Avi, well said. I like Wilcox, but every post-game presser is the same - coaches and players alike. I feel for our players. It must feel awful being let down by your coaching staff with their game plans every week...
Being a CAL fan has always been a very unique adventure. I know we can never score enough points to feel comfortable that we will win - no matter what our lead is, I know the game is never over until I see 00:00 on the game clock.
I am a very passionate fan, and can say that games like the last two really hurt...Last year I went to the Big Game and it was the most fun I had had in decades. It seems we can only have highs and very low lows all the time. I too would settle for something middling.
What I want Knowlton and Wilcox to know is how much I look forward to watching every game because it is the one place I can feel happy. The last six or so years in my life have been oddly bad. This past week was particularly hard for me as I said goodbye to my 12 year old Golden Retriever that I called Bear-Bear on Friday. The Colorado game was supposed to help me begin healing and be a positive for me. Instead, it plunged me down even further. It was not helpful to watch that game. It was very painful...
I LOVE going to football games at Memorial and all the surrounding things that may seem insignificant, but give me such joy. I love being on the Bart train with other Cal fans. I proudly wear all my Cal paraphernalia. I love the cool air that hits my face as I exit off the Bart escalator onto Shattuck. Being in Berkeley makes me feel so good. I love walking up to Memorial through the Everglades and past the massive collegiate buildings. I love getting my Lemon dog from Top Dog. I love walking up that steep hill thru campus and turning around to see the gorgeous view of SF. I love arriving at Memorial and soaking in all the sights and sounds. Hearing the Band and ‘Go Bears’! I love walking into into Memorial and absorbing the excitement. I love our weird traditions like yelling ‘Tuba, Tuba, Tuba’ to finish the script CAL, or watching in anticipation if the majorette will catch the baton! I love hearing our canon go off and see the team come running onto the field.
The immense feeling of joy I cannot fully understand myself. My heart starts racing in a good way and it makes me smile immediately.
I am a long-time, loyal and extremely proud CAL alum and fan. It is something that can never be taken away from me no matter what is going on in my life. I LOVE my University and my Cal sports teams. I would be at every game if I could because I still have hope.
I believe attending sports games as a student is a very important part of going to college. My daughter is getting ready to apply to colleges, and she said she felt having that available to her is an important criteria as well. I also hear from her that others are not even applying to Cal because of the ‘not fun’ atmosphere and that breaks my heart.
I believe Cal must have sports, not just for us old blues, but for the students to get a break from the immense stress they have there.
I love my college. I am proud of my college. I am a loyal Alum. I love the sports and as a student going to every, football, basketball and baseball game meant I could get a break from studying (I was a Math major). My blood bleeds blue and I will continue to go to the Cal football games to cheer them on. I know that being a fan is a roller coaster ride. But you know going to the games that you never know what may happen and the game is never over until 00:00. And we can be the Colorado next week?!?
There is so much more that I could say here, but I think I will close here. Being a Cal sports fan is a wild ride, but ‘Once a Bear, always a Bear’! And we still have the Axe! Go Bears! 💙🐻💛🪓💛🏈💙
I had low expectations for this game. I expected us to look somewhere between inept and putrid…and I, somehow, was still let down.
Next week will be the first time in my adult life I’m willingly skipping a home game. My wife works every other weekend and I can’t justify spending another one of her weekends off dragging her to Berkeley only to tailgate in an empty courtyard and get back to Sacramento at 2 am.
Frankly, I think that’s just my excuse for not really having it in me anymore. Maybe that makes me a bad fan, but the 12-14 hour day to watch an offense that would be better served backyard style with Plummer drawing up routes on his palm, is not worth the gas money anymore.
Maybe some temporary emotional divestment will be healthy.
Bless your wife for making the trip down with you as often as she has. You’re not a bad fan you just have some self respect and empathy towards your loved ones 😅
The season ticket holders next to me were also from Sacramento and were donors. They complained a bit about having to drive back to Sacramento after night games. As of last year they disappeared.
After the Wazzu game I expected major changes on the staff and a shake-up of the OL. During that 2-week bye period, I did not read any Cal blog or attempt in any way to follow the program. I DVR'd the Colorado game and simply forgot that I had until late Sunday afternoon. My apathy has set in.
