It's official: WE ARE CURSED!!!!!!! It's too bad that we can't pick up a new kicker from the portal. Losing Bhagtani to FUCLA was a bigger hit than I anticipated. The last time that Cal had everything right in all phases of the game (offense, defense, special teams) was during the Tedford glory years. Now, we only seem to hire coaches who can field elite offenses and shitty defenses (hello, Sonny) or vice versa. The whole team needs to work with a psychologist and get rid of this close loss mentality that seems to have set in.
Unfortunately it's not just a mentality, but a culture problem. Wilcox has unfortunately built a culture where its acceptable to be 6-6 and an 8-4 season is considered a great year. Which ultimately hurts how good this team can be since none of these guys strive to be great and don't care to compete for conference or playoff aspirations. There is nobody in this program that knows how to win and create a winning culture which should be more than enough of a reason for gut everything and start over.
This is crazy, and why I dropped my season tix 2yrs ago after 30yrs+ . Want cheeks back in the seats? CONVINCE us we are not just being had… that opening 2pt conversion attempt was not the decision of a sound nor confident coach
Coe has problems but I won't put it all on him. Our offense had almost nothing going. And gaming to put it all on a unreliable kicker is desperation on our coaches.
I'm deeply bummed to be right about picking against my own beloved team. The story is the same. We don't have competent offensive play calling and coaching. It's on Wilcox. These are the most Wilcox games ever. To lose so closely so often, well, it's coaching. I'm so sorry for my Bears. The Bear is dying under Wilcox, and I say that with great respect for the man. Long live the Bear. Go Bears!
The problem with the offense is 10% playcalling and 90% line play. We had some success dinking and dunking but you can't call 100% quick passes. Any offensive scheme looks bad when the line struggles mightily to protect the passer or get any push on running plays.
We’re losing games in the same way. At a certain point you have to hold the head coach responsible for lack of progress, even factoring in institutional hurdles.
That last series illustrated what he still needs to learn to do. They’re in the prevent…he had time to hit things underneath, yet he’s throwing 25 yard verts.
Not getting a single first down there is brutal and completely on him.
He's average at best, Undersized, weak arm and has some of the worst pocket presence I have ever seen. There is a reason why this poverty program was the only one to recruit him in high school.
What are you talking about? Goff might have been under recruited, but he was still a a 4 star recruit who had a variety of offers from P5 schools. He might have been a little skinny coming out of high school, but his arm and height have never been an issue. He's also got a way better feel for the game than Midoza
Daddy: You may be right. I think that Wilcox is a brilliant defensive coach but he just can't seem to fix the offense. There are no doubt diamond-in-the-rough coaches waiting for the chance to show what they can do (look no further than Kalen DeBoer who started his career at Sioux Falls University in South Dakota or Chip Kelly who came from the University of New Hampshire). All I can say is that these gut-punch games are taking too much out of me. Sigh.....
I don’t know why they kept wasting plays running up the middle… or why they went for 2 on the first Td… but still they should have won the game. The coach isn’t the one who missed the standard field goal here, or in the FL state game. Sometime the players deserve the credit, or the blame.
Jesus fucking Christ. This team has lost three games, three games by less than one entire touchdown. They don’t know how to win Tight games. Just brutal for the players and the fans..
Fun Fact: Each year that Wilcox has started 3-0 (4-0 in 2019) they have proceeded to drop there next 3 games (4 in 2019). This cannot continue to happen and should solidify him getting fired this year
Cal outgained Pitt and won the turnover battle 2-0. But allowed 7 sacks, 12 penalties, failed 2 XPs and missed a FG… all hallmarks of a poorly coached team.
All of the above are clear signs of poor coaching. That last feeble attempt to move the ball with 55seconds left tells the tale. Did you see any of our receivers actually run any kind of a route in any of those 4 plays?
Truth be told, however, why would any good coach want to work for a university that doesn't support its football program? After 68 years of mostly heartbreak from the loveable losers, I'm done.
