Last year they nearly made the playoffs, this year they started ranked in the Top 10 before falling 0-3 to three straight unranked opponents. Can Cal make it four?
A lot in this article, thanks for it. I think that the committee did the right thing by leaving FSU out of the playoffs, and subsequent events proved them to be unequivocally correct.
You started the article quite articulate and unbiased. However, when you went to, “While culturally they may be more of an ASU-type party school, their football team is devotedly followed by non-college educated, Walmart-type fans; just like USC.”, you showed yourself to be nothing more than what you accuse. You are not a football observer, as you claim, you are nothing more than an ignorant, uneducated, Walgreens (I.e., not good enough for Walmart) shopper. This is from a true football observer who is an SEC fan, not a fan of either team being discussed by you.
Oh, how thankful and lucky I am to be blessed by the presence of a true football observer who is an SEC fan. You did a great job of showing that I am exactly "what you accuse", a non-college educated Walmart-type fan (of California, no less). You really burned me there, a very elegant "no u" indeed. Top marks!
Christopher Helling--I'm not here to attack this entire piece, because as an avid Cal fan I appreciate the diligence of your analysis both here and before past games. Insults removed, however, Jon has a point.
As a "college-educated" alumnus of both Cal and FSU, a fan of both football teams, and as someone who has spent equal time in both Berkeley and Tallahassee, I say that it was ignorant and elitist to cherry-pick an entire fanbase for the most negative stereotypes and examples you could find. You speculate that FSU is "more of an ASU-type party school, their football team is devotedly followed by non-college educated." You assert that FSU is guilty of "over a decade of being a monetary drain on the conference with their football incompetence."
Seriously, how would even you know? Have you ever even been to FSU, Tallahassee, or a game at Doak? Or did you assert that stereotype by looking at shots of the FSU crowd when you reviewed past game footage?
What's more, you do realize that FSU won the last National Championship of the BCS era just ten years ago in January 2014, right? You also realize that despite having some sub-par seasons recently, FSU las largely led the ACC in viewership ratings? Hardly a "monetary drain."
The arrogance among the FSU fanbase was palpable this past summer. It pissed me off to no end that the FSU talking heads have continued to dismiss and disrespect Cal. I hope Cal rolls in there this weekend and makes a statement. But, we don't do ourselves any favors by sinking to that level.
At some point, fan blogs are allowed to be fan blogs. Cal fans could go out and collect receipts for everything that's been said about us, but we don't -- because it's all fun and games.
I didn't miss your point. I just disagree. It's one thing to laugh at FSU fans for their terrible start to the season. It's another thing to make classist and elitist comments.
Really, Jon has a point? And what point is that? That he was easily baited by the part of the article meant specifically to incite FSU fans? And furthermore, are you really going to argue that FSU is NOT a party school?
Yes, obviously I'm aware of FSU's BCS National Championship, hence why I cherry-picked their record starting after that point. Yes, I'm aware of FSU's viewership numbers and hence their value to the ACC's television contract. The point of the article is not to seriously examine media contract rights. The point of that part of the article is to annoy FSU fans, because obviously you'd be offended by being reminded of your mediocre record despite the huge investment into the football program. And are you new to these articles? I grew up in LA and have a lot of friends who went to UCLA. I am still going to trash UCLA in the previews every time we play them. The same goes to USC or Auburn or any other school that takes themselves way too seriously. 8% of the views on the Auburn article were linked from their message board. I enjoy the engagement, and having fans of Auburn or FSU or whoever show up and talk trash. The fact that this needs to be explained, or the fact that you'd try and defend an exceedingly dumb comment is kind of embarrassing. As Rob said, lighten up.
The FSU administration very much played a part in jeopardizing Cal football's ability to stay solvent and compete at the power conference level, so yes, my distaste the FSU administration is very much real. My only regret about this article was not going harder at them.
Jon has a point that your comment showed the same ignorance that you imply FSU fans have. Yes, he was easily baited. But I don't think your comment was bait, or a joke, or just having fun like Rob says. It's easy for you to point to that in retrospect and act like people who took it seriously are just easily offended. But you crossed the line.
Look, you can rip on FSU all you want. I'll be the first to tell you it's deserved. I already mentioned how much their elitism and arrogance has pissed me off even as an alumnus. And, I completely agree with you about FSU's role in jeopardizing Cal football's ability to compete at the highest level. But my point is that your comment was elitist and unrelated to football. From your lofty Californian tower you took a shot at people who live in or near Tallahassee and support FSU, insinuating that they are poor ("Walmart-type") and uneducated. Once again, how would you know?