Nothing has changed therefore we got the expected result. I just listened to Wilcox's post-game presser. He can "act" all pissed off if he likes. But to produce that offense after 2 weeks of prep displays that the coaches simply do not get it and that starts with Wilcox. Working harder for the sake of working harder rarely produces the goal / result desired. Wilcox has to stop doing the same thing over and over again expecting different results. After the Wazzu game, I as well as many others, expected Musgrave to be fired or role minimized significantly. I, along with many others, expected Angus to just be fired outright. So, I was shocked to see, on Saturday, that nothing had changed. And it appears that Wilcox's answer to this problem is to continue working harder with the same staff and starting OL. Sadly, he doesn't get it. Certainly Musgrave and Angus will be fired at year's end, right??
Apathy. I will DVR the next game and likely all of Cal's remaining games this year whether I actually watch them is doubtful. My choice to not follow Cal football during the 2-week bye period was wonderful and relaxing. I have better things to do than watch the DVR'd games and support Cal football.
Totally agree - THAT game plan and performance off a BYE week against one of the worst power 5 schools in the nation? What are we even doing here, Justin. And Knowlton, COVID has NOTHING to do with this.
I couldn’t believe the game plan either. I don’t get Musgrave’s focus and obsession with passing? I have been watching football since my Grandmother took me to Williams-Bryce Stadium to cheer for the East Coast USC. I am pretty sure my understanding with ANY offense is to first establish the run game which will then allow you to open up your passing game. And that is with any football team, but especially ours when we have awesome Ott!
My views just on the Colorado game:
1. Offense came out throwing and Plummer looked worse than he ever has. He missed his targets, got intercepted 2 times (1 was nullified by a CO penalty I think), when passes got completed, they were in front of the 1st down marker, and the o-line couldn’t hold, so Plummer was rushed and/or sacked…
2. Then when Plummer did get the ball right on target to his receivers, they couldn’t catch the ball.
3. When they did rush, it seemed to me that they always rushed up the middle behind the O-line, which was getting pushed back. So net zero gain at best.
4. When they did rush outside, I think I remember that there were no blockers ahead of Ott.
5. And so what if Ott was being double-teamed. He is undoubtedly the best offensive player. He makes defenses miss him and/or he keeps pushing the pile and may even pop out of the masses and score at TD. The kid is amazing. He is electric to watch.
6. And with a pass-first offense behind our O-line, Plummer is going to be rushed to throw or have to scramble out of the pocket or worse be sacked.
My questions:
1. Why does Musgrave not establish the run?
2. Why are we rushing up the middle behind our admittedly bad O-line?
3. Why did Plummer seem to forget how to throw on-target to his receivers?
4. Why focus on passing when Plummer isn’t really a scramble QB and he has a bum knee and is wearing a brace?
5. Last year when they celebrated Garbers with his massive rushing yards was not a good thing. Your QB being the top rusher means he is scrambling all the time out of the pocket. See #4. Some record stats are not positive stats…
6. The offense looked like they had never played together before and were holding a practice game. Didn’t look like a game 6 after a bye week…
I’ve never actually played football, but even I was baffled by the Colorado game. I do feel for our players. If we feel this bad, how do you think they feel? I think our Offensive coaching at the OC and O-line have done a disservice to these kids…I think we will lose many to the transfer portal and we will have an even harder time recruiting top talent. It’s going to get harder not better…
Oh and another point. We have top talent on our teams. This has been shown by the extremely great players we have playing in the NFL. We are in the top rankings for # of players, right? So what I deduce from this is that it isn’t the player, it’s the coaching…
In closing, I think we need to let go of Musgrave and the O-line coaches. Aristotle, RB coach, is a great coach, but also an inspiration. A great role model himself as are his boys who formed the Helmets4helmets non-profit. I think Sirmon is doing a good job on D. And special teams have improved greatly so leave it alone…If the team doesn’t turn around, we most likely will lose our good coaches…
Wilcox, make the change. Desperate times call for desperate measures. Could it get any worse?
I didn't go to the University of California. I would have loved to, but my parents couldn't pay for it. But I loved the football team. Watching them that Saturday afternoon beat USC was my first college football game ever. It was perfect. I didn't have to cheer for USC or UCLA because there was another school that fit my personality more. For nearly 20 years, I was a fan of the California Golden Bears, and usually I was alone because most people at my university cheered for USC or UCLA. I didn't care. I wanted the smoke with everyone. It was too bad that we got smoked by them more often than not, especially USC for a time. I'm certainly not an Old Blue, after this loss I feel pretty blue.
