Happy the Bears won, but one play, a non-targeting call, haunts me. Sam Jackson V in the third quarter ran to the right sideline and got nailed with the crown of the helmet of an ASU defender #6 (Williams, I believe). Sam was visibly shaken by the hit (as was its deliverer, who remained on the turf longer and required attention). Jackson in the ensuing few plays and series, would periodically wince and (I’m speculating here, based on the fact he would put his hands on his forehead and massage the area above his eyes at times during this span) I wondered if he might be experiencing headache or something as a consequence. The reason I am particularly concerned is he stayed in the game (no madical check by trainer), and there was no targeting call (or even a video review) despite what looked to me like an obvious infraction. The guy launched into Sam, leading with his helmet. I have seen many video reviews of lesser targetings that resulted in disqualifications. I am concerned for the young man’s health. Seeing this targeting go unaddressed made me take a step back and think about what really matters. The pressure on the player to perform, etc. takes a back seat.
I saw that from 60 yards away as it happened and the official who was right there didn't call it was an example of the terrible officiating in this game. 3 non calls on obvious interference incidences. numerous holding calls, and a missed call of 12 men on the field which Wilcox had to call time out to inform the officials about it.
My concern is less about breaking through the ceiling and more about falling through the floor.
It feels like we're a bad team with a few special players who can elevate us to mediocre. I hope someone can convince me that I'm being too negative and that we're fundamentally a mediocre team that can "click" into being good enough to pull off an upset.
He's hit 50 and 53 in high school and did pretty well during the season and in football camps. But, for sure, we need a bigger sample size to have confidence.
Sadly, this analysis is on target. Given yesterday's performance can the Bears win more than one more game? Our defense can only do so much, without a pass rush they are good, but not great. Our passing offense can only get better, and unless it does, it handicaps our running game. It could only suggest a long , difficult season.
You're right there with that comment. We have a QB sitting on the bench who is 6'5" and has a rocket arm. He should be being coached up to learn the basics of the Offense and be given some real reps, not just garbage time reps. Right now the QB play is the weakness of this offense.
I get the feeling that Wilcox is desperately trying to win NOW, and is likely to be reverting to using SJV as a Garbers 2.0.... Run the clock, eek it out ugly.. since there appears to be no alternative. With that said, some better designed runs to SJV would be good. Garbers was a way more effective runner despite all of SJV's speed.
I think some designed runs would do a lot for SJV even in terms of just letting him build confidence in himself. I also would venture to say that a designed run has less chance of him getting injured than an improvised scramble.
At least one of these close games went our way for once? The Auburn close loss felt so familiar and so familiarly frustrating. I know the opponent was below average this week, but still is nice that we managed to find a way to win at least
If the officials hadn't blown the call on the fumble return for a TD by Sermon on the first Auburn play. That was awful. Also, if Luckhurst had made just 2 our of 2 FG's it would have been a win over Auburn. Incidentally, Auburn almost beat number one Georgia Saturday.
As much as I detest it, we need Cal to perform poorly in this stretch against good teams in order to achieve our primary goal: the firing of Justin Wilcox.
My question would be, "Then what have you done, or are in the process of doing, to bring about that outcome?" There are numerous large and small impediments to that, and they have to be addressed one by one before competing (successfully) for something more can be accomplished.
Given what has happened historically to coaches at Cal, many doing much better after they leave, I wonder if it's Wilcox or the institution that's the real issue. I suspect it's primarily the latter.
To recap, Tedford has won multiple titles with Fresno State, Dykes just won NCAA Coach of the Year, and that's just the last two. Looking further back, Snyder resurrected a dormant Cal program and headed for the exits while Cal was a really good team and promptly went to the Rose Bowl with ASU.
Something is wrong with the institution with regard to major sports, whether that be the administration, faculty, City of Berkeley, I'm not sure. Would be interested to hear more about the institutional issues from anyone in here with knowledge of the situation.
As we all know here, the faculty has great power at Cal (which I actually agree with). The faculty views football and basketball as intellectually "dumb" sports. The faculty seems to be fine with the Olympic sports being successful, as those sports are more in line with the focus of Cal's academic peer schools - the Ivies.
However, its peer Stanford has used its academic/athletic succes to successfully brand itself as "Nerd Nation," attracting the best athletic nerds in the country.
UCLA has greatly increased its academic profile (and become a Cal peer) while maintaining its great athletic success.
