I'm going to paint a slightly different picture, here.
Let's say Coach Prime came, here.
How would he be different from Wilcox?
He might recruit better, but only to find self-imposed academic restrictions that would disqualify a large portion of his recruits.
So, he would have to work with mostly 3 star recruits and transfers, as does Wilcox.
So, how would Coach Prime coach differently?
He would inspire and build trust. But so does Wilcox.
Overall, a bold hire, such as Coach Prime might sell more seats, build more hype, but my prediction is that results would eventually regress to the .500 average.
Let's wake up.
We need a cultural pivot.
We need a Michigan culture where both nerds and athletes excel and make us proud in all endeavors.
Even if we had Tedford back, in his prime, the same barriers and intellectual snobbery would hobble his results.
Do I think there are better coaches than Wilcox? Probably, but what did we expect Wilcox to do with an atmosphere of disdainful tolerance of money sports?
Yes, we should have won yesterday, but there were disappointed college football fans across the nation who feel the same way about their team's results, despite a loss. Just ask Baylor, 'Bama, et cetera.
When looking at this, think about the culture that extends a near decade of extension to a coach with a losing record? What does that extension say? I blame the culture more than the coach.
And, there is an upside to Wilcox that we tend to forget when we suffer a tough loss. Wilcox is not a risk of embarrassment for our university and that's something.
All this being said, I must, reluctantly, agree that he has had more than enough time to turn things around, including identifying the obstructions in campus culture that moderate his success. We also knew that this year would be a tough schedule, which some our best years would be challenged by, but when do we make a statement?
Many of you may not like this, but I propose that both Cal football and basketball fans withhold donations to academic departments until there is campus leadership that we approve of and is clearly supportive of these money sports. Also, we should instead give to NIL, demand that admission exceptions be the same as UCLA's, and that the hiring committee for a new AD and coaches include alumni donors and other stakeholders.
Just some thoughts. Hoping to solve the problem beyond blaming the scapegoat.
Reading these type of games' immediate post mortems is an all too familiar glum exercise on Sunday mornings. Might as well get a hair shirt to wear too.
I did see that Angels and Demons was on tonight on one of the cable channels. Tom Hanks as the Harvard symbologist Robert Langdon, I mean if there is such a thing. Anyway we need an exorcism of the close loss, moral victory phenomenon?
My this was painful to watch. History repeating itself yet again for this cal team. Per usual, the defense played lights out and the offense sputters, inexplicably. Guess UNT is really that bad.
Cal just can’t get that signature win to elevate the program to new heights. Dumb mistakes, penalties, failing to score in the red zone when they get there. Auburn had no business winning this game and yet they did. Cal beat Cal.
Wilcox is a brilliant defensive coordinator and that might have been the best performance by his defense in his tenure. But the same issues keep plaguing this program and the cal faithful are getting restless with it. I don’t blame them.
Had they won this game they most likely win next week and you’re talking 3-0. They had all the hype for this game and didn’t deliver. It’s frustrating.
42 years for me. I love Cal. I will be in pain for 6 days and live to try again. The Bear will not die. Jackson is young; the defense is good; we need Ott to feel he made right decision to stay on given the many defections; Luckhurst is a kid; and let's beat the highly rated FCS Idaho Vandals. I love the passion of all the comments herein....it makes it our community to hang in there and care. A few plays and we would all be singing that 3-0 was doable and life was good.
Auburn definitely didn’t respect the passing game, they ran ALOT of man. On that note asking your QB to make back shoulder intermediate sideline throws to beat man seems short sighted.
and the communist go down hahaha. FYI. - Auburn fans do not think everyone in California is a communist. Not sure where the author pulled that bit of nonsense from, but it is nonsense. we think your nuts for letting crime go unpunished, but that has nothing to do with Communism. i hope all of you Cali fan’s visit us for the return game next year. You will find us very hospitable and far less condescending than some of the authors on this page. War Eagle and good luck the rest of the year
For helping to bring his kid Michael into the world? Or for being a successful enough Cal kicker back in the day that we expected his son to be just like dad?