It's hard to describe how I feel about the football team now. This loss hurt. but it wasn't the usual pain of a loss to a team I know Cal could beat. It was numbing. Like I knew it was going to happen somehow. Justin Wilcox is the worst Cal coach in my memory, probably ever, coming off a bye. I think he has won one time coming off a bye(Beat Colorado in 2018), and usually when they come off a bye the team looks like they just got drunk the entire two weeks. It is beyond putrid. And usually after the bye week, we face a beatable team.
This isn't a Wilcox problem in my opinion. He is certainly a part of it, but it goes to the administration. They don't treat football like the money making commodity that it is. The SEC banked on putting football first, every team has, and they are just thriving. I get it, Cal spent a lot of money on their athletic department especially on the stadium, but the apathy of the Administration has rubbed off on the team, and ergo, starting to rub off on the rest of us. They have to look at football as the first, last and only commodity, or the athletics as a whole will suffer.
I have heard so many stories just this year, and it made me sick. Cal potentially going D3 in football, if not being outright cancelled? The band getting priority over the football team on their own field? This is beyond humiliating. I have a son now, and it was my only wish for both of us to enjoy Cal Football together. It would leave a significant hole in my heart if I wasn't able to do that if any of the above happened. If it did, a big portion of the happiness of my adolescent years and beyond would be gone.
I'm sorry... It's hard to deal. I was a Wilcox backer because I love defense. 13-10 games are usually my thing because you have to work for every yard and every move is like a chess match. Not when it's due to mediocrity.
Wilcox has to go. They all have to go. Clean house. It sucks because now we have some stars and I have to lay awake at night praying to God that Jaydn Ott decides to stay with us after this year. We are at a crossroads. Hard choices must be made. I hope they make the right ones.
Musgrave is plainly a clown, but why give Wilcox a pass? I know we will give him a pass because we just extended him, but I don’t buy this “he’s a defensive guy so the O is all on the OC” stuff. JW has spent his entire life either playing or coaching football. He must know a shit ton about offense. I mean, not to belabor the obvious, but a defensive coach HAS TO understand offense because it is the thing he is trying to stop. For instance, do you think Nick Saban has no input in the Alabama offense? I bet there is not a single decision in that program that doesn’t have Saban’s fingerprints on it.
I know you are not advocating giving JW a pass on this basis, GoldenSD81, I am just frustrated because I know the most we will see here is the OC politely being shown the door in the off-season like happened with Baldwin. What really needs to happen is for the Chancellor to absolutely clean house. Fire Knowlton first and foremost, but don’t give JW a pass either at this point. I mean, he is a great guy and all, but so was Holmoe!
I have a separate and unrelated bone to pick about the academic standards nonsense. It is inequitable because the people that have high test scores are rich kids. Why not use these programs as a way to get kids into Cal that wouldn’t otherwise get in? Are you going to tell me that Andrew Luck is smarter and more deserving of higher ed than Marshawn? It just seems inequitable to me, a lock in of a known bias. I would not only fire the AD but I would revoke that heightened standards policy as well. Let these programs be a ladder.
I believe that Cal is eliminating the admissions requirement to use test scores from the ACT and SAT starting next year for the very reasons you just stated.
As for Wilcox, his coaching results started to deteriorate during the COVID season. I pointed it out in numerous posts back then, but was mostly shouted down because everyone said the COVID season was a throwaway. The most egregious example during the COVID season was the close loss to Stanford where Cal could not even get its personnel lined up properly to kick field goals and extra points.
Finally, I can't tell you how many people have said that Wilcox is such a great guy and have supported him through thick and thin over the past several years. I believe this is because Wilcox showed loyalty to the program when Sonny Dykes was constantly looking to bail to a Texas school. Loyalty ain't enough, and I can give you $4.75 million reasons why Wilcox needs to the first guy let go. History shows he will get a job somewhere else and soon. Look at how Sark and Kiffen have re-invented themselves after numerous and very public firings.
Cal isn't going to do any worse having an energetic guy like Peter Sirmon holding the interim tag while sending a message to head coaches in waiting like Troy Taylor and Kenny Dillingham they will get interviews when the season is over.
I admit I used to defend JW, but I am in your camp now. The proof is in the pudding at this point.
