I'm optomistic based on what I've seen on the field so far, but from the season point of view we are exactly where we thought we'd be. No? 3-1 with a loss to ND. The WSU game is the key game for getting to 6 wins (because Colorado and of course the furd win). But which one of these teams are we beating for 7 - USC, UCLA, Washington, Oregon, Oregon St. Gotta be OSU I think, but its the last game of the season and I hate to leave it to then to get a winning season.
As I read the schedule, OSU is the 3rd to last game of the season. I think we can be in every one of those games - USC looks worse than I thought (I hope Caleb Williams sleepwalks through our game too), OSU better but not dominant, UCLA hot & cold, we often have UW's number, and Oregon can be had. I'm thinking 8 wins this season.
This feels like the most reason for optimism around Cal's program since the Redbox Bowl win.
We rarely take teams to the woodshed under Wilcox. Most wins have been close-ish (within 2 scores). When we dominate, it tends to be due to a lot of turnover luck (WSU in 2017) or going against a very weak opponent (FCS schools, Oregon State in 2018, that spiraling Stanfurd team last year). This felt different. Maybe Arizona will turn out to be awful too, but they at least seem improved over recent Zona teams, and they certainly had every reason to want this game.
The way we won in the second half seems repeatable: decent defense, strong O-line play, smart decisions by Plummer, and highlight plays by Ott. We wouldn't blow out better opponents but it's a formula for winning closer games against them.
And this team has a good chance of staying together for another year too (unlike last year's team that got that Big Game win). That's the kind of thing that can put butts in seats for sure.
Sometimes it takes new players a little time to figure things out. Sometimes it takes coaches a little time to figure personnel groupings out. The Arizona game was a breakthrough game for us in both departments. The O-Line personnel finally fit and it showed. Plummer finally figured out he doesn't have to throw the ball deep on every play, he has great receivers and if he makes his reads and checks down to the right receiver, he will have more success, the receivers will make plays resulting in good YAC, and the passing game will open up our run game and vice versa. It all came together at the start of the 2nd quarter against AZ.
What most people don't see is the chess game that goes on with play calling on both sides of the ball. The team that adjusts to the other's play call better, whether on offense or defense will succeed more and usually win the game. From an offensive perspective we did a hell of a job. The only time AZ really was able to hold us for no gain was when he had a run play called and they brought 6 to 7 of their players to the LOS. But by doing this they ended up burning themselves, because when you have no 2nd level and backers are up tight to the LOS, if Jayden Ott breaks through, he is gone and there is no looking back. This happened twice, but we also had great blocking to spring him.
With respect to our blocking, it wasn't perfect, but it was night and day better than any game we have played this season. Our O-line got off the snaps quick, engaged the defensive players and played (most of the time) until the whistle. That third quarter touchdown by Ott where it looked like he was down after about 9 yards was a great example. A couple of linemen got into the scrum and Vatikani literally pulled Ott out of the tackle and released him to bolt the last 10 yards. It was a beautiful moment and the type of play that Big Uglies smile about while falling asleep, dreaming of a dominant performance. Our O-Line got on run blocks, stayed on blocks, played nasty, and moved the scrums every chance they could. On pass protection they finally put it together. And having Cindric at RG was key. He is our best O-Liner, and where Lovell played poorly, Cindo excelled. Cindo taking over at RG was a huge difference maker. Driscoll, as the only other starting O-lineman who has played center for us. He took over that job and fit in perfectly. I actually think he he better at C than at LG because while he is big, he's not 335 pounds big and doesn't bench 400#+. While the Center's face huge 1 techs, the C usually gets assistance from one of the G's on double teams, so the C is rarely on an island. Wirth respect to pass pro, the C does have to deal with a monster at 1 tech, but usually those guys aren't mobile as a 3 tech which the G or weakside T end up playing against. So the moved suited Driscoll and allowed us to move Vatikani to LG. His mammoth size, quickness, strength and nasty allowed him to overcome his lack of experience and technique. I think when he has his technique down he has the makings of an NFL quality G. Coleman was fairly solid as was Sessions and Rhome. Sessions and Rhome split quarters although I think Sessions actually had more plays. Rhome showed his knowledge of the play calling and making the right assignment choices, and his technique was good. Sessions is the better athlete of the two. They are both about the same IMHO but I think Sessions may have a bit more upside because of his athleticism.
