Well, let's try this again, shall we?

(As of the time of writing, Cal is still scheduled to play ASU and start their season. I am writing with the assumption that such a game will occur.)

1) Braxten Croteau (but also the rest of the front 7) versus Jayden Daniels, Chip Trayanum, and Rachaad White.

While Croteau played some last year, this is his first real field time knowing he's the man at his position -- Tevin Paul's opt-out allowed him to become Cam Goode's running mate -- and in Cal's season opener, he'll surely be tested by the Sun Devils, who were really only able to generate yardage off of a few plays into space and running Jayden Daniels. Seeing as the Bears are already well-familiar with Daniels' running ability and the 84 yards he rolled up last year, let's move onto the other guys. White caught some passes -- including one he took 55 yards to the house -- and ASU will run power to the edge too. Both running backs, while inexperienced, looked really good in their debuts; Trayanum's their bigger guy with some wiggle, and White is their quicker guy.

One thing to realize here too is that under Zak Hill, they will use motion a lot, sometimes even shifting all the skill position players from one side of the field to the other, dramatically altering the strength and look of the formation. (They did this 4 times in the final three quarters of the USC game, once with their running backs both left in a 2x2, then moving both into the backfield, and all the formerly backfield guys out to wide receiver. Another time, they did this with their tight ends. What I'm trying to tell you is it'll be incredibly important that Cal lines up properly and accounts for all the gaps consistently, because ASU will press the tempo willingly.)

This may be a week also that you want to give a look to Orin Patu and Trey Paster, if those two guys are ready, just so you have the option of getting more speed on the field.

2) The ASU Receivers versus Takers 1.5

It's not quite a true sequel yet, with Bynum and Hicks still there, but it's a matchup the Bears should be favored in. ASU's only real returning receiver, Frank Darby, was out with a rib injury, forcing the Sun Devils to lean heavily on:

Ricky Pearsall - fumbled the final onside kick to allow USC to win

LV Bunkley Shelton - fumbled

Geordan Porter - 4 net yards (18 receiving, -14 rushing)

Johnny Wilson - 0 catches, ~3 drops

Daniels finished the game with roughly 3.5 yards per attempt, factoring out the long catch-and-run by White. Because Cal fancies themselves a strong secondary team, even after losing both starting safeties from last year, I think they should parlay the advantage they have on paper here into trusting some of the solo match-ups, which would allow them to spy Daniels with a dedicated player.

3) The New Offensive Line

Will Craig is back. Everyone is healthy. Valentino Daltoso has made massive strides to win a starting lineup job, and McKade Mettauer has bulked up considerably. All of that is great. It'll be needed -- the Bears will face an defensive front that sports multiple 300 pounders and wreaked significant discomfort for Kedon Slovis, despite rushing only their base four. Pac-12 preseason first-teamer Jermayne Lole (2.5 TFL, 2 PD) led the way there, but Tyler Johnson also chipped in significantly too.

Cal wants to run the ball. We didn’t get to see them try it against Washington. Unfortunately, things aren’t likely to get any easier week 2 (1?).

4) Push the Vertical – '

Against the Trojans, ASU played to keep everything in front of them, and were largely successful up until a couple of plays in the 4th quarter. The Bears will commit to running far more consistently than USC did if they see this as often as the Trojans did, but it’ll be healthy to force ASU to respect Chase Garbers through the air, too. Cal’s senior-laden receiving corps wants to prove quite a lot to the rest of the conference. They’ll face down against a solid cornerback duo in Chase Lucas and Jack Jones. (I wouldn’t hold the stats given up to Drake London, Tyler Vaughns, and Amon-Ra St. Brown against Lucas and Jones; that USC group will terrorize a lot of teams. They even did so against us last year.)

5) The Margins –

Like I said last week, in a season like this where everyone’s sloppy, the less mistakes you make, the better. ASU could have put the game away multiple times, with one less fumble, with one more 4th down stop. Anything. Most of the losers in the Pac-12 all could have:

· UCLA gave up 14 points on three turnovers, plus Colorado missed two field goals that would have put the game away even earlier.

· Stanford missed four field goals in a game they likely would have lost regardless, but you can’t give away points on a talent differential.

Outside of the Brandon McIlwain run, this kind of safety and conservatism is largely in the program’s ethos, though. Discipline is a feature – a want – for Wilcox, whose Cal squad was 12th best in the country in penalty yardage, and 14th in turnovers at just 1 per game last year.

It’s going to be needed.