Seeing these results at Stanford and UCLA, Cal's faculty may FINALLY understand that strong football and basketball programs enhance its reputational profile, at least here in the U.S., leading to more fundraising for both the athletic AND academic departments.
That was an ugly win. I’m not sure if Wilcox is able to put a better product on the field. It’s the same thing over and over, year after year, it doesn’t cut it. The offense continues to be a disaster, except for Ott. I was all for Jackson but now I’m not. He isn’t running, he is throwing the ball to spots on the field, even if the receiver isn’t there. He looks lost.At least Finley looks like a play maker with his arm. He can make something out of nothing. After this game, I say go back to Finley. That was an awful performance by Jackson. If they don’t figure the offend out, it’s going to be ugly the rest of the way.
With this O line...Finley would be a sitting duck and panic. Our O line is still mess and SJV had someone in his face almost immediately all game. The O needs to get more creative. Although we did see the reverse and designed runs...unfortunately, a few including the long one was called back.
Finley three interceptions, youll loose every game. Wilcox does not instill a loose environment. Kids are playing tight. That Auburn game was a big mental lost. Wilcox couldn't figure out during summer practices his kicker couldn't get it done? Usually you can look in a person eyes and tell if they are a gamer or not. He finally makes a change at kicker. Now he's trying to figure out how to use a RPO qb. Jackson needs to be in space. Setup easy throws. Roll outs, short passes, option, seldom run him up the middle, two small. Kid is thinking every time I do something wrong I'm going get bench. There is no rhythm in the offense to make easy throws, build continuity in the offense. The OL is playing better than last year but having to block for two totally different kind of qbs, thats tough job for a O lineman! My father would tell me blocking for Rams rb Dick Bass was completely different than Jon Arnett. Two different styles and offensive rhythm.
If the team was obviously playing at near their capacity, I've no idea what Wilcox or any one else on the team can try that will make a material improvement in the near time, Cal will have to upgrade speed, talent, strength, depth, etc., in other words get more players capable of playing at the Power 4/5th level, in order to make an improvement of an order of magnitude, and that can't happen until another (probably several) recruiting cycle(s).
It's only the "toughest" because we're not up to standards. We're all hit and miss. We've got some very good, good, and okay talent. Our MO for many years has been to "coach up" 2-3 star talent to PAC 12 levels, but that's not happening enough and, besides, we need to bump up our talent levels to 4 and five stars, if we want to compete. If we were committed to excellence in football, as we are so in academics, then this schedule, while still tough, would be more of a 50/50 probability.
The last couple of weeks have been some of the worst line play in recent years - this weeks' grades were worse than last weeks, if you can believe that. To support that look at the link provided; Cal's Oline is tied 36 having given up 7 sacks and we rank 63 in 3rd down conversion - I could go but here's the link: https://www.ncaa.com/stats/football/fbs. These next 6 weeks are going to be brutal
I was a football coach for 41 years in high school and college. In college I was an inside linebacker coach. I sit in the end zone so I can see line play and noticed that ASU defensive guards were lining up in 3 shades on the O guards with one ILB playing over either A gap. Cal's O line destroyed this alignment in the second half. the only time the L screwed up is when Spavital would call some ridiculous QB run or draw.
"The Bears were 0-9 in their last nine Power 5 games that went down to the final play."
Sweet baby Oski what a streak
We're no quitters. We'll make it 0-5 in the next five.
Happy the Bears won, but one play, a non-targeting call, haunts me. Sam Jackson V in the third quarter ran to the right sideline and got nailed with the crown of the helmet of an ASU defender #6 (Williams, I believe). Sam was visibly shaken by the hit (as was its deliverer, who remained on the turf longer and required attention). Jackson in the ensuing few plays and series, would periodically wince and (I’m speculating here, based on the fact he would put his hands on his forehead and massage the area above his eyes at times during this span) I wondered if he might be experiencing headache or something as a consequence. The reason I am particularly concerned is he stayed in the game (no madical check by trainer), and there was no targeting call (or even a video review) despite what looked to me like an obvious infraction. The guy launched into Sam, leading with his helmet. I have seen many video reviews of lesser targetings that resulted in disqualifications. I am concerned for the young man’s health. Seeing this targeting go unaddressed made me take a step back and think about what really matters. The pressure on the player to perform, etc. takes a back seat.
I saw that from 60 yards away as it happened and the official who was right there didn't call it was an example of the terrible officiating in this game. 3 non calls on obvious interference incidences. numerous holding calls, and a missed call of 12 men on the field which Wilcox had to call time out to inform the officials about it.