In our pass protection we appeared to stop with the vertical sets and instead engaged at the point of contact and fought there, rather than giving up a lot of ground. It was brutal inside and our Pachyderms did us proud, winning the battles over and over. From my standpoint as an old O-liner, I just loved watching our guys get after it and it made me so proud. Also, our T's were finally patient and waited for the outside rush to come to them, and it made a big difference that provided that additional second or two for Plummer to make his reads and throw the ball.
The TE's blocked marvelously as well. Germain Terry was much improved from last week to this week. He was physical and did a fairly good job, but he needs to learn to stay with his block until the whistle. Mojarro did a solid job as well. The guy who really impressed me was Latu. He never got beat, ever. He is physical and his long arms and wide base allow him to establish position on his opposing player and once he did that, he controlled the block throughout the play. We had a number of plays where the TE's actually pull and run across the back of the O-line with a G or T to throw a block for a runner. These are physical blocks, there is no other way to say it. Latu excelled at these blocks. I was really impressed with his play on the line.
Because I'm not an expert at these positions I won't comment on our receivers or RB's other than to say, we have a lot of talent and Ott is amazing.
AZ came in with a Defensive game plan similar to UNR, TCU, WASU and UCLA last year and all the teams we have faced this year. Stop the run, pressure our QB and press the receivers and force us to throw low percentage long balls. Because of our revamped o-line, this strategy did not work. Hopefully this change is one that will provide us similar outcomes in future games this season. Other teams on our schedule will now need to figure out new ways to defend against us. This is great news.
As to Musgrave's play calling, it was subtle brilliance. If you watch the game film he ran multiple running and pass plays out of similar sets. The finest example was the 4th and 2 where Plummer threw the ball to Latu. Until Brooks made a slight motion to the right everyone in the game, in the stadium and on TV thought we were going to pound the rock. Latu was in the same position he had been all game where he had beed very effective in our run blocking game. When Brooks went in motion there was a momentary brain fart on the AZ side. Two defenders slid out to match him and the receivers we had, thus opening a gap between their DE and DB's. Latu blocked down and quickly released and nobody even saw him sneak out until after he caught the ball. Checkmate. This is the kind of stuff that won't happen in the 1st or 2nd quarter, but evolves as the game goes on. Musgrave must have been smiling after that one. Again, while this is one example of Musgrave's abilities, as long as we continue to execute, I expect fans will grow more accustomed to his real brilliance as an OC. For sure we will have tougher games and perhaps lose a few, but remember the big picture.
Lastly and this is a part I love writing about because it goes to the heart of the game; it's the psychology of respect. Any good lineman will tell you when they owned someone and when they got owned. But when your line plays strong and nasty then they get some swagger. And here's the other part: every player on the team knows that they can run a 40 faster than O-linemen, they can catch a a ball better, but they all know that in a fucking riot that the five starting lineman are the guys that are going to protect them by kicking some big time ass in a nasty way. When your O-line gets this mindset, its contagious. Swagger comes with it, but I will tell you, while receivers and RB's might get some swagger, they will never have more than a successful o-line, and they know it. When everyone on offense knows that those five big fuckers up front are nasty and good and win their battles, the confidence will flow to the rest of the team. And its a good type of confidence cause o-liners are by nature humble. Our team got some swagger this game. They can build on it and they will, but they learned on Saturday that when we play hard and to the whistle, we're a pretty damn good team.
Now let's start getting better at the little things, pad height, ass position, outside knee to crotch relationship in pass pro, intersection locations (don't over run your blocks), etc.
We have work ahead of us and a lot of tough games ahead, but this game gave us and the team a glimpse of what they are capable of, and I am excited for the future of CAL Football! Go Bears!!