However I am not holding out much hope for any drastic changes to actually happen beyond an end of season OC firing, even if we all agree that drastic and immediate changes would be appropriate. It just seems so unlike Cal to respond in that way
The program is regressing. Other programs are doing so much more with less resources. I think Wilcox has maxed out here, and it is time for a change. However, I don't know who we can honestly look to that has FBS experience that is willing to come here.
I know some of the out the box hires for Cal basketball have been a disaster but I would be okay with a radical and/or unusual hire for the football program.
Yes to all the pleas to fire our current OC. And… I suggest the Interim OC make the game fun again for the OL. For the rest of season, run trick plays and misdirections. Reverse. Double reverse. Flea flicker. Halfback Pass. Moving pocket. Fumblerooski. Hook and Ladder/Lateral. (Update: I forgot to add Statue of Liberty. And: Double reverse pass!) Make the game fun again. Especially for the OL.
Agreed. Given the lack of experience on the OL, let them play with the freedom to enjoy themselves, learn how to block, read the D, and just try stuff on the field. Remember the 2007 Fiesta Bowl? Boise State and Oklahoma? That kind of freedom and enjoyment. I forgot to add Statue of Liberty above: Boise State ran that to perfection. That’s the kind of practices and game play Cal needs right now. The other teams might win but they will be flustered from start to finish.
Well said Avi. This comes closest to expressing what the fanbase feels. There simply MUST be an action of desperate urgency by Wilcox or he signs his own firing documents. If neither happens, then Knowlton should be fired. If that doesn't happen, then Christ should just come out and say that we are dropping our football program altogether. It's a domino effect of leadership challenges. There are times, few and rare, when change for the sake of change is warranted. This is one of them.
I don't give a flying rat's ass who he replaces Musgrave and Angus with mid-season. I mean that. I don't care. But those guys just have to be gone. If there is no real news on this by Monday then I will turn my back on the program for the first time since Holmoe.
I agree Avi, my pride as an alumni of UC Berkeley prevents me from any longer supporting the status quo of our football team. We are Golden Bears. Go Bears.
Ott sidelined in OT is mystifying. Was he “benched” for not producing, even though it was the playcalling that doomed us? I wonder if this is a case of BM not having any other tricks, or if he truly thinks his plays are fine and that the players just need to execute better.
IMHO we abandoned the run game too early. Should have run the ball almost exclusively in the first few drives. Instead, we went with low percentage pass plays and Plummer was wildly inaccurate. I mean, the Buffs were 132nd in rush defense. So let's keep passing the ball even though it is known that Plummer has a cold hand in starting games.
A lot of good points here. I agree with Avi, Alpha, etc. After 24 years of season tickets, I find myself just not really caring. If this is how we're going to treat football, why bother? To borrow a phrase from my grandpa, it's time to shit or get off the pot. If we can't commit to at least making an honest effort, maybe we should just drop football altogether. Or at least hire me - I have just as many p12 winning conference seasons on my head coaching rez as Wilcox does, and I'll do it for far less.
"If that Cal we saw on Saturday comes out and shows up again this season, the Bears will be embarrassed, week after week after week. Fan interest will nosedive, ticket renewals will sink, and Cal will have to make much tougher decisions with a much harder hole to crawl out of."
This looks and sounds exactly like the end of the Tedford era, and the demise of Sonny ball. And those were situations employing drastically different systems. And coordinators. Yet with the same results and effects. The Musgrave offense is without doubt a disaster. But is it really a problem cause? Or just another affect?
In year 6 of the predominantly underwhelming and mediocre Wilcox era, we’re likely finishing 4-8, despite an even year, 7 game home slate…that’s inexcusable.
Avi and I witnessed this massacre in person. Couldn't have written it any better. This fired me up for my article on this game.
Avi, well said. I like Wilcox, but every post-game presser is the same - coaches and players alike. I feel for our players. It must feel awful being let down by your coaching staff with their game plans every week...
Being a CAL fan has always been a very unique adventure. I know we can never score enough points to feel comfortable that we will win - no matter what our lead is, I know the game is never over until I see 00:00 on the game clock.
I am a very passionate fan, and can say that games like the last two really hurt...Last year I went to the Big Game and it was the most fun I had had in decades. It seems we can only have highs and very low lows all the time. I too would settle for something middling.
