Out of all the criticisms I could level on Wilcox (and I have an extensive list), how the hell was there still a qb competition that lasted into week 1 this season. What are these master talent evaluators watching in practice? This season would have been an absolute disaster without Nando.
A fitting end to another mediocre season. It's ridiculous, utterly absurd, that a school like SMU, not to mention the countless others, can go from mediocre to the national playoffs in a couple years and after 8 years Wilcox has yet to even get us a winning conference record. With all the fan support, alumni money and appeal of Cal, it is just beyond time we get a coach that can build a winning team done properly. I'm so done and it bums me out and has nothing do with our players, no matter their deficiencies. I will not be traveling to a bowl game, for the first time since neanderthals.
No way to reasonably evaluate Bears performance sans Nando,JET and Cade. Everyone needs to calm the F down about gleaning anything from this game. It’s useless as a barometer of anything
I hear you. My comment was not a defense of the Wilcox regime at all. I totally agree that he sucks ass and should be fired if we can afford to replace him with someone better (a big IF). My only point is that this game indicated nothing about our current state of affairs
Hard disagree. Apologies like that are the reason we’re stuck in mediocrity.
Terrible backup QB play and the knowledge there was an extensive QB competition indicated talent evaluation is terrible. Kicking game continues to show poor preparation as well as talent evaluation issues.
Your “big if” conditional is very telling. We KNOW he can’t get it done as much as we all like him as a person and want him to be the guy. Therefore, he needs to go. At that point we look for the best possible replacement and try again. Now, whether or not we can pony up the buyout is another issue.
It’s a waste of time and money and effort to fire Wilcox without a fully comprehensive financial plan in place to recruit not only better coaches but players, particularly O linemen. Firing him just cuz it feels good and bc he’s mediocre and deserves it without a larger plan is a big roll of the dice and will probably just get us more mediocrity or worse. This is why I conditioned my comment with “IF”
Still, it would have done absolutely nothing to win the game. It’s crazy that nando was out for this one, and if they had telegraphed it they would have invited tons of criticism. It would have been financially disadvantageous to send our best out there and risk him for the bowl game, and there was no better game to be gotten, so….
Yes. Remember a couple years ago when SF lost their rookie starting QB (who had surprised everyone with a fantastic season) a week before their 1st NFL playoff game and they got blown out by an otherwise inferior team in 1st round. The coordination and timing previously developed with the entire offense over the course of the season feel apart. That’s what happened to Cal yesterday.
He should have at least tried to play. Any team deprived of their proven, starting QB hours or even days before a tough game would be lost. This negatively affected everything. If he strapped up and couldn’t perform then he comes out. L
I think it was probably more a factor of the notoriously soft Cal training staff holding him out…but it would have been interesting to see if they had needed this W for bowl eligibility.
There are many forms of flu. Maybe "intestinal" flu. You know, the kind where you can't control what's coming out of the "lower" end. I'm sure it was the medical staff which included a very competent MD, made the decision. But, what was wring with Williams?
Then give him adult diapers, give him a change of pants in the blue tent at the end of every possession. There is plenty of ways to still play. Would rather he be embarrassed with brown stains than the team be embarrassed on the field
With our offensive line, Fernando has taken a beating in almost every game. If there is one thing we can be sure of, it's that this man does fear pain or discomfort. I'm also sure he wouldn't worry about infecting opposing tacklers. I just pray that it's not an injury they aren't being forthcoming about. Why would they do that? You can't make an illness that you can stand on the sidelines with worse by trying to play, can you?
I know that Cal has one of the most conservative training staffs in the country and if Mendoza didn’t play it’s probably because he was not allowed to.
But still, that’s a pretty weak look, IMO. Legitimate football programs don’t lose their starting QB to the flu in huge games.
Without Fernando, our offense looked strikingly similar to Furd's offense. Lots of QB runs, screens, and no downhill passing game. We would be 3-9 too if Rogers was our starting QB all season.
Doubt it. I'd much rather have Spav and a dedicated OL coach than Bloesch trying to do two jobs, and given a lot more practice and game reps Rogers would have been better for most of the season than he was today...but there's only so much you can do with playcalling when the offensive line can't hold up in the run or the pass against passable D lines. In retrospect we should have worked the portal/NIL donors a lot harder to bring in some linemen.
With the same roster but Rogers all season, Spav at OC, and Bloesch at OL I suspect we still beat Auburn and Wake but lose to Furd, lose the six games we actually lost, and finish 5-7. (I tried to post these two paragraphs as one comment, it wouldn't let me for some reason.)