Best's 311 yards came against a dog crap Washington team that was 0-12 that year. It Best didn't play in that game, Cal still would have won in convincing fashion. Ott's performance yesterday was something altogether different. If he doesn't play yesterday, Cal likely loses. The only thing I can compare it to is Russell White's 231 yards against USC in 1991. And yes, Russell White put butts in the seats. Lots of them.....
I haven’t looked forward to a recap like this in a long time. It is a very satisfying win. The offense was humming, some proof that the defense could make an adjustment, and hope for the games to come. GO BEARS!
Keenan I don't think could lift us to wins, as amazing as he was. Usually we'd just be way better than the opposition in our wins. Only one I can think of off the top was Colorado 2011. Unfortunately WRs are generally too QB dependent and our QB play wasn't good enough with him.
A gratifying win, but the Bears will be facing quality quarterbacks in coming games. Unless we can contain the run as we did in the second half, and get both better line pressure and pass coverage over the middle, it will be problematic.
Thanks Avi...seeing you in such a good mood makes my day/week! But of all the things you mentioned, my head exploded when I read this..."Memorial Stadium might currently have one of the worst audio setups in college football. It is impossible to hear what anyone is saying on the videoboards on the east side. Maybe it’s better elsewhere but lord if I can tell you what’s happening.
Cal installed new videoboards that seem to only broadcast in standard definition, and on video replays the screen quality degenerates to 144p." WTF!!!! Who loses their job for this...no excuse!
We were near the NW corner of Notre Dame Stadium (kitty-corner from our fellow Cal fans) and their video board was like watching 4k in my living room. I know they have all the money in the world, but I was heartened to hear that Memorial was getting a new board. Have not made it out yet this year, but how disappointing to hear the replacement is crap. Hopefully, the screen itself is good & they just need to build the signal delivery infrastructure (already funded I hope) to deliver a high quality picture. Anyone know what the story is?
On the west side, audio is the exact opposite. Ear bleeding volume so every annoying ad is heard, every case of mistaken identity by stadium PA announcer is clear as a bell, and when the band plays, you better believe something meaningless is drowning them out.
Yup, everything is extremely loud on the alumni side.
Other gameday stuff:
-Still no cheerleaders? It's not that I care about ogling the pom-pom girls, but it seems important for a major football program to, y'know, have them? Kind of embarrassing at this point that we don't.
-Whoever is running the "entertainment" during time outs needs to be better at recognizing when the game is going to start again. They started one of those "shell game" video board things with only about 20 seconds left on the "media timeout" clock. I knew it was going to run long and indeed it did . . . once again they had to cut the announcer's mic in mid-sentence.
The person in charge of hiring coaches for both teams did not do so. Consequently, they had to finally hire someone at the beginning of the season, and at this point, tryouts will not happen until nearly the of the season for the teams. Since the retirement of the last advisor to Cal Spirit groups, this person is also the person who is responsible for telling the Mic Men, the Rally Committee, and the Band when they are allowed to do anything in the insipid Gameday Experience script written by the Athletic Department.
Name: Craig Peden
Title: Director of Marketing and Game Presentation
Of course, one could also complain to his boss (who is newly hired, because they did not exist until less than a month ago), because Peden has been doing this job for most of the past decade and is the reason the experience at games for fans only gets worse.
Holy cow how ridiculous. I wrote Knowlton a long email in 2019 about the fan experience particularly the lack of organized cheers and the drowning out of the fans on defense with canned hip hop or worse back in black by ac DC. He said that this was what younger audiences wanted. Since I am over 50 at this point who wants to hear that crap from when we were 11 years old? What a load of S---!
I’m sure they would never have me because of my period of regrettable political antagonism with the university. That being said, running the game day experience would be an absolute dream job.
Whoever does this should bring back the best of alumni mic men with some sort of stipend to train the new crew. Retool the sound system to mic the band. Incorporate commercials and sales opportunities into what would basically be run as a live production. Embrace the unique aspects of college sports, rather than hoping to fill a nonexistent professional void.
Honestly it would be fun to write out a detailed plan just as a passion project. There is so much potential for great Cal gameday experiences, but it all involves risk.
