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Simply saying that Jared Goff has been good this season would be an egregious understatement. The true sophomore quarterback has been on a whole other level so far in the 2014 campaign. Goff has the offense humming, averaging 50 points per game (ranking 2nd in the nation), and pacing the Golden Bears to a 4-1 start.
Goff put together a solid performance after some ups and downs in his freshman campaign, but the team's lack of on field success made it difficult for him to gain any kind of national attention. This year he's been almost impossible to ignore, on his way to smashing every personal mark he set last season.
He has 22 touchdown passes through five games this year while only attempting 181 passes, second to only Connor Halliday in the nation who has attempted about twice as many passes (369) as Goff. It's worth noting, the Cal QB threw for only 18 touchdown passes on 531 pass attempts in all of 2013.
Jared in addition to his 22 td's already on the season has also thrown for 1875 yards, this translates to a pace for 4,500 yards and 52 touchdowns over 12 games, given he continues at the rate at which he is playing to now. It's hard to imagine him keeping up such a torrid pace, but Goff's numbers have actually improved once the Bears entered conference play, averaging 455 yards and 5 TD's per game in three contests against Pac-12 opponents in 2014.
Through week six Jared Goff's Total QBR, (89.6) according to ESPN's metrics, ranks the best in the Pac-12 and second in the entire nation. Better than Marcus Mariota, Blake Sims, Kenny Hill, Dak Prescott, and Brett Hundley just to put his success into perspective.
There are a few reasons for Goff's dramatic improvement this season. He's been able to transform into one of the most efficient quarterbacks in the nation within Tony Franklin's "Bear Raid' scheme. He's been able to boost his yards per attempt up from about 6.6 to now about 10.3 coupled with a completion percentage that is hovering around 64% on the year.
Goff's supporting cast has also been very good this season and he has been very adept at spreading the ball around to his highly talented receiving corps. Nine different players have already caught at least one touchdown pass on the year. The offensive line has also been able to stand up quite nicely this year as well, allowing only 8 sacks and are on pace to cut last year's sack total allowed in half.
Jared Goff and the offense are going to have to show up once again on Saturday for Cal to be successful against a very talented Husky defense, particularly along the defensive front. The Bears have proven their ability to rack up points so far this year, and this match up puts the Golden Bears strength directly against the strength of Washington.
I'm predicting a close one but I think the Bears can grab their 5th W of the year at home. 30-27 Cal.
We'll see how it all plays out 3pm Saturday on the Pac-12 Network.