I know it’s just one game and its a young coaching staff, but its exactly this type of disaster that lives rent free in every Cal fan’s head and prevents them from full-throated excitement about anything. Or maybe im just speaking for myself.
Despite knowing better, I allowed myself to board the hype train this pre-season. I even said, out loud for people to hear me!, that we’d probably go 9-3 this season. I indulged in thinking for a moment we could be a sleeper ACC champion. What a humbling reminder to never grant ourselves these indulgences.
Alan: Don't feel bad. After the Syracuse game, I also jumped back on the hype train. Winning any game has a tendency to make people overlook more serious problems (like a coaching staff with little to no experience). Speaking of which, I went back and looked at an old LA Times article that was published the day after DeShawn Foster was fired by FUCLA and the parallels between his tenure and Tosh's are too similar to ignore. He was an alum, great position coach and recruiter who had no experience leading an entire team. One takeaway from that article was that the baby bears were trying to achieve football success on the cheap, and it cost them (the silver lining there was that Foster had a relatively cheap buyout. I hope we have the same thing with Lupoi). During the next hiring round, RR needs to find a coach that knows what he is doing. One thing that is currently sustaining me is that if Wake Forest and even FUCLA can hire coaches that have their programs in the top 25, then so can we. If RR whiffs on Lupoi's replacement, we should start looking for a new GM as well.
The narrative was (and still can be) great: an alum with a prestigious resume leading the Bears. The issue is that any new first-time coach would need some runway but we (I) wanted an immediate turnaround. With hindsight, a more expensive and experienced hand is the clear strategy to stage a complete turnaround. Does RR and the admin have the gumption to fire two coaches in two years?
I still wish we had moved on Jason Eck from New Mexico. I think about what that would have looked like.
I really like how you found the good in that otherwise very bad game. The special teams did play pretty well, except as you pointed out, the kickoff returns. Why we kept doing that was very hard to comprehend.
The Athletic just graded every Power 4 team mid season... Cal was awarded a well-deserved D… That’s a one-point-zero grade point average... “Fat, drunk and stupid is no way to go through life, son…
WF stepped off the gas after going up 47-0, and they could have easily scored 70+ if they kept their 1st team in. The Cal program is in big trouble, and the only worse team in the acc (according to ESPN FPS) is Furd. It would not surprise me if the ACC dropped their two worst (West) teams after this season or next. We are just bringing the ACC down at this point. Again, hard times for Cal football - maybe time to drop acid with the Grateful Dead...
Berkelium: I appreciate the detailed analysis of last Saturday's game but there is only one title that you should use for this article: "The Bad, REALLY BAD and JUST PLAIN DISGUSTING." Such is the current state of Cal Football.
1) Hope Tosh develops a sense of recursive intelligence in Coaching and the team claws out 5-6 times wins. He’ll be back next year but recruitment will take a hit.
2) We lose the next 3 or 4 games and then let him go after a Big Game loss. We all become overly skeptical of the next head coach, refusing to be hyped up again, but this would be our last (last) shot at success.
3) We do nothing no matter how many games he loses and go with him for another year. We then officially ban the phrase, “Trust the process” on this site.
4) (wild card) Tosh is let go after a blowout SMU loss, Ron takes the reigns and stays the Head Coach for 3 years at a salary of $1 per year to stabilize the program.
I was surprised to see Ron is on an NFL appeal panel for player fines. He’s weighing in on whether one of those Bills players is suspended for spitting.
I know it’s being picky I’d just prefer his full attention here right now.
Given that this week's team is better than last week's, and we're the visiting team this time, I predict that this game will be even badder. It's too bad that a terrible season won't give us anything, like a higher draft pick.
We don’t have any problem making the lottery if things continue along the current trend. BTW I would put my money on WF to beat SMU on a neutral field. They’ve looked great more often. And against a common opponent (Louisville), WF prevailed on the road whereas SMU lost by ten. Maybe Jennings will throw a few picks Saturday. The Bear will not quit, The Bear will not die.
I know it’s just one game and its a young coaching staff, but its exactly this type of disaster that lives rent free in every Cal fan’s head and prevents them from full-throated excitement about anything. Or maybe im just speaking for myself.
Alan: You speak for every traumatized Cal Football fan, and there are a LOT of us.
Despite knowing better, I allowed myself to board the hype train this pre-season. I even said, out loud for people to hear me!, that we’d probably go 9-3 this season. I indulged in thinking for a moment we could be a sleeper ACC champion. What a humbling reminder to never grant ourselves these indulgences.