Anyway, definitely not saying it is easy. But it can be sooooooo much better.
Holy moly the Mic Peeps need some training, cadence and intonation problems galore. Is there no mentorship?!?!
Otherwise what a beautiful performance and day at the stadium. Sun was rough until halftime and then the weather was perfect, and for much of the game there was just a barely visible peak of each GG Bridge pillar. We had a great time.
Ott has patience, vision, acceleration and speed, all key ingredients in a great running back. Glad you gave Plummer a shout out, he's got a strong accurate arm as evidenced by hit TD passes to Strickland and Hunter. The most significant story might be the O Line's massive improvement, kudos to the coaches for making the adjustments.
Sep 25, 2022Liked by Piotr Le, Christopher Helling
And major kudos to Rob and Christopher for their fearless predictive accuracy. Both were raked over the coals at the AZ site, Rob for predicting a 45-28 Cal win, and Christopher for suggesting a gunslinger like Da Laura was prone to interceptions. 49-31 and two interceptions later, W4C analysts prove right on the mark. Well done! Any crow come your way from AZ fans? 😎
They kept confusing Rob and Christopher too, on that thread. Just amazing how both were right on point and how Arizona moved away from what was working in the first half.
I'm optomistic based on what I've seen on the field so far, but from the season point of view we are exactly where we thought we'd be. No? 3-1 with a loss to ND. The WSU game is the key game for getting to 6 wins (because Colorado and of course the furd win). But which one of these teams are we beating for 7 - USC, UCLA, Washington, Oregon, Oregon St. Gotta be OSU I think, but its the last game of the season and I hate to leave it to then to get a winning season.
As I read the schedule, OSU is the 3rd to last game of the season. I think we can be in every one of those games - USC looks worse than I thought (I hope Caleb Williams sleepwalks through our game too), OSU better but not dominant, UCLA hot & cold, we often have UW's number, and Oregon can be had. I'm thinking 8 wins this season.
This feels like the most reason for optimism around Cal's program since the Redbox Bowl win.
We rarely take teams to the woodshed under Wilcox. Most wins have been close-ish (within 2 scores). When we dominate, it tends to be due to a lot of turnover luck (WSU in 2017) or going against a very weak opponent (FCS schools, Oregon State in 2018, that spiraling Stanfurd team last year). This felt different. Maybe Arizona will turn out to be awful too, but they at least seem improved over recent Zona teams, and they certainly had every reason to want this game.
The way we won in the second half seems repeatable: decent defense, strong O-line play, smart decisions by Plummer, and highlight plays by Ott. We wouldn't blow out better opponents but it's a formula for winning closer games against them.
And this team has a good chance of staying together for another year too (unlike last year's team that got that Big Game win). That's the kind of thing that can put butts in seats for sure.
I just watched the film. Here are my thoughts.
Sometimes it takes new players a little time to figure things out. Sometimes it takes coaches a little time to figure personnel groupings out. The Arizona game was a breakthrough game for us in both departments. The O-Line personnel finally fit and it showed. Plummer finally figured out he doesn't have to throw the ball deep on every play, he has great receivers and if he makes his reads and checks down to the right receiver, he will have more success, the receivers will make plays resulting in good YAC, and the passing game will open up our run game and vice versa. It all came together at the start of the 2nd quarter against AZ.
What most people don't see is the chess game that goes on with play calling on both sides of the ball. The team that adjusts to the other's play call better, whether on offense or defense will succeed more and usually win the game. From an offensive perspective we did a hell of a job. The only time AZ really was able to hold us for no gain was when he had a run play called and they brought 6 to 7 of their players to the LOS. But by doing this they ended up burning themselves, because when you have no 2nd level and backers are up tight to the LOS, if Jayden Ott breaks through, he is gone and there is no looking back. This happened twice, but we also had great blocking to spring him.
