A monitoring and control system is for a strand guide roll assembly of a continuous casting machine which includes a plurality of rolls spaced apart generally along a path of travel of a strand from an input end located adjacent to a mold to an output end. The system includes a plurality of sensors each coupled with a separate one of the rolls so as to be spaced apart generally along the travel path, each sensor senses magnitude of a load on the coupled roll. A logic circuit is coupled with each sensor so as to receive input from the sensors corresponding to load magnitude. The logic circuit is configured to determine from the sensor input a general position on the travel path at which the strand substantially solidifies, preferably by calculating a difference between loads on adjacent rolls and determining when the difference is less than a predetermined value.