Wilcox had one job, one job and he couldn't fix the most obvious deficiency from last year? I'm utterly disgusted right now. We're officially living in clown world.
Sam Jackson looked pretty good at times. Remember, he’s basically a rookie. Before this game, he had something like 10 college pass attempts? It looked like they didn’t want him to run much, perhaps because of his previous injury.
There needs to be an investigation.. If our coaches did not try to tell Ott not to hurdle defenders, they should be fired. Also, the NCAA needs to take action in general. It should be illegal for a ball carrier to hurdle. 15 yard penalty for the attempt.
Yeah and it was so unnecessary. He wasn't one on one with a defender where he could hurdle and get a few extra yards. There were two defenders that were going to tackle him.
We'd have won if we could make a damn field goal, but we would have barely crossed midfield if Auburn hadn't kept turning it over. We averaged 3.5 yards per play, which is almost never enough to win. The offense is just going to have to get more creative.
I'm not ready to write the season off yet, Jackson still has not played the equivalent of a full game and should improve. I don't think this offense has a very high ceiling, as the line still isn't all that good.
The defense is ok, it played well enough to win but failed to get some key stops, especially that damn 3rd and 17.
Worst case scenarios are back on the table I’m afraid. 3-9 or 4-8
I'm going to paint a slightly different picture, here.
Let's say Coach Prime came, here.
How would he be different from Wilcox?
He might recruit better, but only to find self-imposed academic restrictions that would disqualify a large portion of his recruits.
So, he would have to work with mostly 3 star recruits and transfers, as does Wilcox.
So, how would Coach Prime coach differently?
He would inspire and build trust. But so does Wilcox.
Overall, a bold hire, such as Coach Prime might sell more seats, build more hype, but my prediction is that results would eventually regress to the .500 average.
Let's wake up.
We need a cultural pivot.
We need a Michigan culture where both nerds and athletes excel and make us proud in all endeavors.
Even if we had Tedford back, in his prime, the same barriers and intellectual snobbery would hobble his results.
Do I think there are better coaches than Wilcox? Probably, but what did we expect Wilcox to do with an atmosphere of disdainful tolerance of money sports?
Yes, we should have won yesterday, but there were disappointed college football fans across the nation who feel the same way about their team's results, despite a loss. Just ask Baylor, 'Bama, et cetera.
When looking at this, think about the culture that extends a near decade of extension to a coach with a losing record? What does that extension say? I blame the culture more than the coach.
And, there is an upside to Wilcox that we tend to forget when we suffer a tough loss. Wilcox is not a risk of embarrassment for our university and that's something.
All this being said, I must, reluctantly, agree that he has had more than enough time to turn things around, including identifying the obstructions in campus culture that moderate his success. We also knew that this year would be a tough schedule, which some our best years would be challenged by, but when do we make a statement?
Many of you may not like this, but I propose that both Cal football and basketball fans withhold donations to academic departments until there is campus leadership that we approve of and is clearly supportive of these money sports. Also, we should instead give to NIL, demand that admission exceptions be the same as UCLA's, and that the hiring committee for a new AD and coaches include alumni donors and other stakeholders.
Just some thoughts. Hoping to solve the problem beyond blaming the scapegoat.
Reading these type of games' immediate post mortems is an all too familiar glum exercise on Sunday mornings. Might as well get a hair shirt to wear too.
We must flagellate ourselves for our sins.
I did see that Angels and Demons was on tonight on one of the cable channels. Tom Hanks as the Harvard symbologist Robert Langdon, I mean if there is such a thing. Anyway we need an exorcism of the close loss, moral victory phenomenon?
Drake's curse on the Bay, perhaps?
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Drake%27s_Plate_of_Brass
Indeed. And the sin of the first order is that we invest *any* time following Cal football.
Thus, sayeth the football gods. Yea, verily, the consumption of hope by hopeless football shall corrupt the souls of the faithful.
Yeah verily I say unto you it is easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle than it is for Cal to win close games.
My this was painful to watch. History repeating itself yet again for this cal team. Per usual, the defense played lights out and the offense sputters, inexplicably. Guess UNT is really that bad.