With respect to our blocking, it wasn't perfect, but it was night and day better than any game we have played this season. Our O-line got off the snaps quick, engaged the defensive players and played (most of the time) until the whistle. That third quarter touchdown by Ott where it looked like he was down after about 9 yards was a great example. A couple of linemen got into the scrum and Vatikani literally pulled Ott out of the tackle and released him to bolt the last 10 yards. It was a beautiful moment and the type of play that Big Uglies smile about while falling asleep, dreaming of a dominant performance. Our O-Line got on run blocks, stayed on blocks, played nasty, and moved the scrums every chance they could. On pass protection they finally put it together. And having Cindric at RG was key. He is our best O-Liner, and where Lovell played poorly, Cindo excelled. Cindo taking over at RG was a huge difference maker. Driscoll, as the only other starting O-lineman who has played center for us. He took over that job and fit in perfectly. I actually think he he better at C than at LG because while he is big, he's not 335 pounds big and doesn't bench 400#+. While the Center's face huge 1 techs, the C usually gets assistance from one of the G's on double teams, so the C is rarely on an island. Wirth respect to pass pro, the C does have to deal with a monster at 1 tech, but usually those guys aren't mobile as a 3 tech which the G or weakside T end up playing against. So the moved suited Driscoll and allowed us to move Vatikani to LG. His mammoth size, quickness, strength and nasty allowed him to overcome his lack of experience and technique. I think when he has his technique down he has the makings of an NFL quality G. Coleman was fairly solid as was Sessions and Rhome. Sessions and Rhome split quarters although I think Sessions actually had more plays. Rhome showed his knowledge of the play calling and making the right assignment choices, and his technique was good. Sessions is the better athlete of the two. They are both about the same IMHO but I think Sessions may have a bit more upside because of his athleticism.
In our pass protection we appeared to stop with the vertical sets and instead engaged at the point of contact and fought there, rather than giving up a lot of ground. It was brutal inside and our Pachyderms did us proud, winning the battles over and over. From my standpoint as an old O-liner, I just loved watching our guys get after it and it made me so proud. Also, our T's were finally patient and waited for the outside rush to come to them, and it made a big difference that provided that additional second or two for Plummer to make his reads and throw the ball.
The TE's blocked marvelously as well. Germain Terry was much improved from last week to this week. He was physical and did a fairly good job, but he needs to learn to stay with his block until the whistle. Mojarro did a solid job as well. The guy who really impressed me was Latu. He never got beat, ever. He is physical and his long arms and wide base allow him to establish position on his opposing player and once he did that, he controlled the block throughout the play. We had a number of plays where the TE's actually pull and run across the back of the O-line with a G or T to throw a block for a runner. These are physical blocks, there is no other way to say it. Latu excelled at these blocks. I was really impressed with his play on the line.
Because I'm not an expert at these positions I won't comment on our receivers or RB's other than to say, we have a lot of talent and Ott is amazing.
AZ came in with a Defensive game plan similar to UNR, TCU, WASU and UCLA last year and all the teams we have faced this year. Stop the run, pressure our QB and press the receivers and force us to throw low percentage long balls. Because of our revamped o-line, this strategy did not work. Hopefully this change is one that will provide us similar outcomes in future games this season. Other teams on our schedule will now need to figure out new ways to defend against us. This is great news.
As to Musgrave's play calling, it was subtle brilliance. If you watch the game film he ran multiple running and pass plays out of similar sets. The finest example was the 4th and 2 where Plummer threw the ball to Latu. Until Brooks made a slight motion to the right everyone in the game, in the stadium and on TV thought we were going to pound the rock. Latu was in the same position he had been all game where he had beed very effective in our run blocking game. When Brooks went in motion there was a momentary brain fart on the AZ side. Two defenders slid out to match him and the receivers we had, thus opening a gap between their DE and DB's. Latu blocked down and quickly released and nobody even saw him sneak out until after he caught the ball. Checkmate. This is the kind of stuff that won't happen in the 1st or 2nd quarter, but evolves as the game goes on. Musgrave must have been smiling after that one. Again, while this is one example of Musgrave's abilities, as long as we continue to execute, I expect fans will grow more accustomed to his real brilliance as an OC. For sure we will have tougher games and perhaps lose a few, but remember the big picture.