You guys with all you can say is “fire this” and “ fire that“. I don’t get you. They’re less than 10 points from an undefeated season. And you blame the coach, not the players? And you wanna fire all the staff, so you have no coaches, and start all over again in midseason? How did you guys… Did you actually get into Berkeley?
Wilcox is the one to hire Bloesch, the buck stops with Wilcox. So, I say fire Wilcox. After the season is over, fire the whole staff, clean house, hit restart. This pattern of close losses due to no killer instinct, poor clock management, and poor decision making is enough for me after 8 years of this. Results are results, I don’t care if they loss by a combined 9 points the last 3 games, YOU NEED TO WIN. No more moral victories after 8 years of results. And yes, I did got to Berkeley and love the football team, I love it enough to still support them but wholesale changes misy be made.
That being said, I am starting to see your point. He's like the salesman that makes more friends than sales. He struggles to close. Is Saban available/affordable?
Wilcox was a promising and, perhaps, somehow it was assumed he'd be the next best HC.
I'm pretty sure I saw this exact same game three weeks ago, but the other team had an annoying band that played the same song after every play and wore garnet and white instead of blue and yellow.
Because Wilcox wants to play ball control and smash mouth football. Unfortunately he has never had the OL at Cal to do that but it hasn’t stopped him from running into a wall for 1 yard at a time.
The backs averaged 3.6, you shouldn't count the sacks as rushing. I don't like the decisions to put Rogers in, but if we threw on every down they'd just collapse our line on every play. The offense doesn't have all much to work with.
Biggest mistakes for season: lack of OL depth and letting kicker from last year get away to UCLA no less. Kickers are too under valued at Cal. Bad PK likely means two losses so far.
Share your insta-reactions and rate the game here: https://writeforcalifornia.com/p/cal-pitt-football-insta-recap-2024
I see fans get upset at the consistent inconsistencies, but many are hesitant to call for the Head Coach to the fired.
If the program can raise $2.5m in 1 week for NIL, they can fire Wilcox and get a better staff.
I will never stop loving my bears. However, the coaching gaffs in this game are beyond reproach. I genuinely like Wilcox…but enough…
Wilcox doesn’t need more time. He doesn’t need more support. He needs to be fired because bringing him back next season won’t change a thing.
This is the Cal footballiest Cal football season yet.
Fire Knowlton
It's official: WE ARE CURSED!!!!!!! It's too bad that we can't pick up a new kicker from the portal. Losing Bhagtani to FUCLA was a bigger hit than I anticipated. The last time that Cal had everything right in all phases of the game (offense, defense, special teams) was during the Tedford glory years. Now, we only seem to hire coaches who can field elite offenses and shitty defenses (hello, Sonny) or vice versa. The whole team needs to work with a psychologist and get rid of this close loss mentality that seems to have set in.
Unfortunately it's not just a mentality, but a culture problem. Wilcox has unfortunately built a culture where its acceptable to be 6-6 and an 8-4 season is considered a great year. Which ultimately hurts how good this team can be since none of these guys strive to be great and don't care to compete for conference or playoff aspirations. There is nobody in this program that knows how to win and create a winning culture which should be more than enough of a reason for gut everything and start over.
Next game, the opposing team will be favored by one point, but Cal will find a way to lose by 0.5.
Our kicker should never step foot on the field again. I do feel for the kid but he’s clearly in over his head.
Gilbertson: .430, gone in 4 years
Wilcox: .457 - still here???
This is crazy, and why I dropped my season tix 2yrs ago after 30yrs+ . Want cheeks back in the seats? CONVINCE us we are not just being had… that opening 2pt conversion attempt was not the decision of a sound nor confident coach
Coe has problems but I won't put it all on him. Our offense had almost nothing going. And gaming to put it all on a unreliable kicker is desperation on our coaches.
Dude Coe sucks he wouldn't be the starting kicker at any team that actually cares. Wilcox still won't bench him since he's a beta
Oh, I know he has problems. I just won't take all of my frustrations out on him.