Alan: Don't feel bad. After the Syracuse game, I also jumped back on the hype train. Winning any game has a tendency to make people overlook more serious problems (like a coaching staff with little to no experience). Speaking of which, I went back and looked at an old LA Times article that was published the day after DeShawn Foster was fired by FUCLA and the parallels between his tenure and Tosh's are too similar to ignore. He was an alum, great position coach and recruiter who had no experience leading an entire team. One takeaway from that article was that the baby bears were trying to achieve football success on the cheap, and it cost them (the silver lining there was that Foster had a relatively cheap buyout. I hope we have the same thing with Lupoi). During the next hiring round, RR needs to find a coach that knows what he is doing. One thing that is currently sustaining me is that if Wake Forest and even FUCLA can hire coaches that have their programs in the top 25, then so can we. If RR whiffs on Lupoi's replacement, we should start looking for a new GM as well.
The narrative was (and still can be) great: an alum with a prestigious resume leading the Bears. The issue is that any new first-time coach would need some runway but we (I) wanted an immediate turnaround. With hindsight, a more expensive and experienced hand is the clear strategy to stage a complete turnaround. Does RR and the admin have the gumption to fire two coaches in two years?
I still wish we had moved on Jason Eck from New Mexico. I think about what that would have looked like.
Right there with ya
I really like how you found the good in that otherwise very bad game. The special teams did play pretty well, except as you pointed out, the kickoff returns. Why we kept doing that was very hard to comprehend.
With all the reps Cal is getting on kickoff returns, they are bound to improve.
HA HA
We kept doing that because it’s called lousy coaching.
I know it. I was trying to be nice about it for some reason.
The Athletic just graded every Power 4 team mid season... Cal was awarded a well-deserved D… That’s a one-point-zero grade point average... “Fat, drunk and stupid is no way to go through life, son…
"If we get another game like this next week, I’m using an abacus..." Great line, appreciate the good humor. Go Bears (to the extent possible)!
WF stepped off the gas after going up 47-0, and they could have easily scored 70+ if they kept their 1st team in. The Cal program is in big trouble, and the only worse team in the acc (according to ESPN FPS) is Furd. It would not surprise me if the ACC dropped their two worst (West) teams after this season or next. We are just bringing the ACC down at this point. Again, hard times for Cal football - maybe time to drop acid with the Grateful Dead...
Cal Fans: This just in; Maryland just fired Mike Locksley. This means there is a landing sport for Tosh and his staff!
Berkelium: I appreciate the detailed analysis of last Saturday's game but there is only one title that you should use for this article: "The Bad, REALLY BAD and JUST PLAIN DISGUSTING." Such is the current state of Cal Football.
The Youngbloods also addressed the darkness in 1969:
https://youtube.com/watch?v=eoxw380ySCc&is=PjqHETAh11aH_hxR
Go Bears! Another Virginia Tech surprise?
According to records, this is the worst Cal loss at Memorial Stadium in history.
Options now are:
1) Hope Tosh develops a sense of recursive intelligence in Coaching and the team claws out 5-6 times wins. He’ll be back next year but recruitment will take a hit.
2) We lose the next 3 or 4 games and then let him go after a Big Game loss. We all become overly skeptical of the next head coach, refusing to be hyped up again, but this would be our last (last) shot at success.
3) We do nothing no matter how many games he loses and go with him for another year. We then officially ban the phrase, “Trust the process” on this site.
4) (wild card) Tosh is let go after a blowout SMU loss, Ron takes the reigns and stays the Head Coach for 3 years at a salary of $1 per year to stabilize the program.
I was surprised to see Ron is on an NFL appeal panel for player fines. He’s weighing in on whether one of those Bills players is suspended for spitting.
I know it’s being picky I’d just prefer his full attention here right now.
Given that this week's team is better than last week's, and we're the visiting team this time, I predict that this game will be even badder. It's too bad that a terrible season won't give us anything, like a higher draft pick.
It will give us about 60 roster spots to fill after the transfer portal blows us up.
We don’t have any problem making the lottery if things continue along the current trend. BTW I would put my money on WF to beat SMU on a neutral field. They’ve looked great more often. And against a common opponent (Louisville), WF prevailed on the road whereas SMU lost by ten. Maybe Jennings will throw a few picks Saturday. The Bear will not quit, The Bear will not die.
The Bear quit and might have died.