Cal just can’t get that signature win to elevate the program to new heights. Dumb mistakes, penalties, failing to score in the red zone when they get there. Auburn had no business winning this game and yet they did. Cal beat Cal.
Wilcox is a brilliant defensive coordinator and that might have been the best performance by his defense in his tenure. But the same issues keep plaguing this program and the cal faithful are getting restless with it. I don’t blame them.
Had they won this game they most likely win next week and you’re talking 3-0. They had all the hype for this game and didn’t deliver. It’s frustrating.
12 missed points on FGs. That's 3 times the points that we lost by
Past time to clean house, top to bottom.
42 years for me. I love Cal. I will be in pain for 6 days and live to try again. The Bear will not die. Jackson is young; the defense is good; we need Ott to feel he made right decision to stay on given the many defections; Luckhurst is a kid; and let's beat the highly rated FCS Idaho Vandals. I love the passion of all the comments herein....it makes it our community to hang in there and care. A few plays and we would all be singing that 3-0 was doable and life was good.
Did we just rehire Musgrave? Because that's what it looked like today.
That was worse then anything I saw from Musgrave last year. The O-line was a dumpster fire last year, it held up today.
Were the receivers being held in check?
We were only throwing short or in the flat, or when we threw more than 10 yards receivers weren't looking.
Otherwise it was repetition of 3 yard runs.
Auburn definitely didn’t respect the passing game, they ran ALOT of man. On that note asking your QB to make back shoulder intermediate sideline throws to beat man seems short sighted.
Does anyone know if Luckhurst struggled in camp? Some of those kicks were inexplicable.
and the communist go down hahaha. FYI. - Auburn fans do not think everyone in California is a communist. Not sure where the author pulled that bit of nonsense from, but it is nonsense. we think your nuts for letting crime go unpunished, but that has nothing to do with Communism. i hope all of you Cali fan’s visit us for the return game next year. You will find us very hospitable and far less condescending than some of the authors on this page. War Eagle and good luck the rest of the year
Blame Mick Luckhurst
For helping to bring his kid Michael into the world? Or for being a successful enough Cal kicker back in the day that we expected his son to be just like dad?
No game better epitomizes the experience of being a Cal football fan better than tonight's.
It really felt that way the entire game. TypiCAL, as they say.. (a phrase officially coined by GB49)
Wilcox had one job, one job and he couldn't fix the most obvious deficiency from last year? I'm utterly disgusted right now. We're officially living in clown world.
Sam Jackson looked pretty good at times. Remember, he’s basically a rookie. Before this game, he had something like 10 college pass attempts? It looked like they didn’t want him to run much, perhaps because of his previous injury.
He’s not an accurate enough passer to win from the pocket.
There needs to be an investigation.. If our coaches did not try to tell Ott not to hurdle defenders, they should be fired. Also, the NCAA needs to take action in general. It should be illegal for a ball carrier to hurdle. 15 yard penalty for the attempt.
Hurdling *was* illegal in the early 90s. Russell White was flagged for it in a game.
Tonight's Jayden Ott hurdle brought a flashback of Jahvid Best's hurdle against OSU. Scary.
Yep I was at that game. We were shocked when the flag flew. Only Cal could get that call.
Seriously, that happened right in front of me and my first thought was "what the fuck is he doing?!" followed immediately by "oh God I hope he's ok."
Agree, ban that move.
Yeah and it was so unnecessary. He wasn't one on one with a defender where he could hurdle and get a few extra yards. There were two defenders that were going to tackle him.
Especially since it happened last week too but he got lucky
We'd have won if we could make a damn field goal, but we would have barely crossed midfield if Auburn hadn't kept turning it over. We averaged 3.5 yards per play, which is almost never enough to win. The offense is just going to have to get more creative.
I'm not ready to write the season off yet, Jackson still has not played the equivalent of a full game and should improve. I don't think this offense has a very high ceiling, as the line still isn't all that good.
The defense is ok, it played well enough to win but failed to get some key stops, especially that damn 3rd and 17.
Tough to allow a team that basically has no passing game to complete a huge 3rd and 17.
That’s how you lose games you have no business losing…well, that and having an incompetent place kicker.