I'm deeply bummed to be right about picking against my own beloved team. The story is the same. We don't have competent offensive play calling and coaching. It's on Wilcox. These are the most Wilcox games ever. To lose so closely so often, well, it's coaching. I'm so sorry for my Bears. The Bear is dying under Wilcox, and I say that with great respect for the man. Long live the Bear. Go Bears!
The problem with the offense is 10% playcalling and 90% line play. We had some success dinking and dunking but you can't call 100% quick passes. Any offensive scheme looks bad when the line struggles mightily to protect the passer or get any push on running plays.
We’re losing games in the same way. At a certain point you have to hold the head coach responsible for lack of progress, even factoring in institutional hurdles.
I feel for Coe, but we need a new kicker.
We should have thrown Daniel in there
What are the chances Mendoza ends up in the portal? He’s too good of a QB to play for a team with this record.
How would Mendoza do with better OL protection? Agree he should hit the weight room.
Love the kid but he’s not. He’s an average P4 QB.
That last series illustrated what he still needs to learn to do. They’re in the prevent…he had time to hit things underneath, yet he’s throwing 25 yard verts.
Not getting a single first down there is brutal and completely on him.
He's average at best, Undersized, weak arm and has some of the worst pocket presence I have ever seen. There is a reason why this poverty program was the only one to recruit him in high school.
Wasn’t that the same criticism of Goff?
No, Tedford recruited Goff before he was fired
Goff had a better scheme.
Mendoza in the Bear Raid would be something.
What are you talking about? Goff might have been under recruited, but he was still a a 4 star recruit who had a variety of offers from P5 schools. He might have been a little skinny coming out of high school, but his arm and height have never been an issue. He's also got a way better feel for the game than Midoza
mendoza is 6'5 225 so i don't think size is the problem
I’m on Fire Wilcox train. It doesn’t matter who the O coordinator is. Every year is the same.
Daddy: You may be right. I think that Wilcox is a brilliant defensive coach but he just can't seem to fix the offense. There are no doubt diamond-in-the-rough coaches waiting for the chance to show what they can do (look no further than Kalen DeBoer who started his career at Sioux Falls University in South Dakota or Chip Kelly who came from the University of New Hampshire). All I can say is that these gut-punch games are taking too much out of me. Sigh.....
I don’t know why they kept wasting plays running up the middle… or why they went for 2 on the first Td… but still they should have won the game. The coach isn’t the one who missed the standard field goal here, or in the FL state game. Sometime the players deserve the credit, or the blame.
Jesus fucking Christ. This team has lost three games, three games by less than one entire touchdown. They don’t know how to win Tight games. Just brutal for the players and the fans..
Fun Fact: Each year that Wilcox has started 3-0 (4-0 in 2019) they have proceeded to drop there next 3 games (4 in 2019). This cannot continue to happen and should solidify him getting fired this year
Even the years he hasn’t started 3-0 he has had a 3 game losing streak. Every season with Wilcox we have went though a street of 3 losses in a row.
If you’re thinking of donating to the Caliber fund or football NIL, save your $.
Put it towards the Wilcox buyout.
Love Narduzzi taking credit for "finding a way to win."
Like a shanked FG?
He stopped us from scoring a touchdown and forcing us to settle for a FG which he knew the odds of us missing were good.
Pretty sure we chose that FG ourselves before we played a down that series.
should've had a new kicker after fsu
Cal outgained Pitt and won the turnover battle 2-0. But allowed 7 sacks, 12 penalties, failed 2 XPs and missed a FG… all hallmarks of a poorly coached team.
All of the above are clear signs of poor coaching. That last feeble attempt to move the ball with 55seconds left tells the tale. Did you see any of our receivers actually run any kind of a route in any of those 4 plays?
Truth be told, however, why would any good coach want to work for a university that doesn't support its football program? After 68 years of mostly heartbreak from the loveable losers, I'm done.
All hallmarks of a seriously flawed team.
Choose : fire wilcox or bloesch?
You guys with all you can say is “fire this” and “ fire that“. I don’t get you. They’re less than 10 points from an undefeated season. And you blame the coach, not the players? And you wanna fire all the staff, so you have no coaches, and start all over again in midseason? How did you guys… Did you actually get into Berkeley?
