After sleeping on it, I think the miscues and mistakes are fixable. Need a little more creativity on offense in the run game. Otherwise, the passes were to be had but out of sync. Defense played well enough to win.
Yes. I totally agree with you. After a painful loss like this we are licking wounds, as is this Cal team, though. Injuries to key players (Cindric, Ott) after two games is concerning.
I indicated previously that we could measure California's season hinged on the team's steady improvement. Our team defense gave the Bears ample opportunities to win the game against Auburn. But missed field goals and untimely penalties coupled with a limited running attack spelled a disheartening loss.
Sep 10, 2023·edited Sep 10, 2023Liked by Rick Chen
Still feeling somewhat irritated and sad about this loss. We had an opportunity to build our brand on a national stage. Next chance will be against UW on the road. The new TV era of college football is mostly marketing. Look at what Prime has done.
This is really a pattern with Wilcox: something happens to build excitement and we get a good crowd at home ready to party, and then the game is a wet fart. Not going to build a program that way.
Most devastating loss since the '20 Big Game. Such a missed opportunity. Everyone will blame Luckhurst (justifiably) but we needed to score more than one touchdown out of all those opportunities.
I notice that Luckhurst kicks straight, not soccer style. The difference of the soccer style is a flat side of the foot gives a wider striking area for greater accuracy. Luckhurst has the distance, just not the accuracy. But I can't believe he was not drilled ad infinitum after the Texas game.
Just a note, he's a young man, not a hardened pro. I choose to not make him the scapegoat.
Me too. He's a freshman and we should give him some slack. He did nail the 52 yarder invalidated by the phantom holding call. We needed, amongst a plethora of opportunities, one more TD. That's it.
More TDs would have been great but if he just connected on one of those missed FGs, we would be down 14-13 and in game winning FG range on that last drive.
44k fans in the stands? Don’t expect that anytime soon, especially with this loss. (I’ll still watch because I’m a fool, or at least record it and fast forward a lot).
We had one good chance to excite the fan base and get some momentum but failed.
As said in thousands of other posts, enough excuses. Unless we have a massive turnaround this year in a difficult PAC 12, expect mass player moves into the portal. I’m honestly hoping for the turnaround.
Next year is a new start in the ACC. Let’s just wipe our Coaching football slate clean as well as fire the AD. It’s a good time for a rebuild anyway.
Even for all of our issues, Cal was the better team. Gained more yards and first downs, held the ball longer, had fewer turnovers. We lost because we couldn't make field goals and because we got some bad calls going against us at critical times. Honestly, we should have been up by three scores at the half. That we weren't is what opened the door for Auburn to win.
The room for error is just so small under Wilcox. No matter how early, you just know in your bones when a "that just cost us the game" turn of events takes place. Yesterday, it happened very early. After that opening sequence, the only time I legitimately thought we'd win was for a few minutes when SJ5 provided that spark off the bench... Thinking that was the x-factor, that will make this different from the typical Wilcox experience.. a gamer qb will change the game...
Disappointing result and unfortunately at this point in Wilcox tenure, I am somewhat used to these “close but no cigar” type games. I am tired of the moral victories (perhaps Wilcox is too based on his quotes), but I expect growing pains on offense with an inexperienced QB and WR core. Now if we could find a kicker...
Pretty obvious that the Bears were the better team. They owned time of possession, ran more plays, got more yards, committed less penalties, had less turnovers. Not perfect by any stretch of the imagination, but that's a game they should have won. And one that they would have won, if it weren't for taking all of those points off the board. Come away with points on just a couple of those attempts and it's a whole different conversation. But as far as Cal football goes I have seen a lot, lot worse.
Keep in mind that one bad call by the refs (dead ball whistle) basically would have changed the outcome...then three missed field goals, which is almost a fluke (2/3) would have won it. We should have won this game.
What I don't understand is why they benched Ifanse after a questionable fumble. They changed the game plan (unless there is something else we don't know). And I understand the idea of trying to soften the Dline, but they should have adjusted when it became clear that the middle was clogged. This looked like the Toyota Tercel, again.
And if you are going power, you give Ifanse and Stredick as many touches as Ott. You make Ott your big play back...and don't train wreck him into traffic. This is on Spav!
I think with Ott their strategy was/is: the more you give him the ball, the more likely it is he breaks a big play. It's like buying multiple lottery tickets to increase your odds (and really needing to win because you quit your job).
