177 Comments

Since we won 3 of 4 quarters, my scores gravitate to 75. Lower for the rushing game which was not able to give us downs or clock time. Higher for the passing game that gave us some big plays, for a while anyway.

Expand full comment

Cal’s Defense is good but 37.5 minutes on field is too much for any D. That is why their 1st half pressure was no longer there in the 4th quarter. They were out of gas. Uluave had 12 tackles 1st half, but only 3 second half. Though offense scored 38 points they have more problems with their offensive line protecting the quarterback than on the defensive side.

Cal’s best solution is to see if they can use a larger rotation of players on their defense. This way starters will have more energy left in the tank for the 4th quarter. Yes, this means taking your chances with having an extra D lineman playing into the regular starting mix, also 1 of 2 linebackers in the mix, and also an extra defensive back playing in the starting mix. But this is a better calculated risk to take as I don’t think they have as many options on the sideline to shore up the offensive line. The defensive side seems to have more options that can be applied. Unless there is an unknown offensive lineman that can suddenly fit in and start helping their blocking schemes. The Defensive side is where I think there is more leverage to apply.

Expand full comment

Or sustain some drives and chew up the clock....

Expand full comment

There's a lot of rotation on the DL and OLB to the point that there could not be more rotation. In the NB and safety slots there's also a lot of rotation. Only really #0, #2, #3, and #10 are always on the field and they SHOULD be.

Expand full comment

#Pac12LoooongAfterDark lives on. Miami hires the Oregon coach, the WSU QB, and the OSU RB to come from 25 down, and 3 tds in the 4th quarter, to win a conference game in Berkeley after 11 pm that few east of the Rockies actually were awake to see.

Expand full comment

Cal, how's your NIL program? This game tells you all you need to know about the current status of college football.

Expand full comment

Cal's NIL is pretty good, isn't it?

School may not have money, but Cal has rich alumni.

Expand full comment

Our NIL is good, not yet great.

Expand full comment

Terrible officiating. Hope they investigate the officials who look at replays in this game. I saw at least 3 that was very questionable. The non targeting call first by the field refs that the booth called for apparently. Then the booth replay ref blow it as well. Second the pass wherye the Miami QB was passed the LOS ( line of scrimmage). Remember his entire BB idy has to be behind the LOS and he wasn't. The head judge reviewed it so fast I wondered did he not want to make sure and spend more time reviewing the play. (It didn't help that the viewers didn't get to really look at the play also.

Lastly, the two lineman down field on Miami last town down.

I would like to know how many people think the Miami QB is the front runner for the Heisman. I don't think he will win it and I believe Miami will lose 2 or 3 games this year, if the refs stay out of it.

Expand full comment

Good to hear this from a $C fan. Yes. Either clarify the targeting rule and train officials or keep it vague so officials have extreme latitude.

Expand full comment

Agreed. And it’s catching steam. The ACC needs to be held accountable for their decisions on the targeting and illegal man downfield calls.

Expand full comment

After building a 20 point lead by pressuring their QB, and calling creative plays on offense the coaches did the opposite in the 4th quarter. I’ve been saying that the players need to “believe”. I forgot the mention that the coaches also need to believe. They did not. And we lost.

Expand full comment

The only good thing that MAY come from this is that the Powers-That-Be will move on from Wilcox. Get the money and pull the trigger.

How many massive opportunities are we going to squander, causing the usual and unbelievable angst we all feel now.

Wilcox is the common factor for the past few years of failure through different OCs, DCs and players.

The Administration MUST imagine what could have been for the program and University if Cal had won. Recognition, an energized student and Alumni base and tons of hyped-up money coming in that could be used in numerous ways across Cal.

Next year’s ACC schedule is very favorable.

So get your Coach and level up Cal!

Expand full comment

I haven’t been a Justin Wilcox fan since early in his tenure. Hopefully, Cal fans with better

memories can help with the details. Cal was down by 3 late in the 4th quarter. They had

driven the ball inside the 5?, but it was 4th down. Instead of kicking the FG and sending it

into overtime, Justin decided to go for the win. They didn’t make it and Cal lost. Although I

don’t understand why you go for the win on the road, there has to be a yardage needed

limit. I’ve never been angrier at a player or coach in my life. Does anyone remember this game?

Expand full comment

The craziest part about being a Cal fan? Not one person thought the game was over when it was 35-10.

Expand full comment

Not one person thought that Cal could ever get into such a position either.

Expand full comment

Yeah... even when some Miami fans were starting to leave the stadium.

Expand full comment

Justin Wilcox is not a head coach. HIs clock management was horrible. He foolishly squandered all of his timeouts trying to stop Miami in the final moments. So he had none left with 25 seconds to go and needing only a field goal to win the game. The true irony is when Mario Cristobal left Oregon for Miami, Wilcox was rumored to have been offered the Ducks head job. And he turned them down. Dan Lanning got the job. Ducks fans couldn't be happier. Wilcox should be an assistant somewhere but not the head man at this level.

Expand full comment

Offensive line just isn't good enough. They couldn't control the ball at all in the 2nd half when they really needed to, and the defense got tired as a result.