Wilcox is the one to hire Bloesch, the buck stops with Wilcox. So, I say fire Wilcox. After the season is over, fire the whole staff, clean house, hit restart. This pattern of close losses due to no killer instinct, poor clock management, and poor decision making is enough for me after 8 years of this. Results are results, I don’t care if they loss by a combined 9 points the last 3 games, YOU NEED TO WIN. No more moral victories after 8 years of results. And yes, I did got to Berkeley and love the football team, I love it enough to still support them but wholesale changes misy be made.
Well, you might wanna wait until the season’s over before talking about that. There are other things to talk about.
Like, for instance, who do we have that can kick field goals?
Wilcox. All the turnover is because of bad decisions from the top down
You fire Wilcox and the whole staff.
Wilcox.
Who is gonna' pony up the money for that?
That being said, I am starting to see your point. He's like the salesman that makes more friends than sales. He struggles to close. Is Saban available/affordable?
Wilcox was a promising and, perhaps, somehow it was assumed he'd be the next best HC.
Donors.
you fire the former and the latter is gone
I'm pretty sure I saw this exact same game three weeks ago, but the other team had an annoying band that played the same song after every play and wore garnet and white instead of blue and yellow.
we avg 1.6 yards a run... yet we had MORE carries than attempted throws this game
Because Wilcox wants to play ball control and smash mouth football. Unfortunately he has never had the OL at Cal to do that but it hasn’t stopped him from running into a wall for 1 yard at a time.
The backs averaged 3.6, you shouldn't count the sacks as rushing. I don't like the decisions to put Rogers in, but if we threw on every down they'd just collapse our line on every play. The offense doesn't have all much to work with.
know your weakness and lean into your strengths.. we should have throw in 50 times this game
Bloesch sucks, scored 15 points. This was a top 5 offense, our defense played well.
Wilcox is a fraud send this bum to Oregon
This.
Is.
Wilcox.
You’re fooling yourself if you think he’s ever winning this type of game.
This is all Wilcox!
Fire Bloesch and it won’t change. We have had 4 OCs and 4 OL coaches, yet the results remain the same. The common denominator is Wilcox.
can't be more glaring that no matter the Cal talent they're going nowhere with this coaching crew
Exactly.
Our NIL is actually solid. We landed a solid class.
This is coaching.
How do you run a play that can't work even if it works perfectly?
(And worked just as designed.)
3 losses by a total of 9 points is tough.
Im sure Wilcox wants to win games more than anyone of us fans. Why is he making decisions that are not going to win him games?
Because he isn’t a good HC. He is a coordinator who has proven he isn’t HC material.
Because he’s not a good head coach. It’s very simple.
He has ZERO feel for the game. He’s formulaic, robotic.
Formula would be tokic PATs, kick FG to win, with worst case OT.
Because he is incompetent.
The scorpion and the frog. It’s his nature.
Definitely run a pattern and throw a ball short of the sticks. Wtf….
STOP CELEBRATING, DAVE!
Now starling injured. Again
what a whimper of an effort
come on OL... fernando is throwing while bracing for the hit. hard to be accurate that way
This the real problem.
FIRE WILCOX.
Will fire cox
so ugly
I'm might have a stroke at this rate
This is bad really really bad.
Is Cal fandom just a massive false start?
This is folly
i'll settle for a fb attempt at this point...
Leave Wilcox in Pittsburgh and stop in Las Vegas to pick of Odom.
Why on earth would he get on that plane? Which would miss the runway and end up in the bay.
Cal is still a better spot than UNLV.
Biggest mistakes for season: lack of OL depth and letting kicker from last year get away to UCLA no less. Kickers are too under valued at Cal. Bad PK likely means two losses so far.
Bloescb not capable of both hats.
I believe Coe is perfect beyond 50. So simply get 25 yards and hit a GW 65 yarder
Mendoza is not up for this
Why isn't Coe at least taking some practice kicks