What I want Knowlton and Wilcox to know is how much I look forward to watching every game because it is the one place I can feel happy. The last six or so years in my life have been oddly bad. This past week was particularly hard for me as I said goodbye to my 12 year old Golden Retriever that I called Bear-Bear on Friday. The Colorado game was supposed to help me begin healing and be a positive for me. Instead, it plunged me down even further. It was not helpful to watch that game. It was very painful...
I LOVE going to football games at Memorial and all the surrounding things that may seem insignificant, but give me such joy. I love being on the Bart train with other Cal fans. I proudly wear all my Cal paraphernalia. I love the cool air that hits my face as I exit off the Bart escalator onto Shattuck. Being in Berkeley makes me feel so good. I love walking up to Memorial through the Everglades and past the massive collegiate buildings. I love getting my Lemon dog from Top Dog. I love walking up that steep hill thru campus and turning around to see the gorgeous view of SF. I love arriving at Memorial and soaking in all the sights and sounds. Hearing the Band and ‘Go Bears’! I love walking into into Memorial and absorbing the excitement. I love our weird traditions like yelling ‘Tuba, Tuba, Tuba’ to finish the script CAL, or watching in anticipation if the majorette will catch the baton! I love hearing our canon go off and see the team come running onto the field.
The immense feeling of joy I cannot fully understand myself. My heart starts racing in a good way and it makes me smile immediately.
I am a long-time, loyal and extremely proud CAL alum and fan. It is something that can never be taken away from me no matter what is going on in my life. I LOVE my University and my Cal sports teams. I would be at every game if I could because I still have hope.
I believe attending sports games as a student is a very important part of going to college. My daughter is getting ready to apply to colleges, and she said she felt having that available to her is an important criteria as well. I also hear from her that others are not even applying to Cal because of the ‘not fun’ atmosphere and that breaks my heart.
I believe Cal must have sports, not just for us old blues, but for the students to get a break from the immense stress they have there.
I love my college. I am proud of my college. I am a loyal Alum. I love the sports and as a student going to every, football, basketball and baseball game meant I could get a break from studying (I was a Math major). My blood bleeds blue and I will continue to go to the Cal football games to cheer them on. I know that being a fan is a roller coaster ride. But you know going to the games that you never know what may happen and the game is never over until 00:00. And we can be the Colorado next week?!?
There is so much more that I could say here, but I think I will close here. Being a Cal sports fan is a wild ride, but ‘Once a Bear, always a Bear’! And we still have the Axe! Go Bears! 💙🐻💛🪓💛🏈💙
Nice post! Wilcox's tired mantra of "We have to do better" isn't enough this time.
I had low expectations for this game. I expected us to look somewhere between inept and putrid…and I, somehow, was still let down.
Next week will be the first time in my adult life I’m willingly skipping a home game. My wife works every other weekend and I can’t justify spending another one of her weekends off dragging her to Berkeley only to tailgate in an empty courtyard and get back to Sacramento at 2 am.
Frankly, I think that’s just my excuse for not really having it in me anymore. Maybe that makes me a bad fan, but the 12-14 hour day to watch an offense that would be better served backyard style with Plummer drawing up routes on his palm, is not worth the gas money anymore.
Maybe some temporary emotional divestment will be healthy.
Bless your wife for making the trip down with you as often as she has. You’re not a bad fan you just have some self respect and empathy towards your loved ones 😅
She’s a trooper, that’s for sure.
Self respect…sounds like something sorely lacking in our athletic department.
The season ticket holders next to me were also from Sacramento and were donors. They complained a bit about having to drive back to Sacramento after night games. As of last year they disappeared.
After the Wazzu game I expected major changes on the staff and a shake-up of the OL. During that 2-week bye period, I did not read any Cal blog or attempt in any way to follow the program. I DVR'd the Colorado game and simply forgot that I had until late Sunday afternoon. My apathy has set in.
Nothing has changed therefore we got the expected result. I just listened to Wilcox's post-game presser. He can "act" all pissed off if he likes. But to produce that offense after 2 weeks of prep displays that the coaches simply do not get it and that starts with Wilcox. Working harder for the sake of working harder rarely produces the goal / result desired. Wilcox has to stop doing the same thing over and over again expecting different results. After the Wazzu game, I as well as many others, expected Musgrave to be fired or role minimized significantly. I, along with many others, expected Angus to just be fired outright. So, I was shocked to see, on Saturday, that nothing had changed. And it appears that Wilcox's answer to this problem is to continue working harder with the same staff and starting OL. Sadly, he doesn't get it. Certainly Musgrave and Angus will be fired at year's end, right??