Lastly and this is a part I love writing about because it goes to the heart of the game; it's the psychology of respect. Any good lineman will tell you when they owned someone and when they got owned. But when your line plays strong and nasty then they get some swagger. And here's the other part: every player on the team knows that they can run a 40 faster than O-linemen, they can catch a a ball better, but they all know that in a fucking riot that the five starting lineman are the guys that are going to protect them by kicking some big time ass in a nasty way. When your O-line gets this mindset, its contagious. Swagger comes with it, but I will tell you, while receivers and RB's might get some swagger, they will never have more than a successful o-line, and they know it. When everyone on offense knows that those five big fuckers up front are nasty and good and win their battles, the confidence will flow to the rest of the team. And its a good type of confidence cause o-liners are by nature humble. Our team got some swagger this game. They can build on it and they will, but they learned on Saturday that when we play hard and to the whistle, we're a pretty damn good team.
Now let's start getting better at the little things, pad height, ass position, outside knee to crotch relationship in pass pro, intersection locations (don't over run your blocks), etc.
We have work ahead of us and a lot of tough games ahead, but this game gave us and the team a glimpse of what they are capable of, and I am excited for the future of CAL Football! Go Bears!!
yeah OK, but what did you think?
Do you want me to give you the long version? Lol
Best's 311 yards came against a dog crap Washington team that was 0-12 that year. It Best didn't play in that game, Cal still would have won in convincing fashion. Ott's performance yesterday was something altogether different. If he doesn't play yesterday, Cal likely loses. The only thing I can compare it to is Russell White's 231 yards against USC in 1991. And yes, Russell White put butts in the seats. Lots of them.....
A rare but welcome appearance of Hype Avi!
I haven’t looked forward to a recap like this in a long time. It is a very satisfying win. The offense was humming, some proof that the defense could make an adjustment, and hope for the games to come. GO BEARS!
(Since Keenan Allen)
Allen came with Maynard. The positive was cancelled out by the negative.
Yeah really denied us from the Allan Bridgfeord experience there.
Keenan I don't think could lift us to wins, as amazing as he was. Usually we'd just be way better than the opposition in our wins. Only one I can think of off the top was Colorado 2011. Unfortunately WRs are generally too QB dependent and our QB play wasn't good enough with him.
2012 vs UCLA
One of Maynard's rare outstanding games.
Also CJ Anderson's coming out party
A gratifying win, but the Bears will be facing quality quarterbacks in coming games. Unless we can contain the run as we did in the second half, and get both better line pressure and pass coverage over the middle, it will be problematic.
The lack of pressure is still a big Achilles' heel for this team.
Yes, a work in progress that will need to improve by game 7.
Thanks Avi...seeing you in such a good mood makes my day/week! But of all the things you mentioned, my head exploded when I read this..."Memorial Stadium might currently have one of the worst audio setups in college football. It is impossible to hear what anyone is saying on the videoboards on the east side. Maybe it’s better elsewhere but lord if I can tell you what’s happening.
Cal installed new videoboards that seem to only broadcast in standard definition, and on video replays the screen quality degenerates to 144p." WTF!!!! Who loses their job for this...no excuse!
We were near the NW corner of Notre Dame Stadium (kitty-corner from our fellow Cal fans) and their video board was like watching 4k in my living room. I know they have all the money in the world, but I was heartened to hear that Memorial was getting a new board. Have not made it out yet this year, but how disappointing to hear the replacement is crap. Hopefully, the screen itself is good & they just need to build the signal delivery infrastructure (already funded I hope) to deliver a high quality picture. Anyone know what the story is?
On the west side, audio is the exact opposite. Ear bleeding volume so every annoying ad is heard, every case of mistaken identity by stadium PA announcer is clear as a bell, and when the band plays, you better believe something meaningless is drowning them out.
Yup, everything is extremely loud on the alumni side.
Other gameday stuff:
-Still no cheerleaders? It's not that I care about ogling the pom-pom girls, but it seems important for a major football program to, y'know, have them? Kind of embarrassing at this point that we don't.