You trashing UCLA is not the same thing, since you grew up in that demographic. But trashing a demographic that you know nothing about with disparaging comments? That's just ignorant and as you say, embarrassing.
I believe Chris's comments are not directed at Florida State students or alumni, but the surrounding infamous hangers on fanbase that has a pretty poor reputation in the college football world. I have enjoyed pretty good interactions with the former and pretty poor ones with the latter. However in pieces such as these that are already content dense, it is difficult to also make those sociological distinctions when dropping barbs.
This is absolutely it, thank you for helping to clarify. The exact words I wrote, since apparently we're litigating my articles all of a sudden, was "their football team is devotedly followed by non-college educated, Walmart-type fans; just like USC." At no point was I saying anything about FSU students or alums, or that all FSU fans are trailer trash Walmart folks or anything like that; just that their fanbase happens to extend well beyond the alumni base into groups like this. It's also pretty well-known that these sorts of fans are also not the most well-mannered group-- or did I not go far enough in documenting enough racial incidents that have happened recently? That's not a "classist" or "elitist" take at all.
Also, I'm glad that Jon was so offended by being compared to USC that he felt compelled to leave a stupid comment. He should be offended, being compared to USC was an insult.
So, will Sirmon take note of previous FSU games and load the box? Will he blitz? Or will he let DJ look like a Heisman candidate again? There should be no failure by Cal's defense this week. There is too much film on what worked the previous 3 weeks.
It will be ironic and amusing if CAL has a more successful season than FSU and as a result gets a bigger payout than FSU as a result of rewarding success.
That would be a terrific outcome. I also wonder if we could renegotiate the GOR monies due to our success and meme profile we seem to have developed. We seem to be an asset to the ACC rather than merely the 17th best team in the conference.
A lot in this article, thanks for it. I think that the committee did the right thing by leaving FSU out of the playoffs, and subsequent events proved them to be unequivocally correct.
You started the article quite articulate and unbiased. However, when you went to, “While culturally they may be more of an ASU-type party school, their football team is devotedly followed by non-college educated, Walmart-type fans; just like USC.”, you showed yourself to be nothing more than what you accuse. You are not a football observer, as you claim, you are nothing more than an ignorant, uneducated, Walgreens (I.e., not good enough for Walmart) shopper. This is from a true football observer who is an SEC fan, not a fan of either team being discussed by you.
Oh, how thankful and lucky I am to be blessed by the presence of a true football observer who is an SEC fan. You did a great job of showing that I am exactly "what you accuse", a non-college educated Walmart-type fan (of California, no less). You really burned me there, a very elegant "no u" indeed. Top marks!
Christopher Helling--I'm not here to attack this entire piece, because as an avid Cal fan I appreciate the diligence of your analysis both here and before past games. Insults removed, however, Jon has a point.
As a "college-educated" alumnus of both Cal and FSU, a fan of both football teams, and as someone who has spent equal time in both Berkeley and Tallahassee, I say that it was ignorant and elitist to cherry-pick an entire fanbase for the most negative stereotypes and examples you could find. You speculate that FSU is "more of an ASU-type party school, their football team is devotedly followed by non-college educated." You assert that FSU is guilty of "over a decade of being a monetary drain on the conference with their football incompetence."
Seriously, how would even you know? Have you ever even been to FSU, Tallahassee, or a game at Doak? Or did you assert that stereotype by looking at shots of the FSU crowd when you reviewed past game footage?
What's more, you do realize that FSU won the last National Championship of the BCS era just ten years ago in January 2014, right? You also realize that despite having some sub-par seasons recently, FSU las largely led the ACC in viewership ratings? Hardly a "monetary drain."
The arrogance among the FSU fanbase was palpable this past summer. It pissed me off to no end that the FSU talking heads have continued to dismiss and disrespect Cal. I hope Cal rolls in there this weekend and makes a statement. But, we don't do ourselves any favors by sinking to that level.
At some point, fan blogs are allowed to be fan blogs. Cal fans could go out and collect receipts for everything that's been said about us, but we don't -- because it's all fun and games.
Tell that to the author of this article.
You missed my point -- you're taking this too seriously.
I didn't miss your point. I just disagree. It's one thing to laugh at FSU fans for their terrible start to the season. It's another thing to make classist and elitist comments.
Really, Jon has a point? And what point is that? That he was easily baited by the part of the article meant specifically to incite FSU fans? And furthermore, are you really going to argue that FSU is NOT a party school?