Apathy. I will DVR the next game and likely all of Cal's remaining games this year whether I actually watch them is doubtful. My choice to not follow Cal football during the 2-week bye period was wonderful and relaxing. I have better things to do than watch the DVR'd games and support Cal football.
Yes, this. Nice, GEAT.
Totally agree - THAT game plan and performance off a BYE week against one of the worst power 5 schools in the nation? What are we even doing here, Justin. And Knowlton, COVID has NOTHING to do with this.
I couldn’t believe the game plan either. I don’t get Musgrave’s focus and obsession with passing? I have been watching football since my Grandmother took me to Williams-Bryce Stadium to cheer for the East Coast USC. I am pretty sure my understanding with ANY offense is to first establish the run game which will then allow you to open up your passing game. And that is with any football team, but especially ours when we have awesome Ott!
My views just on the Colorado game:
1. Offense came out throwing and Plummer looked worse than he ever has. He missed his targets, got intercepted 2 times (1 was nullified by a CO penalty I think), when passes got completed, they were in front of the 1st down marker, and the o-line couldn’t hold, so Plummer was rushed and/or sacked…
2. Then when Plummer did get the ball right on target to his receivers, they couldn’t catch the ball.
3. When they did rush, it seemed to me that they always rushed up the middle behind the O-line, which was getting pushed back. So net zero gain at best.
4. When they did rush outside, I think I remember that there were no blockers ahead of Ott.
5. And so what if Ott was being double-teamed. He is undoubtedly the best offensive player. He makes defenses miss him and/or he keeps pushing the pile and may even pop out of the masses and score at TD. The kid is amazing. He is electric to watch.
6. And with a pass-first offense behind our O-line, Plummer is going to be rushed to throw or have to scramble out of the pocket or worse be sacked.
My questions:
1. Why does Musgrave not establish the run?
2. Why are we rushing up the middle behind our admittedly bad O-line?
3. Why did Plummer seem to forget how to throw on-target to his receivers?
4. Why focus on passing when Plummer isn’t really a scramble QB and he has a bum knee and is wearing a brace?
5. Last year when they celebrated Garbers with his massive rushing yards was not a good thing. Your QB being the top rusher means he is scrambling all the time out of the pocket. See #4. Some record stats are not positive stats…
6. The offense looked like they had never played together before and were holding a practice game. Didn’t look like a game 6 after a bye week…
I’ve never actually played football, but even I was baffled by the Colorado game. I do feel for our players. If we feel this bad, how do you think they feel? I think our Offensive coaching at the OC and O-line have done a disservice to these kids…I think we will lose many to the transfer portal and we will have an even harder time recruiting top talent. It’s going to get harder not better…
Oh and another point. We have top talent on our teams. This has been shown by the extremely great players we have playing in the NFL. We are in the top rankings for # of players, right? So what I deduce from this is that it isn’t the player, it’s the coaching…
In closing, I think we need to let go of Musgrave and the O-line coaches. Aristotle, RB coach, is a great coach, but also an inspiration. A great role model himself as are his boys who formed the Helmets4helmets non-profit. I think Sirmon is doing a good job on D. And special teams have improved greatly so leave it alone…If the team doesn’t turn around, we most likely will lose our good coaches…
Wilcox, make the change. Desperate times call for desperate measures. Could it get any worse?
Go Bears! 💙🐻💛🏈💛🪓💙
I didn't go to the University of California. I would have loved to, but my parents couldn't pay for it. But I loved the football team. Watching them that Saturday afternoon beat USC was my first college football game ever. It was perfect. I didn't have to cheer for USC or UCLA because there was another school that fit my personality more. For nearly 20 years, I was a fan of the California Golden Bears, and usually I was alone because most people at my university cheered for USC or UCLA. I didn't care. I wanted the smoke with everyone. It was too bad that we got smoked by them more often than not, especially USC for a time. I'm certainly not an Old Blue, after this loss I feel pretty blue.