The refs were irritating, however the number of bad calls was still way less than the number of golden opportunities the offense were gifted thanks to stellar defensive play and Auburn’s unforced errors. How many takeaways in that game? 4? 5? One of Tedford’s average teams would have run that Auburn team off the field with that turnover margin.
Agree on Ifanse. If we were going to grind 3 yard run game, Ifanse is our guy. Yet we kept going with Stredick. And Ifanse's elbow was down before the ball came out.
So friggin' mad about this one. We should have walked away in a cakewalk on this one. Terrible coaching on this one. No creativity with the run game whatsoever. Our kicking game was horrible (I thought losing Ragle was a GOOD thing; apparently that wasn't the answer). I blame Wilcox for this loss 100%. Jackson V can throw accurately but sometimes would send it to a different zip code - didn't understand that at all.
Our offensive game plan lacked creativity and aggressiveness.
This is becoming the norm for Wilcox football, I'm sorry to say.
I can stomach close losses where things just don’t go your team’s way despite playing well, a la U$C 2004. This game just left me feeling frustrated and depressed.
I was in the Band that year. Probably one of the greatest games I’ve ever witnessed in person. It was so good that even the $C fans weren’t acting like dicks when we were all leaving. Everyone was fully aware at what we had all just watched.
Sipping my morning coffee after going to sleep angry at 4am Eastern time.. and I'm trying to focus more on the positive -- that our defense looks good. And not focus on the fact that we blew it, or the fact that Ott hurt himself while hurdling defenders for no reason. (fortunately that wasnt worse). And now I will try to not focus on Cal football at all for a while.
Cal lost a tough game it could have win with a few successful -- not necessarily big -- plays. There was an electrify in the air before the game. There was deja vu all over again after the game. An amazing drone show at half!!
It is becoming the hallmark for Wilcox’s Cal teams.
It’s also the sign of an ineffective head coach that has failed to build a winning culture in his 7 years. Can’t blame that one on COVID, or the COB, or the professors, etc.
The kicking game cost this team at TCU in ‘21, and does so again, which is unacceptable if you’re going to win these Wilcox-coin toss games.
I understand that Wilcox wanted to be a defensive oriented and conservative head coach, that’s fine. However, a key piece to that is having very good special teams and a solid and dependable FG kicker, Wilcox has never had that or developed that.
ST Coordinator may not be a kicking coach, but a lack of ST Coordinator for the past couple of years shows special teams is an afterthought for Wilcox. We do have one this year, but it was just added title at the last minute. So'oto doesn't have experience being a ST Coordinator.
Look at the teams that HAVE built (or re-built) successful programs during the Wilcox era:
- Oregon State
- Washington State
- UCLA
- Washington
- Colorado
As for the "Education First" ethos at Cal, I now believe that if the University wants to set higher academic standards for student-athletes, then we should also require any Ph.D. candidate or incoming professor to run a mile in under 9 minutes. Competitive sports programs have been an integral part of California since day 1. We should be at the same level of competitiveness BOTH academically and athletically as Michigan, Stanford, Texas, and more.
And, under the PAC-12 futures category, it’s a distinct possibility WSU and OSU will attempt to rescue the brand, through claiming the “war chest”-crossing their T’s through legal channels. In a poetic turn, ESPN should absolutely bring CGD to the Palouse on 9/23, as both teams will be ranked and almost certainly still undefeated.
I stand corrected, as it was indeed in Miami that the NT squad dropped their second straight this year and fourth overall, going back to last year’s Frisco Bowl (Boise State) and C-USA championship (UTSA). Thank you, Bowlesman 80.
Slept on it, don’t feel any better
Same, I feel terrible.
I couldn't sleep.
And, yeah, this one hurt.
After sleeping on it, I think the miscues and mistakes are fixable. Need a little more creativity on offense in the run game. Otherwise, the passes were to be had but out of sync. Defense played well enough to win.
Go Bears
Yes. I totally agree with you. After a painful loss like this we are licking wounds, as is this Cal team, though. Injuries to key players (Cindric, Ott) after two games is concerning.
I indicated previously that we could measure California's season hinged on the team's steady improvement. Our team defense gave the Bears ample opportunities to win the game against Auburn. But missed field goals and untimely penalties coupled with a limited running attack spelled a disheartening loss.