Noticed it around 4:45 mark from the pac network highlight clip. https://youtu.be/ex3PStAV6a8?si=9-JejN86XtsMzfU3
Yep. Really obvious targeting.
Gotta' wonder if the P12 refs are going through an existential crisis.
"Fuck it, I won't have this job next year."
this win felt worse than colorado's loss against usc
I have no idea how Colorado's loss against USC felt like
My concern is less about breaking through the ceiling and more about falling through the floor.
It feels like we're a bad team with a few special players who can elevate us to mediocre. I hope someone can convince me that I'm being too negative and that we're fundamentally a mediocre team that can "click" into being good enough to pull off an upset.
I think we are a bad team with more than just a few special players
Game balls go to Wilson & Bhagnani!
Wilson was tremendous! And I'm hoping Bhaghani can maintain his performance going forward!
Does not look like he has a lot of leg. Would not trust past 40 yards.
Who? Wilson or Bhaghani
Wilson has more leg, but has struggled with accuracy. I assume the leg is why he had won the job initially.
Wilson is our punter and he averaged 49.7 yards and had a long of 59 last week
Wilson, as witnessed by many comments, was nearly flawless.
Are you confusing Luckhurst with Wilson?
As long as he came hit 45 or below consistently, I will be fine for now.
He's hit 50 and 53 in high school and did pretty well during the season and in football camps. But, for sure, we need a bigger sample size to have confidence.
Sadly, this analysis is on target. Given yesterday's performance can the Bears win more than one more game? Our defense can only do so much, without a pass rush they are good, but not great. Our passing offense can only get better, and unless it does, it handicaps our running game. It could only suggest a long , difficult season.
You're right there with that comment. We have a QB sitting on the bench who is 6'5" and has a rocket arm. He should be being coached up to learn the basics of the Offense and be given some real reps, not just garbage time reps. Right now the QB play is the weakness of this offense.
I get the feeling that Wilcox is desperately trying to win NOW, and is likely to be reverting to using SJV as a Garbers 2.0.... Run the clock, eek it out ugly.. since there appears to be no alternative. With that said, some better designed runs to SJV would be good. Garbers was a way more effective runner despite all of SJV's speed.
I think some designed runs would do a lot for SJV even in terms of just letting him build confidence in himself. I also would venture to say that a designed run has less chance of him getting injured than an improvised scramble.
*Realizes that we have peaked for the season...pours drink...plays California Drinking Song on infinite loop...
"Oh, they had a little party at CMS,
Cal is still struggling that's a hard yes,
Oh, they had a little party at CMS
Where we hoped against hope that our offense would coalesce."
At least one of these close games went our way for once? The Auburn close loss felt so familiar and so familiarly frustrating. I know the opponent was below average this week, but still is nice that we managed to find a way to win at least
Cal finds a way to win that Auburn game, we would feel much different about the state of the program.
Problem is Wilcox has too many of those.
I we had a decent QB we would have beat Auburn and smoked ASU. Our problems start and end at QB right now.
If the officials hadn't blown the call on the fumble return for a TD by Sermon on the first Auburn play. That was awful. Also, if Luckhurst had made just 2 our of 2 FG's it would have been a win over Auburn. Incidentally, Auburn almost beat number one Georgia Saturday.
As much as I detest it, we need Cal to perform poorly in this stretch against good teams in order to achieve our primary goal: the firing of Justin Wilcox.
Our primary goal is to have a successful football season. Firing Wilcox might be a process to achieve it, but that's not the primary goal.
Our actual goal is to find someone willing to pay for the buyout of Justin Wilcox.
Major League movie plot?
"You guys stink!"
“ the Bears don’t simply want to win seven games every year. They want to compete for something more.”
Are you sure? Seems our AD would be thrilled with this given past results and extensions for no reason.
My question would be, "Then what have you done, or are in the process of doing, to bring about that outcome?" There are numerous large and small impediments to that, and they have to be addressed one by one before competing (successfully) for something more can be accomplished.
Given what has happened historically to coaches at Cal, many doing much better after they leave, I wonder if it's Wilcox or the institution that's the real issue. I suspect it's primarily the latter.
To recap, Tedford has won multiple titles with Fresno State, Dykes just won NCAA Coach of the Year, and that's just the last two. Looking further back, Snyder resurrected a dormant Cal program and headed for the exits while Cal was a really good team and promptly went to the Rose Bowl with ASU.