It's hard to describe how I feel about the football team now. This loss hurt. but it wasn't the usual pain of a loss to a team I know Cal could beat. It was numbing. Like I knew it was going to happen somehow. Justin Wilcox is the worst Cal coach in my memory, probably ever, coming off a bye. I think he has won one time coming off a bye(Beat Colorado in 2018), and usually when they come off a bye the team looks like they just got drunk the entire two weeks. It is beyond putrid. And usually after the bye week, we face a beatable team.
This isn't a Wilcox problem in my opinion. He is certainly a part of it, but it goes to the administration. They don't treat football like the money making commodity that it is. The SEC banked on putting football first, every team has, and they are just thriving. I get it, Cal spent a lot of money on their athletic department especially on the stadium, but the apathy of the Administration has rubbed off on the team, and ergo, starting to rub off on the rest of us. They have to look at football as the first, last and only commodity, or the athletics as a whole will suffer.
I have heard so many stories just this year, and it made me sick. Cal potentially going D3 in football, if not being outright cancelled? The band getting priority over the football team on their own field? This is beyond humiliating. I have a son now, and it was my only wish for both of us to enjoy Cal Football together. It would leave a significant hole in my heart if I wasn't able to do that if any of the above happened. If it did, a big portion of the happiness of my adolescent years and beyond would be gone.
I'm sorry... It's hard to deal. I was a Wilcox backer because I love defense. 13-10 games are usually my thing because you have to work for every yard and every move is like a chess match. Not when it's due to mediocrity.
Wilcox has to go. They all have to go. Clean house. It sucks because now we have some stars and I have to lay awake at night praying to God that Jaydn Ott decides to stay with us after this year. We are at a crossroads. Hard choices must be made. I hope they make the right ones.
Go Bears. I love you all.
A True Golden Bear
Has Musgrave been fired yet?
Musgrave is plainly a clown, but why give Wilcox a pass? I know we will give him a pass because we just extended him, but I don’t buy this “he’s a defensive guy so the O is all on the OC” stuff. JW has spent his entire life either playing or coaching football. He must know a shit ton about offense. I mean, not to belabor the obvious, but a defensive coach HAS TO understand offense because it is the thing he is trying to stop. For instance, do you think Nick Saban has no input in the Alabama offense? I bet there is not a single decision in that program that doesn’t have Saban’s fingerprints on it.
I know you are not advocating giving JW a pass on this basis, GoldenSD81, I am just frustrated because I know the most we will see here is the OC politely being shown the door in the off-season like happened with Baldwin. What really needs to happen is for the Chancellor to absolutely clean house. Fire Knowlton first and foremost, but don’t give JW a pass either at this point. I mean, he is a great guy and all, but so was Holmoe!
I have a separate and unrelated bone to pick about the academic standards nonsense. It is inequitable because the people that have high test scores are rich kids. Why not use these programs as a way to get kids into Cal that wouldn’t otherwise get in? Are you going to tell me that Andrew Luck is smarter and more deserving of higher ed than Marshawn? It just seems inequitable to me, a lock in of a known bias. I would not only fire the AD but I would revoke that heightened standards policy as well. Let these programs be a ladder.
I believe that Cal is eliminating the admissions requirement to use test scores from the ACT and SAT starting next year for the very reasons you just stated.
As for Wilcox, his coaching results started to deteriorate during the COVID season. I pointed it out in numerous posts back then, but was mostly shouted down because everyone said the COVID season was a throwaway. The most egregious example during the COVID season was the close loss to Stanford where Cal could not even get its personnel lined up properly to kick field goals and extra points.
Finally, I can't tell you how many people have said that Wilcox is such a great guy and have supported him through thick and thin over the past several years. I believe this is because Wilcox showed loyalty to the program when Sonny Dykes was constantly looking to bail to a Texas school. Loyalty ain't enough, and I can give you $4.75 million reasons why Wilcox needs to the first guy let go. History shows he will get a job somewhere else and soon. Look at how Sark and Kiffen have re-invented themselves after numerous and very public firings.
Cal isn't going to do any worse having an energetic guy like Peter Sirmon holding the interim tag while sending a message to head coaches in waiting like Troy Taylor and Kenny Dillingham they will get interviews when the season is over.
I admit I used to defend JW, but I am in your camp now. The proof is in the pudding at this point.
However I am not holding out much hope for any drastic changes to actually happen beyond an end of season OC firing, even if we all agree that drastic and immediate changes would be appropriate. It just seems so unlike Cal to respond in that way
It’s Sunday evening and Musgrave still has a job. That means Wilcox should not.