This was never going to be an elite unit, but the OL was obviously so poorly coached that even the slightest upgrade would have made a huge difference.
It is very evident to me that many commenters really don't know why Cal lost to SMU and Syracuse. It is obvious that those two teams were far better teams PERIOD. Their talent level at ALL positions was superior to Cal's. Losing to Miami, who also had better talent, was due to a blatant targeting that wasn't called. Three other losses were because Cal's talent at the place kicker position was substandard. The who really don't know the intricacies of competitive football always blame the coach or they are just plain cynics.
Thank God I was on a plane to Mexico yesterday and did not witness the beatdown. 6-6 overall, 2-6 in conference, and a loss to a terrible FL State team sum up another typical JW season. The ACC got everything they wanted: a Marquee team (SMU), two doormats the rest of the conference beats up (Cal + Furd), all for partial ACC shares. Thank goodness for Calimony! For the Bears, it's long past the time to crank up David Bowie's Cha Cha Cha Changes... Go Bears Forever!
I cant figure out if the OL is zone blocking or man blocking! It seems like every play, someone on the OL is missing an assignment. Its scary when your center has a look on his face like he is only responsible for his assignments. I wouldn't be surprise if Ott is gone next year unless we get our lineman on the right track.
I’m more concerned about losing Thomas, actually. Thomas was deserving of more carries throughout the middle part of the season and yet Cal kept demoting him each time Ott returned to the fray. Look at their numbers. Thomas was about twice as effective as Ott, consistently. Now, that may be due to Thomas being a better fit for an offensive line that can’t hold blocks. It does seem like Thomas’s quick hit style was more suited for the Bears’ O Line this year than Ott’s more patient style, for which he was justifiably lauded in prior years. To me, Thomas has been the more aggressive runner all year. His off-season conditioning was outstanding
Unless we get huge amount of NIL money to buy good O linemen. SMU got their donors to give them $100,000+. Did ours? We don't have any rich "oil"money like they do. We don't have a Phil Knight like Oregon has.
Alright, moving on….where are the Bears headed? Figure WFC will do a typically awesome write up on this, but to get the discussion flowing, what are we thinking?
P12 bowl tie-ins still in play I believe…so we’re competing with UW and USC for bowls. Wazzu is 8-4, Colorado is in demand because of Prime…ASU could be CFP, along with Oregon…U of A, Utah, Oregon State and fUCLA are not bowl eligible.
Don’t love our chances of beating out either of those programs for the LA or Sun, the two rumored destinations…Alamo, Holiday, Las Vegas, LA, Sun…
Rough one. I do think we keep it close with Nando. Gonna be an interesting offseason. As much to be apprehensive about as there is to be optimistic about.
Looks like we need a real GM to figure out how to manage and sign real contracts in order get the most out of these players and coaches. The new era of college football is upon us. Accountability!
A side note to the bitter disappointment of the game and season: what the hell happened to the RB that was supposed to be among the best in the nation? We were stuck with an injured Ott today. We had like five guys who were legit coming into the season. I guess none could survive the pounding our O line makes sure they receive.
Out of all the criticisms I could level on Wilcox (and I have an extensive list), how the hell was there still a qb competition that lasted into week 1 this season. What are these master talent evaluators watching in practice? This season would have been an absolute disaster without Nando.
A fitting end to another mediocre season. It's ridiculous, utterly absurd, that a school like SMU, not to mention the countless others, can go from mediocre to the national playoffs in a couple years and after 8 years Wilcox has yet to even get us a winning conference record. With all the fan support, alumni money and appeal of Cal, it is just beyond time we get a coach that can build a winning team done properly. I'm so done and it bums me out and has nothing do with our players, no matter their deficiencies. I will not be traveling to a bowl game, for the first time since neanderthals.
SMU bought their team in one year for 100M in NIL money from their wealthy alums etc. They are now the NY Yankees and LA Dodgers of college football.
Ok let’s do that then lol
No way to reasonably evaluate Bears performance sans Nando,JET and Cade. Everyone needs to calm the F down about gleaning anything from this game. It’s useless as a barometer of anything
If only we had 7 previous seasons to glean something from…
I hear you. My comment was not a defense of the Wilcox regime at all. I totally agree that he sucks ass and should be fired if we can afford to replace him with someone better (a big IF). My only point is that this game indicated nothing about our current state of affairs
Hard disagree. Apologies like that are the reason we’re stuck in mediocrity.