Still feeling somewhat irritated and sad about this loss. We had an opportunity to build our brand on a national stage. Next chance will be against UW on the road. The new TV era of college football is mostly marketing. Look at what Prime has done.
This is really a pattern with Wilcox: something happens to build excitement and we get a good crowd at home ready to party, and then the game is a wet fart. Not going to build a program that way.
Most devastating loss since the '20 Big Game. Such a missed opportunity. Everyone will blame Luckhurst (justifiably) but we needed to score more than one touchdown out of all those opportunities.
I notice that Luckhurst kicks straight, not soccer style. The difference of the soccer style is a flat side of the foot gives a wider striking area for greater accuracy. Luckhurst has the distance, just not the accuracy. But I can't believe he was not drilled ad infinitum after the Texas game.
Just a note, he's a young man, not a hardened pro. I choose to not make him the scapegoat.
Me too. He's a freshman and we should give him some slack. He did nail the 52 yarder invalidated by the phantom holding call. We needed, amongst a plethora of opportunities, one more TD. That's it.
He's a soph. And if you look closely, he doesn't kick straight on. It may look like it but he uses the side soccer style.
More TDs would have been great but if he just connected on one of those missed FGs, we would be down 14-13 and in game winning FG range on that last drive.
And then missed the game winning FG...
But yes I totally agree. Just one FG before that drive would have been all we needed.
Yeah, more than likely he misses a 38 yard game winning FG.
He is 2-6 on FG and 5-6 on PATs. The FG attempts he missed were medium range so it isn’t like he is missing 45+ yard FGs.
Somewhat irritated. Well, I guess I am trending that way from the over the top exasperation of last night.
44k fans in the stands? Don’t expect that anytime soon, especially with this loss. (I’ll still watch because I’m a fool, or at least record it and fast forward a lot).
We had one good chance to excite the fan base and get some momentum but failed.
As said in thousands of other posts, enough excuses. Unless we have a massive turnaround this year in a difficult PAC 12, expect mass player moves into the portal. I’m honestly hoping for the turnaround.
Next year is a new start in the ACC. Let’s just wipe our Coaching football slate clean as well as fire the AD. It’s a good time for a rebuild anyway.
Even for all of our issues, Cal was the better team. Gained more yards and first downs, held the ball longer, had fewer turnovers. We lost because we couldn't make field goals and because we got some bad calls going against us at critical times. Honestly, we should have been up by three scores at the half. That we weren't is what opened the door for Auburn to win.
The room for error is just so small under Wilcox. No matter how early, you just know in your bones when a "that just cost us the game" turn of events takes place. Yesterday, it happened very early. After that opening sequence, the only time I legitimately thought we'd win was for a few minutes when SJ5 provided that spark off the bench... Thinking that was the x-factor, that will make this different from the typical Wilcox experience.. a gamer qb will change the game...
I don't think so. We could have still failed 3 out of 4 missed FG opportunities last night and still would have been in position for a winning FG.
But if you play the game in reverse, your first mistake is your last
Disappointing result and unfortunately at this point in Wilcox tenure, I am somewhat used to these “close but no cigar” type games. I am tired of the moral victories (perhaps Wilcox is too based on his quotes), but I expect growing pains on offense with an inexperienced QB and WR core. Now if we could find a kicker...
Pretty obvious that the Bears were the better team. They owned time of possession, ran more plays, got more yards, committed less penalties, had less turnovers. Not perfect by any stretch of the imagination, but that's a game they should have won. And one that they would have won, if it weren't for taking all of those points off the board. Come away with points on just a couple of those attempts and it's a whole different conversation. But as far as Cal football goes I have seen a lot, lot worse.
Thanks Rick…good article.
Watched from the stands…tough beat, yet completely expected. Wilcox is not the answer.
Keep in mind that one bad call by the refs (dead ball whistle) basically would have changed the outcome...then three missed field goals, which is almost a fluke (2/3) would have won it. We should have won this game.
What I don't understand is why they benched Ifanse after a questionable fumble. They changed the game plan (unless there is something else we don't know). And I understand the idea of trying to soften the Dline, but they should have adjusted when it became clear that the middle was clogged. This looked like the Toyota Tercel, again.
Totally agree on the run game tactics.
And if you are going power, you give Ifanse and Stredick as many touches as Ott. You make Ott your big play back...and don't train wreck him into traffic. This is on Spav!