-Whoever is running the "entertainment" during time outs needs to be better at recognizing when the game is going to start again. They started one of those "shell game" video board things with only about 20 seconds left on the "media timeout" clock. I knew it was going to run long and indeed it did . . . once again they had to cut the announcer's mic in mid-sentence.
Is there any official word as to what is going on with the cheer and dance teams' absence?
The person in charge of hiring coaches for both teams did not do so. Consequently, they had to finally hire someone at the beginning of the season, and at this point, tryouts will not happen until nearly the of the season for the teams. Since the retirement of the last advisor to Cal Spirit groups, this person is also the person who is responsible for telling the Mic Men, the Rally Committee, and the Band when they are allowed to do anything in the insipid Gameday Experience script written by the Athletic Department.
Name: Craig Peden
Title: Director of Marketing and Game Presentation
Email: cpeden@berkeley.edu
Of course, one could also complain to his boss (who is newly hired, because they did not exist until less than a month ago), because Peden has been doing this job for most of the past decade and is the reason the experience at games for fans only gets worse.
Name: George Brisbon
Title: Assistant Athletic Director, Marketing
Email: gbrisbon@berkeley.edu
Holy cow how ridiculous. I wrote Knowlton a long email in 2019 about the fan experience particularly the lack of organized cheers and the drowning out of the fans on defense with canned hip hop or worse back in black by ac DC. He said that this was what younger audiences wanted. Since I am over 50 at this point who wants to hear that crap from when we were 11 years old? What a load of S---!
I’m sure they would never have me because of my period of regrettable political antagonism with the university. That being said, running the game day experience would be an absolute dream job.
Whoever does this should bring back the best of alumni mic men with some sort of stipend to train the new crew. Retool the sound system to mic the band. Incorporate commercials and sales opportunities into what would basically be run as a live production. Embrace the unique aspects of college sports, rather than hoping to fill a nonexistent professional void.
Honestly it would be fun to write out a detailed plan just as a passion project. There is so much potential for great Cal gameday experiences, but it all involves risk.
Anyway, definitely not saying it is easy. But it can be sooooooo much better.
Hey hey, there's no need to besmirch Back in Black.
Also being on the west side, I can vouch for this.
Holy moly the Mic Peeps need some training, cadence and intonation problems galore. Is there no mentorship?!?!
Otherwise what a beautiful performance and day at the stadium. Sun was rough until halftime and then the weather was perfect, and for much of the game there was just a barely visible peak of each GG Bridge pillar. We had a great time.
Sun was fine on the alumni side ;-)
Come to the dark side....we have shade...
Ott has patience, vision, acceleration and speed, all key ingredients in a great running back. Glad you gave Plummer a shout out, he's got a strong accurate arm as evidenced by hit TD passes to Strickland and Hunter. The most significant story might be the O Line's massive improvement, kudos to the coaches for making the adjustments.
Tough tests ahead starting next week in Wazzou but this one is worth savoring for a few days.https://twitter.com/Gabriele_Corno/status/1573980020154015744?s=20&t=HlsfOZEabZUJW-cyv6b_Uw
And major kudos to Rob and Christopher for their fearless predictive accuracy. Both were raked over the coals at the AZ site, Rob for predicting a 45-28 Cal win, and Christopher for suggesting a gunslinger like Da Laura was prone to interceptions. 49-31 and two interceptions later, W4C analysts prove right on the mark. Well done! Any crow come your way from AZ fans? 😎
Pressure builds Diamonds.
They kept confusing Rob and Christopher too, on that thread. Just amazing how both were right on point and how Arizona moved away from what was working in the first half.
Those Arizona fans were extra salty in that post.
I looked at the Arizona DS boards and they were saying poor tackling was the problem, not Ott - exactly.
That’s just knee jerk stuff - “we beat ourselves, it wasn’t that you played well”. Lol
Yup
Hey, Otters are slippery.
I'm not sure how much tackling mattered on those 70-yard runs. They barely laid a hand on him.