Terrible backup QB play and the knowledge there was an extensive QB competition indicated talent evaluation is terrible. Kicking game continues to show poor preparation as well as talent evaluation issues.
Your “big if” conditional is very telling. We KNOW he can’t get it done as much as we all like him as a person and want him to be the guy. Therefore, he needs to go. At that point we look for the best possible replacement and try again. Now, whether or not we can pony up the buyout is another issue.
It’s a waste of time and money and effort to fire Wilcox without a fully comprehensive financial plan in place to recruit not only better coaches but players, particularly O linemen. Firing him just cuz it feels good and bc he’s mediocre and deserves it without a larger plan is a big roll of the dice and will probably just get us more mediocrity or worse. This is why I conditioned my comment with “IF”
Still, it would have done absolutely nothing to win the game. It’s crazy that nando was out for this one, and if they had telegraphed it they would have invited tons of criticism. It would have been financially disadvantageous to send our best out there and risk him for the bowl game, and there was no better game to be gotten, so….
SMU was given the death penalty, Cal self inflicted the Wilcox penalty.
I’ve never seen a mediocre coach who hasn’t earned this many chances, get so many chances to prove he is mediocre.
It did in fact take a moment of sheer lunacy by a truly incompetent leader to get us to this spot…
There’s a saying that consistency is king.
Don’t like being a downer, but that loss was absolutely sickening
Why? We were missing our best players. It was hard to watch but predictable
Yes. Remember a couple years ago when SF lost their rookie starting QB (who had surprised everyone with a fantastic season) a week before their 1st NFL playoff game and they got blown out by an otherwise inferior team in 1st round. The coordination and timing previously developed with the entire offense over the course of the season feel apart. That’s what happened to Cal yesterday.
Realism.
Another underwhelming end to another underwhelming season. I’m not mad, just apathetic. Can’t wait to run it back for year 9.
Imagine if bowl eligibility had been on the line.
Mendoza would have played if it was
Then he should have played today. I mean, it is tackle football ;-)
He should have at least tried to play. Any team deprived of their proven, starting QB hours or even days before a tough game would be lost. This negatively affected everything. If he strapped up and couldn’t perform then he comes out. L
We have no idea how sick he had been or was. Not our call.
This is not AYSO soccer!
Wow, I hadn't thought of that. Next you'll be telling me it isn't middle school girls volleyball.
?? He can't be sick?
Come on, B.
How often do players sit because of the flu? That just doesn’t happen with legit programs…but it certainly does at Cal.
Really?
Why would Nando do that?
When has he wussed out before?
I think it was probably more a factor of the notoriously soft Cal training staff holding him out…but it would have been interesting to see if they had needed this W for bowl eligibility.
There are many forms of flu. Maybe "intestinal" flu. You know, the kind where you can't control what's coming out of the "lower" end. I'm sure it was the medical staff which included a very competent MD, made the decision. But, what was wring with Williams?
Then give him adult diapers, give him a change of pants in the blue tent at the end of every possession. There is plenty of ways to still play. Would rather he be embarrassed with brown stains than the team be embarrassed on the field
With our offensive line, Fernando has taken a beating in almost every game. If there is one thing we can be sure of, it's that this man does fear pain or discomfort. I'm also sure he wouldn't worry about infecting opposing tacklers. I just pray that it's not an injury they aren't being forthcoming about. Why would they do that? You can't make an illness that you can stand on the sidelines with worse by trying to play, can you?
I know that Cal has one of the most conservative training staffs in the country and if Mendoza didn’t play it’s probably because he was not allowed to.
But still, that’s a pretty weak look, IMO. Legitimate football programs don’t lose their starting QB to the flu in huge games.
How do you know that?
No #15? No realistic chance. Hope Cal gets an invite to the LA Bowl!
I think they call it "the grand-daddy of them all". It's one of those bowls that happens in L.A.
Maybe the grandson of them all?!
More like the great-grandson or great-nephew of them all. Hey, it's a bowl so I'm not complaining.
Without Fernando, our offense looked strikingly similar to Furd's offense. Lots of QB runs, screens, and no downhill passing game. We would be 3-9 too if Rogers was our starting QB all season.
Only because of the offensive coaching staff..
Spavital with Chandler Rogers would probably have won 7 games.
Doubt it. I'd much rather have Spav and a dedicated OL coach than Bloesch trying to do two jobs, and given a lot more practice and game reps Rogers would have been better for most of the season than he was today...but there's only so much you can do with playcalling when the offensive line can't hold up in the run or the pass against passable D lines. In retrospect we should have worked the portal/NIL donors a lot harder to bring in some linemen.
