Revisiting pre-season projections and predictions

Photo by Stephen Dunn/Getty ImagesEach year we produce a bunch of words in August previewing the next season of Cal football. And I’ve learned a few lessons over the years. A few of them?

Optimistic chatter based on fall practice is almost always exaggerated, sometimes to the point of absurdity.

Returning experience matters, but usually only to the extent that those returners have already proven their ability to produce.

If I don’t go back and look at what I predicted the year before then I don’t learn any lessons.

It’s in the spirit of that 4th item that we’re once again looking back on preseason previews to look at how well Cal answered some of the critical pre-season question marks, and…