This game was lost at the line of scrimmage. TTU defensive line dominated our OL. Our defensive line seemed little more than a mild annoyance to TTU. We need to find and coach up some Todd Steussies Alex Macks (a 2* recruit), and Cameron Jordans.
I do think having to take finals messed up Cal's practice/pregame routine -- they just seemed a little off all night. I noticed that the announcers didn't say anything about TTU having finals.
Unlike some of the curmudgeonly Old Blues on this blog, I'm still bullish on next season. They made great strides on offense this year under a new system, finding a young QB who grew into the role nicely (notwithstanding the bowl game), and despite Spav leaving, there will be good continuity going into next season. Plus our ACC schedule will be much easier than the gauntlet we had to run through this season.
Disappointing and disillusioning performance. In the first half, Cal had three possessions that went 3-and-out. Another possession went 4-and-out. In the second half, Cal was shut out and possessions ended on an interception, punt (3-and-out), downs, fumble, interception, interception, and punt (3-and-out). That's a team that is both uninspired and not well coached.
A bowl game performance should be a culmination of effort. Instead, what we saw was a team clearly struggling to perform simple tasks. This program is clearly in a downward trajectory. I predict that next year Cal will not win more than 3 games and lose the Big Game. I have never felt so pessimistic, even after the end of the 2000 season.
I don’t know about the uninspired part. They were clearly geeked this week, and they certainly started the game with their hair on fire. But once they caught us under the chin, it went hard south. Agree about the coaching, particularly the play calling. The schedule is so weak you can paint in 5 wins at least, but certainly more of the same kicking the can down the road I fear.
Cal fans: Bring back the Root (Texas Tech DC Tim DeRyuter, who used to be our DC)!!!! Sirmon is a good DC and Cal will always play decent to good defense under Wilcox. However, as I was watching the game last night, it occurred to me that Texas Tech. was doing to us what we used to do to other teams when DeRyuter was our DC. We couldn't get ANYTHING going after the first quarter and the Texas Tech. defense was the reason why.
FERNANDO WAS SIMPLY OVERWHELMED BY BING SUBJECTED TO A CEASLESS, VERY PRESSING
ATTACK. HE WAS SO "DISCUMBOOUTATED" HE THREW SOME PASSES DIRECTLY TO OPPOSING PLAYERS.
THAT WAS THE CRUX OF THE REASON FOR OUR LOSS. DOES THAT TYPE OF EVENT ADD TO THE SCORE FOR PASS COMPLETIONS? OTT WAS, BY AND LARGE OVERZAPPED AT THE LINE RELENTLESSLY. GERBEAR
If they would have just ruled Mendoza out for the second half and they still got steamrolled everyone would be feeling ALOT better about the state of the program today.
I’m at DFW airport with my son and a few other Bears. It’s unpleasant to type on my phone but I must say this whole experience at the game was horrible. The stadium was a high school like joke, the concessions for gear were few and far between with very little gear they couldn’t sell because the local cell towers weren’t working, it was freezing cold (why the hell have bowl games in a cold place?!?!?!), and of course the game itself.
We lost that game on the lines, simple as that. We couldn’t guard #8 to save our lives (One damn guy! One!). It was absolutely incredible to see us run Ott up the middle every time and he was met in the backfield on most of them. Atrocious play and game calling. Just atrocious.
I’m the type of Cal fan Cal needs. If nothing major changes with players or coaches in off season, I will not be renewing my season tickets. What a disaster of a performance against a team that did not have reason on paper to beat us so easily. Both our lines need transformation in coaching or talent or both.
And I should add that our stay in Shreveport was otherwise just fine. For a midsize southern city it has it's attractions. The highlight by far was the RW Norton art museum. Can't recommend that highly enough. A truly fantastic collection of contemporary American artists as well as the old stuff. Maybe the most surprising and impressive art museum for it's size I've seen in the states, including the big city ones. Food was fun. Many places east of the Rockies have a casual disregard for land that is shocking to all of us in the West, where land is crazy expensive. Abandoned homes and lots all over town in places like Wichita and Shreveport. It's really shocking to see the prevalence of it. The aquarium is a fun little place on a low budget. We don't gamble but that's one of the big attractions there.
