation92 said:

Honestly feel better about Caponi in this one. Jake Spavital is their OC and is a Air Raid/Kevin Sumlin disciple. There isn't gonna be one thing they run that Caponi hasn't seen/prepared for in his time at Iowa St.

The last time they played us they seemed much more pedestrian than what these coaches plan to do.

El Paso Eagle · May 10, 2023

3 hours ago, MeanGreenTeeth said:

So.. Cal got stuck with Spav. Poor bastards..

Sometimes coaches are better coordinators than head coaches. Let's hope he waits until the 2nd game to try and show it.

meanrob · May 10, 2023

4 hours ago, cousin oliver said:

The last time they played us they seemed much more pedestrian than what these coaches plan to do.

They had a very good defense and a mediocre quarterback and they leaned into that.

Still, we should've moved the ball better that game. That game and Iowa were lost opportunities.

Jonnyeagle · May 10, 2023

9 minutes ago, meanrob said: That game and Iowa were lost opportunities.

That was sort of Seth’s MO wasn’t it?

RBP79 · May 11, 2023

Let's see how fall practice goes and who the QB is. There so much yet to find out about this team....same goes for Cal.

But at this point in time at like our chances.

peanuts104 · May 11, 2023

12 hours ago, MeanGreenTexan said:

It wont take long for Bloesch to have his fingerprints all over their offense, and for Wilcox to see how smart he is & can Spavital.
He knows a lot of the defensive personnel here (re: player strengths & weaknesses).
This could be a VERY SLOPPY game as it's going to be 2 teams with new systems they're breaking in for the first time at game speed against an opponent. Both will be trying to figure out what they can & can't do well, with the exception being Cal's defense.

Bloesch knows the trenches, but that's about it. Not too worried, especially since we're going back to 3-3-5.

UNTcrazy727 · May 11, 2023

22 hours ago, meanrob said:

They had a very good defense and a mediocre quarterback and they leaned into that.

Still, we should've moved the ball better that game. That game and Iowa were lost opportunities.

Cal's QB was sooo bad. If he was halfway decent they would have beat us by multiple scores.