With the same roster but Rogers all season, Spav at OC, and Bloesch at OL I suspect we still beat Auburn and Wake but lose to Furd, lose the six games we actually lost, and finish 5-7. (I tried to post these two paragraphs as one comment, it wouldn't let me for some reason.)
Nah, ya think? IMO, no way we are worse with a talented offensive mind calling plays and an actual O-line coach, especially with this roster.
Bloesch was a catastrophic failure…better coaching alone at either spot pays huge dividends.
How about better talent at the O line. Good coaching won't work if the players are just plain not good athletes.
This was never going to be an elite unit, but the OL was obviously so poorly coached that even the slightest upgrade would have made a huge difference.
It is very evident to me that many commenters really don't know why Cal lost to SMU and Syracuse. It is obvious that those two teams were far better teams PERIOD. Their talent level at ALL positions was superior to Cal's. Losing to Miami, who also had better talent, was due to a blatant targeting that wasn't called. Three other losses were because Cal's talent at the place kicker position was substandard. The who really don't know the intricacies of competitive football always blame the coach or they are just plain cynics.
There's no chance Syracuse has better talent at every position than us. They are vastly better coached and they came prepared.
What do you call Vanderbilt beating Alabama or GT almost beating Georgia if it wasn't for blatant ref calls in the 4th quarter?
Thank God I was on a plane to Mexico yesterday and did not witness the beatdown. 6-6 overall, 2-6 in conference, and a loss to a terrible FL State team sum up another typical JW season. The ACC got everything they wanted: a Marquee team (SMU), two doormats the rest of the conference beats up (Cal + Furd), all for partial ACC shares. Thank goodness for Calimony! For the Bears, it's long past the time to crank up David Bowie's Cha Cha Cha Changes... Go Bears Forever!
I cant figure out if the OL is zone blocking or man blocking! It seems like every play, someone on the OL is missing an assignment. Its scary when your center has a look on his face like he is only responsible for his assignments. I wouldn't be surprise if Ott is gone next year unless we get our lineman on the right track.
I’m more concerned about losing Thomas, actually. Thomas was deserving of more carries throughout the middle part of the season and yet Cal kept demoting him each time Ott returned to the fray. Look at their numbers. Thomas was about twice as effective as Ott, consistently. Now, that may be due to Thomas being a better fit for an offensive line that can’t hold blocks. It does seem like Thomas’s quick hit style was more suited for the Bears’ O Line this year than Ott’s more patient style, for which he was justifiably lauded in prior years. To me, Thomas has been the more aggressive runner all year. His off-season conditioning was outstanding
You are right on about Thomas. I sue hope he doesn't "portal".
Unless we get huge amount of NIL money to buy good O linemen. SMU got their donors to give them $100,000+. Did ours? We don't have any rich "oil"money like they do. We don't have a Phil Knight like Oregon has.
We have a bunch of multi billionaires alumni that are winners, they are not interested because we have not developed into a winning culture.
Alright, moving on….where are the Bears headed? Figure WFC will do a typically awesome write up on this, but to get the discussion flowing, what are we thinking?
P12 bowl tie-ins still in play I believe…so we’re competing with UW and USC for bowls. Wazzu is 8-4, Colorado is in demand because of Prime…ASU could be CFP, along with Oregon…U of A, Utah, Oregon State and fUCLA are not bowl eligible.
Don’t love our chances of beating out either of those programs for the LA or Sun, the two rumored destinations…Alamo, Holiday, Las Vegas, LA, Sun…
Oregon: CFP
ASU: Alamo
CU: Holiday
Wazzu: Las Vegas
USC: LA
UW: Sun
Cal: ??? Independence again???
———
UA: NO
fUCLA: NO
UU: NO
OSU: NO
‘Furd: NO
We need ASU in the CFP…
I can’t imagine the Independence would want Cal again but I have no idea where we are going.
Agreed.
If we can get ASU into the CFP, we could get the Sun and then I’m gonna have a decision to make ;-)
Rough one. I do think we keep it close with Nando. Gonna be an interesting offseason. As much to be apprehensive about as there is to be optimistic about.
Looks like we need a real GM to figure out how to manage and sign real contracts in order get the most out of these players and coaches. The new era of college football is upon us. Accountability!
A side note to the bitter disappointment of the game and season: what the hell happened to the RB that was supposed to be among the best in the nation? We were stuck with an injured Ott today. We had like five guys who were legit coming into the season. I guess none could survive the pounding our O line makes sure they receive.