The program is regressing. Other programs are doing so much more with less resources. I think Wilcox has maxed out here, and it is time for a change. However, I don't know who we can honestly look to that has FBS experience that is willing to come here.
Troy. Taylor.
I know some of the out the box hires for Cal basketball have been a disaster but I would be okay with a radical and/or unusual hire for the football program.
Yes to all the pleas to fire our current OC. And… I suggest the Interim OC make the game fun again for the OL. For the rest of season, run trick plays and misdirections. Reverse. Double reverse. Flea flicker. Halfback Pass. Moving pocket. Fumblerooski. Hook and Ladder/Lateral. (Update: I forgot to add Statue of Liberty. And: Double reverse pass!) Make the game fun again. Especially for the OL.
Good call. Let's have some fun. Exorcise the demons of the Musgrave offense.
Agreed. Given the lack of experience on the OL, let them play with the freedom to enjoy themselves, learn how to block, read the D, and just try stuff on the field. Remember the 2007 Fiesta Bowl? Boise State and Oklahoma? That kind of freedom and enjoyment. I forgot to add Statue of Liberty above: Boise State ran that to perfection. That’s the kind of practices and game play Cal needs right now. The other teams might win but they will be flustered from start to finish.
Also: Good friend is OU alum. When I brought up the Fiesta Bowl, he was like, “We don’t talk about that game.” 😳🤔😆
Well said Avi. This comes closest to expressing what the fanbase feels. There simply MUST be an action of desperate urgency by Wilcox or he signs his own firing documents. If neither happens, then Knowlton should be fired. If that doesn't happen, then Christ should just come out and say that we are dropping our football program altogether. It's a domino effect of leadership challenges. There are times, few and rare, when change for the sake of change is warranted. This is one of them.
I don't give a flying rat's ass who he replaces Musgrave and Angus with mid-season. I mean that. I don't care. But those guys just have to be gone. If there is no real news on this by Monday then I will turn my back on the program for the first time since Holmoe.
I agree Avi, my pride as an alumni of UC Berkeley prevents me from any longer supporting the status quo of our football team. We are Golden Bears. Go Bears.
Awesome, Avi. Haven’t even read the article yet but I’m loving it already, just by the headline.
Still feeling numb on Monday morning. Something has to give at this point.
Ott sidelined in OT is mystifying. Was he “benched” for not producing, even though it was the playcalling that doomed us? I wonder if this is a case of BM not having any other tricks, or if he truly thinks his plays are fine and that the players just need to execute better.
Not sure Ott had a single carry that didn’t involve at least one Colorado defender in the backfield.
He had a nice 12 yard run early in the game.
IMHO we abandoned the run game too early. Should have run the ball almost exclusively in the first few drives. Instead, we went with low percentage pass plays and Plummer was wildly inaccurate. I mean, the Buffs were 132nd in rush defense. So let's keep passing the ball even though it is known that Plummer has a cold hand in starting games.
We abandoned it after one play. First play was 12 yard Ott run. Then three passes, with the last one being intercepted
I think he was double-teamed much of the time, so, the idea, I suppose, was that Brooks would be a stealth factor, while they are searching for Ott.
A lot of good points here. I agree with Avi, Alpha, etc. After 24 years of season tickets, I find myself just not really caring. If this is how we're going to treat football, why bother? To borrow a phrase from my grandpa, it's time to shit or get off the pot. If we can't commit to at least making an honest effort, maybe we should just drop football altogether. Or at least hire me - I have just as many p12 winning conference seasons on my head coaching rez as Wilcox does, and I'll do it for far less.
"If that Cal we saw on Saturday comes out and shows up again this season, the Bears will be embarrassed, week after week after week. Fan interest will nosedive, ticket renewals will sink, and Cal will have to make much tougher decisions with a much harder hole to crawl out of."
This looks and sounds exactly like the end of the Tedford era, and the demise of Sonny ball. And those were situations employing drastically different systems. And coordinators. Yet with the same results and effects. The Musgrave offense is without doubt a disaster. But is it really a problem cause? Or just another affect?
In year 6 of the predominantly underwhelming and mediocre Wilcox era, we’re likely finishing 4-8, despite an even year, 7 game home slate…that’s inexcusable.
shhh, don't jinx it, I had them going 3-9.
If that’s the vehicle necessary to affect meaningful change, then I’m rooting for it.