I didn't learn anything today or this spring that I didn't see last season to think anything different of John.

He had a better winter workout than his spring. He'll have to earn that spot right up to the first game and then on to the second and third and so on.

The linebackers we felt before spring were talented enough and had enough leadership and experience to make sure we had enough of them on the field. It's a significant change in terms of the number of 'backers out there, not a significant change in terms of scheme. But who they are has warranted us making some adjustments to make sure we get our best players out there. There's tremendous competition, depth and talent at that position. That's why we're featuring those players in our defense this year.

They deserved to win and they outperformed us in every aspect of the game today.

Cal played an excellent game today and they deserved to win. The end result is we played good enough to lose by seven. The disappointing aspect is it was a loss. The positive aspect is that we exhibited resiliency. We know we could have won that game. We fell short for a number of reasons, but I believe this was a solid beginning to what's to come for this program. And I look forward to getting right back to it after Christmas.

Boston College is a solid football team, which is exactly what we saw on the field today. They run the ball effectively, they play-action pass effectively and they're hard to score points on. They play well and they're well-coached. They're worthy of where they're ranked to this point.