Expand full comment

Somehow, I expect Calamo to use Berkeley math to rate this game a new record 705...on a scale that only goes up to 700. Such is football at Berkeley.

Expand full comment

Their players were just better. Give our team credit for playing hard, but in the end, size, strength and skill prevailed. We will win more games, but competing at the top level is a couple years away.

Expand full comment

Miami has a dynamic QB and a functional offensive line, outside of that didn’t see a huge difference in talent.

Expand full comment

Not with Wilcox as the HC.

3-2 / 0-2 in conference now and going to 5-0 red hot Pitt next week.

Does a 4-6 win season and a losing conference record sound familiar?

Expand full comment

Competing at the top level is something that the Cal football program isn’t capable of doing.

Expand full comment
Oct 6·edited Oct 6

I didn’t want to say anything about this during the game—-

But for the entire game, every time I checked the stats, Miami was ahead of us in almost every category: first downs, total yardage, time of possession. Even a slight edge in penalties much of the time. We did lead in turnovers. So even when we had big lead, I knew they were moving the ball at will. We had stay ahead in penalties and turnovers. And we didn’t.

It’s also ironic that although the other team had to fly across the country and 3 time zones, we’re the one’s that seem to poop out at the end.

Still, as some of you noted, the Bears played a LOT better, and this against a highly ranked team. So we have a good shot at winning most of the rest of our games.

My recommendation came out half right: We beat the spread, but taking the over was the way to go.

Expand full comment
Oct 6·edited Oct 6

Having slept on it I'm still upset with the loss. I like Wilcox but I am not sure after eight years that he will get us to the promised land. Several of us pointed out after the VT loss that the zebras could not be trusted to make the right call even with the review booth. Never get into a situation where their whimsy can dictate the outcome. Still if we got 2 or 3 first downs it would have iced the game. Sadly this didn't happen.

Expand full comment

Last night I was so pissed.

This morning I'm just sad.

Expand full comment

I’m empty.

Expand full comment

Good morning, I just wanted to commented that I had a rough time sleeping last night. It seemed I woke up every 15 minutes and the Cal game was in my head. I cannot imagine what the players and coaches went through last night. I just want to give the team some word of encouragement. That they did play a Top 10 school to the bitter end. They knew that it is a full 60 minute game and every play and unfortunately some bad calls to fight for a victory. Don't give up on the season. They will probably play another couple of ACC teams that will be ranked in the Top 25 this season. We have a chance to battle. The next 7 games are not out of our realm. Stay strong and GO BEARS!!!!!!!!!(

Expand full comment

^^^^^THIS!

I will add:

Team played out of their heads with their hair on fire. I love them and am so proud of them. We got another game, battle, war. You are competitors and will put this behind and charge, charge forward Bears. You were glorious, even in defeat.

Expand full comment

This was one of the most Wilcox games to ever happen. Yes, we would have won if it weren't for the refs. But the reality is that Wilcox PUTS US IN THESE SITUATIONS where a single call can lose us the game despite being up by 25 in the 2nd half.

We need to move on. He is not the solution. He is an amazing man. But he is going to kill any chance of us revitalizing the fan base before the next round of realignment.

Expand full comment

I hear your sentiment

It’s understandable

But he is becoming a better HC by the year. I can feel it.

I’m choosing to be supportive of the team because we’ve demonstrated that we can play with anyone.

Lets sweep the rest of our schedule and go 10-2.

Expand full comment

“But he is becoming a better HC by the year.” With that logic and with respect, Wilcox on year 8 at the helm should be on Saban’s level of coaching haha.

Expand full comment

Ah ha ha ha! Yeah, Cal is going 10-2! It’s people like you who accept this type of performance from the football program who are the problem.

Expand full comment

"But he is becoming a better HC by the year." Seriously? We were 6-7 last season, his 7th as HC.

Expand full comment

Lol - exactly.

Expand full comment

Most coaches wouldn't have gotten Cal in position to be able to have that happen to them, given the totality of the situation.

Glad you survived the evening; I wasn't so sure that would be the case.

Expand full comment

I support whoever is the HC.

But, I gotta' wonder, "Coach Wilcox, what would you have done differently at Oregon than what you are doing, here, at Cal, considering Oregon would not look beyond the results you get?"

Follow up:

"What is different about Cal that hampers you from leading the team to greater overall success than you have had so far?"

Final tough question:

"If you ever felt that your leadership was holding back Cal from that kind of success, would you step down and take another position?"

Expand full comment

Ah, the Cal-est game that ever Cal-ed. The missed targeting call isn't the only reason we blew the lead. With a lead that size you need multiple things to go wrong. But it was enough to turn a close win into a close loss.

Expand full comment

It was the single most infuriating loss I have ever seen.

Expand full comment

Yeah I hear you. I can think of at least five that are worse, but hear you

What Saban said at CHD stuck with me though - be a transformative coach

I want to be a transformative fan

Expand full comment

Excellent.

Yeah, honestly, I expected Miami to give us one of those Washington, Oregon, OSU blow outs like last year.

Expand full comment