Something is wrong with the institution with regard to major sports, whether that be the administration, faculty, City of Berkeley, I'm not sure. Would be interested to hear more about the institutional issues from anyone in here with knowledge of the situation.
As we all know here, the faculty has great power at Cal (which I actually agree with). The faculty views football and basketball as intellectually "dumb" sports. The faculty seems to be fine with the Olympic sports being successful, as those sports are more in line with the focus of Cal's academic peer schools - the Ivies.
However, its peer Stanford has used its academic/athletic succes to successfully brand itself as "Nerd Nation," attracting the best athletic nerds in the country.
UCLA has greatly increased its academic profile (and become a Cal peer) while maintaining its great athletic success.
Seeing these results at Stanford and UCLA, Cal's faculty may FINALLY understand that strong football and basketball programs enhance its reputational profile, at least here in the U.S., leading to more fundraising for both the athletic AND academic departments.
I get that narrative, but the University approved the stadium rebuild, and has spent a fair amount on FB and BB head coaches
This team has managed to meet my (decidedly low) expectations this year. Looks like we're a lock for a 4-8 season under year 7 Wilcox
A win.
Need to play better to avoid an OSU pasting.
That was an ugly win. I’m not sure if Wilcox is able to put a better product on the field. It’s the same thing over and over, year after year, it doesn’t cut it. The offense continues to be a disaster, except for Ott. I was all for Jackson but now I’m not. He isn’t running, he is throwing the ball to spots on the field, even if the receiver isn’t there. He looks lost.At least Finley looks like a play maker with his arm. He can make something out of nothing. After this game, I say go back to Finley. That was an awful performance by Jackson. If they don’t figure the offend out, it’s going to be ugly the rest of the way.
With this O line...Finley would be a sitting duck and panic. Our O line is still mess and SJV had someone in his face almost immediately all game. The O needs to get more creative. Although we did see the reverse and designed runs...unfortunately, a few including the long one was called back.
Finley three interceptions, youll loose every game. Wilcox does not instill a loose environment. Kids are playing tight. That Auburn game was a big mental lost. Wilcox couldn't figure out during summer practices his kicker couldn't get it done? Usually you can look in a person eyes and tell if they are a gamer or not. He finally makes a change at kicker. Now he's trying to figure out how to use a RPO qb. Jackson needs to be in space. Setup easy throws. Roll outs, short passes, option, seldom run him up the middle, two small. Kid is thinking every time I do something wrong I'm going get bench. There is no rhythm in the offense to make easy throws, build continuity in the offense. The OL is playing better than last year but having to block for two totally different kind of qbs, thats tough job for a O lineman! My father would tell me blocking for Rams rb Dick Bass was completely different than Jon Arnett. Two different styles and offensive rhythm.
If the team was obviously playing at near their capacity, I've no idea what Wilcox or any one else on the team can try that will make a material improvement in the near time, Cal will have to upgrade speed, talent, strength, depth, etc., in other words get more players capable of playing at the Power 4/5th level, in order to make an improvement of an order of magnitude, and that can't happen until another (probably several) recruiting cycle(s).
Bright spot is his 5:2 TD:interception ratio
It's only the "toughest" because we're not up to standards. We're all hit and miss. We've got some very good, good, and okay talent. Our MO for many years has been to "coach up" 2-3 star talent to PAC 12 levels, but that's not happening enough and, besides, we need to bump up our talent levels to 4 and five stars, if we want to compete. If we were committed to excellence in football, as we are so in academics, then this schedule, while still tough, would be more of a 50/50 probability.
The last couple of weeks have been some of the worst line play in recent years - this weeks' grades were worse than last weeks, if you can believe that. To support that look at the link provided; Cal's Oline is tied 36 having given up 7 sacks and we rank 63 in 3rd down conversion - I could go but here's the link: https://www.ncaa.com/stats/football/fbs. These next 6 weeks are going to be brutal
I was a football coach for 41 years in high school and college. In college I was an inside linebacker coach. I sit in the end zone so I can see line play and noticed that ASU defensive guards were lining up in 3 shades on the O guards with one ILB playing over either A gap. Cal's O line destroyed this alignment in the second half. the only time the L screwed up is when Spavital would call some ridiculous QB run or draw.
Not to mention. SJV not throwing it away before getting sacked, at least once. Stats can tell, but, also, not tell the whole story.
During the game Rugbear did comment. "Sucking nasty ass," were his words, I believe. He was more impressed in the second half.