Yes, obviously I'm aware of FSU's BCS National Championship, hence why I cherry-picked their record starting after that point. Yes, I'm aware of FSU's viewership numbers and hence their value to the ACC's television contract. The point of the article is not to seriously examine media contract rights. The point of that part of the article is to annoy FSU fans, because obviously you'd be offended by being reminded of your mediocre record despite the huge investment into the football program. And are you new to these articles? I grew up in LA and have a lot of friends who went to UCLA. I am still going to trash UCLA in the previews every time we play them. The same goes to USC or Auburn or any other school that takes themselves way too seriously. 8% of the views on the Auburn article were linked from their message board. I enjoy the engagement, and having fans of Auburn or FSU or whoever show up and talk trash. The fact that this needs to be explained, or the fact that you'd try and defend an exceedingly dumb comment is kind of embarrassing. As Rob said, lighten up.
The FSU administration very much played a part in jeopardizing Cal football's ability to stay solvent and compete at the power conference level, so yes, my distaste the FSU administration is very much real. My only regret about this article was not going harder at them.
Jon has a point that your comment showed the same ignorance that you imply FSU fans have. Yes, he was easily baited. But I don't think your comment was bait, or a joke, or just having fun like Rob says. It's easy for you to point to that in retrospect and act like people who took it seriously are just easily offended. But you crossed the line.
Look, you can rip on FSU all you want. I'll be the first to tell you it's deserved. I already mentioned how much their elitism and arrogance has pissed me off even as an alumnus. And, I completely agree with you about FSU's role in jeopardizing Cal football's ability to compete at the highest level. But my point is that your comment was elitist and unrelated to football. From your lofty Californian tower you took a shot at people who live in or near Tallahassee and support FSU, insinuating that they are poor ("Walmart-type") and uneducated. Once again, how would you know?
You trashing UCLA is not the same thing, since you grew up in that demographic. But trashing a demographic that you know nothing about with disparaging comments? That's just ignorant and as you say, embarrassing.
I believe Chris's comments are not directed at Florida State students or alumni, but the surrounding infamous hangers on fanbase that has a pretty poor reputation in the college football world. I have enjoyed pretty good interactions with the former and pretty poor ones with the latter. However in pieces such as these that are already content dense, it is difficult to also make those sociological distinctions when dropping barbs.
This is absolutely it, thank you for helping to clarify. The exact words I wrote, since apparently we're litigating my articles all of a sudden, was "their football team is devotedly followed by non-college educated, Walmart-type fans; just like USC." At no point was I saying anything about FSU students or alums, or that all FSU fans are trailer trash Walmart folks or anything like that; just that their fanbase happens to extend well beyond the alumni base into groups like this. It's also pretty well-known that these sorts of fans are also not the most well-mannered group-- or did I not go far enough in documenting enough racial incidents that have happened recently? That's not a "classist" or "elitist" take at all.
Also, I'm glad that Jon was so offended by being compared to USC that he felt compelled to leave a stupid comment. He should be offended, being compared to USC was an insult.
It’s a preview article having fun man. Lighten up.
USC catching strays, and I’m here for it!
All that talk about racism at FSU has me terrified as I'll be there this weekend :(
Wait, I didn't know Washington went into college playoffs last year undefeated. I must have not cared at all
I would like to propose “Battle for the Peace Pipe” as the name of this rivalry going forward
Soes anyone know the status of Reese, Vatikani, McDonald, Correia, and Miller?
FSU Offense has more drops than the Berkeley Optometry Center
?
eye drops lol
OOooohhh.
It was almost painful to watch the Memphis game. Finally get a receiver open just for the receiver to drop the pass.
Yes, reminds me of Modster, when Chase was injured. His passes were in the receivers' hands but, often, dropped like their were hot lava.
Go Bears. Pressure the hell out of "Ugi". Load the box.. You've got the best DB's as a group in the ACC or more.
I was sort of hoping that this entire article would be about the ways in which FSU is offensive, not their football team’s offense.
I can understand how the first 25 paragraphs of this article might not be enough on that topic.
Go Bears! Beat FSU! On ESPN2! The nation will be watching. This is the year.
So, will Sirmon take note of previous FSU games and load the box? Will he blitz? Or will he let DJ look like a Heisman candidate again? There should be no failure by Cal's defense this week. There is too much film on what worked the previous 3 weeks.
Go Bears!!
It will be ironic and amusing if CAL has a more successful season than FSU and as a result gets a bigger payout than FSU as a result of rewarding success.
That would be a terrific outcome. I also wonder if we could renegotiate the GOR monies due to our success and meme profile we seem to have developed. We seem to be an asset to the ACC rather than merely the 17th best team in the conference.