I think with Ott their strategy was/is: the more you give him the ball, the more likely it is he breaks a big play. It's like buying multiple lottery tickets to increase your odds (and really needing to win because you quit your job).
LOL. This is a perfect comparison.
The refs were irritating, however the number of bad calls was still way less than the number of golden opportunities the offense were gifted thanks to stellar defensive play and Auburn’s unforced errors. How many takeaways in that game? 4? 5? One of Tedford’s average teams would have run that Auburn team off the field with that turnover margin.
Agree on Ifanse. If we were going to grind 3 yard run game, Ifanse is our guy. Yet we kept going with Stredick. And Ifanse's elbow was down before the ball came out.
So friggin' mad about this one. We should have walked away in a cakewalk on this one. Terrible coaching on this one. No creativity with the run game whatsoever. Our kicking game was horrible (I thought losing Ragle was a GOOD thing; apparently that wasn't the answer). I blame Wilcox for this loss 100%. Jackson V can throw accurately but sometimes would send it to a different zip code - didn't understand that at all.
Our offensive game plan lacked creativity and aggressiveness.
This is becoming the norm for Wilcox football, I'm sorry to say.
I can stomach close losses where things just don’t go your team’s way despite playing well, a la U$C 2004. This game just left me feeling frustrated and depressed.
I was in the Band that year. Probably one of the greatest games I’ve ever witnessed in person. It was so good that even the $C fans weren’t acting like dicks when we were all leaving. Everyone was fully aware at what we had all just watched.
I am really enjoying the image of dickless $C fans. Thank you. 😁
Sipping my morning coffee after going to sleep angry at 4am Eastern time.. and I'm trying to focus more on the positive -- that our defense looks good. And not focus on the fact that we blew it, or the fact that Ott hurt himself while hurdling defenders for no reason. (fortunately that wasnt worse). And now I will try to not focus on Cal football at all for a while.
Cal lost a tough game it could have win with a few successful -- not necessarily big -- plays. There was an electrify in the air before the game. There was deja vu all over again after the game. An amazing drone show at half!!
Cal lost a sloppy game where our garbage offense and ST couldn't take advantage of many red zone field positions. A repeat of Colorado last year
It is becoming the hallmark for Wilcox’s Cal teams.
It’s also the sign of an ineffective head coach that has failed to build a winning culture in his 7 years. Can’t blame that one on COVID, or the COB, or the professors, etc.
The kicking game cost this team at TCU in ‘21, and does so again, which is unacceptable if you’re going to win these Wilcox-coin toss games.
The kicking game also cost us the Covid Big Game.
I understand that Wilcox wanted to be a defensive oriented and conservative head coach, that’s fine. However, a key piece to that is having very good special teams and a solid and dependable FG kicker, Wilcox has never had that or developed that.
Never.
Exactly. If you’re gonna win these types of games, you need solid STs….he’s never had it.
ST Coordinator may not be a kicking coach, but a lack of ST Coordinator for the past couple of years shows special teams is an afterthought for Wilcox. We do have one this year, but it was just added title at the last minute. So'oto doesn't have experience being a ST Coordinator.
Agreed.
Look at the teams that HAVE built (or re-built) successful programs during the Wilcox era:
- Oregon State
- Washington State
- UCLA
- Washington
- Colorado
As for the "Education First" ethos at Cal, I now believe that if the University wants to set higher academic standards for student-athletes, then we should also require any Ph.D. candidate or incoming professor to run a mile in under 9 minutes. Competitive sports programs have been an integral part of California since day 1. We should be at the same level of competitiveness BOTH academically and athletically as Michigan, Stanford, Texas, and more.
Just one humble opinion.
^^^THIS!
Did Musgrave come back as the OC?! WTF!
And meanwhile, in sports, the North Texas Mean Green dropped a tough one at home, 45-39, to the Florida International University Panthers.
And, under the PAC-12 futures category, it’s a distinct possibility WSU and OSU will attempt to rescue the brand, through claiming the “war chest”-crossing their T’s through legal channels. In a poetic turn, ESPN should absolutely bring CGD to the Palouse on 9/23, as both teams will be ranked and almost certainly still undefeated.
Pretty sure that was an "away" game for NT.
I stand corrected, as it was indeed in Miami that the NT squad dropped their second straight this year and fourth overall, going back to last year’s Frisco Bowl (Boise State) and C-USA championship (UTSA). Thank you, Bowlesman 80.
I had just looked it up, earlier.
You're welcome.