God that was difficult to watch. In hindsight, would have been better to not have gone to a bowl game and still be somewhat excited for next year. No chance of it happening this year but Wilcox needs to go - six years of unwatchable football. Don’t see much changing next year.
Mendoza did some good things this year, and provided a steady presence where we had none. But Rogers didn’t sign here strictly to back up Mendoza…he’s going to compete. Mendoza is a hard worker, and deserves the chance to mature, but the decision making has to improve - he easily could have had 3 more turnovers last night.
My money’s on Rogers starting v UC Davis on 8/31/24…
I give OC Bloesch a C+/D- with his first game calling plays. Thoroughly out coached by TDR who made the correct in-game adjustments on D. Some of the play calling, especially the 4th down calls, were atrocious.
And if analytics say go for it on 4th and 2, three minutes into the game, with your QB out for the play, instead of kicking an easy field goal to go up 10-0, then this whole analytics thing needs to be trashed.
Going for a 4th and 2 out of shotgun in an obvious run where we don't even pretend like we're going to pass is a fireable offense in my opinion. If you're going to power it, you go from under center.
Hats off to TT. A comprehensive mauling. Hard to pinpoint a single root cause of our troubles. There were several. But a near total lack of a pass rush stood out to me: Challenging an already challenged secondary. Their QB had days to throw. Mendoza didn’t look the same after that knee hyper extension. Clearly flustered in a way he otherwise hasn’t been this season. Never got Hunter involved, or anything really on the outside. I thought Hearns had one of his better games of the past couple of years. Ualave was largely silent.
Oof. re Mendoza, really wonder at the impact of the voice in his helmet ear. Seems like it totally interrupted his more usual calm/progression check. Was it the added voice, the new non-Spav voice, or combo? Those last pics he also looked potentially concussed.
Every phase of the game Cal was completely dominated. We were outcoached (understatement). Our OL 7 years into Wilcox's tenure is still the weakest unit and we have an inexperienced coach for that unit next year.
Going into the game I expected a good competitive game (hell, TT lost most of their front 7 prior to the game!). This wasn't a competitive game. I feel for the players returning next year who have to live with this the entire off season. Mendoza was running for his life the whole game and unfortunately looks lost now at his position.
Wilcox has to make coaching changes. If not, he may lose the team and definitely the fan base.
Agree with Taco on performance. There was no aspect of the game in which we did decent. Even Luckhurst's fumble recovery was on a blown play -- he slipped and fell kicking the ball, so it only got to the 15 yard line.
That said, other than Wilcox changing himself, not sure the others matter as much.
I’ll be extremely happy with another 6-6 next year…he’s not going anywhere, so the least he can do is start stringing together bowl appearances, even if they are trash ones like Shreveport.
The defense actually played very well after the first four drives (which were ugly). Tech's average starting field position on their last nine serious possessions was our 49, and three of those started inside our 30. They scored a total of 13 points on those, with the one touchdown 'drive' going all of 15 yards, and averaged 3.2 yards per play. If our offense had done anything (besides commit bonehead turnovers) during that time span, the game would have gone down to the wire. Overall, I'd say the defense fought Tech to a draw.
Now the offense got annihilated. The last three quarters were worse than the Cheez-it Bowl. The line play in particular was horrendous, and Mendoza often looked like he was hallucinating.
I agree that our offense hurt our defense, but not willing to call it a draw. They flustered Mendoza. We didn’t do the same to their qb, who had time to throw all night. They forced turnovers. We really didn’t other than the INT. The fumble came on the opening kickoff of course. I guess we mostly tackled in the open field though?
Losing Spavital at Offensive Coordinator really hurt. The play caling had no semblance of continuity last night. Having the OL coach call the offense was suspect. Example: he called a counter early and Ott made and easy 9 yards. It was not called the rest of the game.
This game was lost at the line of scrimmage. TTU defensive line dominated our OL. Our defensive line seemed little more than a mild annoyance to TTU. We need to find and coach up some Todd Steussies Alex Macks (a 2* recruit), and Cameron Jordans.
I do think having to take finals messed up Cal's practice/pregame routine -- they just seemed a little off all night. I noticed that the announcers didn't say anything about TTU having finals.
Unlike some of the curmudgeonly Old Blues on this blog, I'm still bullish on next season. They made great strides on offense this year under a new system, finding a young QB who grew into the role nicely (notwithstanding the bowl game), and despite Spav leaving, there will be good continuity going into next season. Plus our ACC schedule will be much easier than the gauntlet we had to run through this season.
Disappointing and disillusioning performance. In the first half, Cal had three possessions that went 3-and-out. Another possession went 4-and-out. In the second half, Cal was shut out and possessions ended on an interception, punt (3-and-out), downs, fumble, interception, interception, and punt (3-and-out). That's a team that is both uninspired and not well coached.
A bowl game performance should be a culmination of effort. Instead, what we saw was a team clearly struggling to perform simple tasks. This program is clearly in a downward trajectory. I predict that next year Cal will not win more than 3 games and lose the Big Game. I have never felt so pessimistic, even after the end of the 2000 season.
I don’t know about the uninspired part. They were clearly geeked this week, and they certainly started the game with their hair on fire. But once they caught us under the chin, it went hard south. Agree about the coaching, particularly the play calling. The schedule is so weak you can paint in 5 wins at least, but certainly more of the same kicking the can down the road I fear.
This looked a helluva lot like Wilcox’s ‘22 Cal team.
Cal fans: Bring back the Root (Texas Tech DC Tim DeRyuter, who used to be our DC)!!!! Sirmon is a good DC and Cal will always play decent to good defense under Wilcox. However, as I was watching the game last night, it occurred to me that Texas Tech. was doing to us what we used to do to other teams when DeRyuter was our DC. We couldn't get ANYTHING going after the first quarter and the Texas Tech. defense was the reason why.
Oh well. Time to move on to the next best Cal sport to follow: women’s Gymnastics. Go bears!
I chose not to think about this game and bought jewelry today to cope.
WHO SCORED THE HIGHEST NUMER OF TURNOVERS TO THE OPPOSITION? GOOD THAT BE CAL?
GERBEAR
FERNANDO WAS SIMPLY OVERWHELMED BY BING SUBJECTED TO A CEASLESS, VERY PRESSING
ATTACK. HE WAS SO "DISCUMBOOUTATED" HE THREW SOME PASSES DIRECTLY TO OPPOSING PLAYERS.
THAT WAS THE CRUX OF THE REASON FOR OUR LOSS. DOES THAT TYPE OF EVENT ADD TO THE SCORE FOR PASS COMPLETIONS? OTT WAS, BY AND LARGE OVERZAPPED AT THE LINE RELENTLESSLY. GERBEAR
If they would have just ruled Mendoza out for the second half and they still got steamrolled everyone would be feeling ALOT better about the state of the program today.
I’m at DFW airport with my son and a few other Bears. It’s unpleasant to type on my phone but I must say this whole experience at the game was horrible. The stadium was a high school like joke, the concessions for gear were few and far between with very little gear they couldn’t sell because the local cell towers weren’t working, it was freezing cold (why the hell have bowl games in a cold place?!?!?!), and of course the game itself.
We lost that game on the lines, simple as that. We couldn’t guard #8 to save our lives (One damn guy! One!). It was absolutely incredible to see us run Ott up the middle every time and he was met in the backfield on most of them. Atrocious play and game calling. Just atrocious.
I’m the type of Cal fan Cal needs. If nothing major changes with players or coaches in off season, I will not be renewing my season tickets. What a disaster of a performance against a team that did not have reason on paper to beat us so easily. Both our lines need transformation in coaching or talent or both.
Go Bears. Long live the Bears. Gimme a break.
And I should add that our stay in Shreveport was otherwise just fine. For a midsize southern city it has it's attractions. The highlight by far was the RW Norton art museum. Can't recommend that highly enough. A truly fantastic collection of contemporary American artists as well as the old stuff. Maybe the most surprising and impressive art museum for it's size I've seen in the states, including the big city ones. Food was fun. Many places east of the Rockies have a casual disregard for land that is shocking to all of us in the West, where land is crazy expensive. Abandoned homes and lots all over town in places like Wichita and Shreveport. It's really shocking to see the prevalence of it. The aquarium is a fun little place on a low budget. We don't gamble but that's one of the big attractions there.
God that was difficult to watch. In hindsight, would have been better to not have gone to a bowl game and still be somewhat excited for next year. No chance of it happening this year but Wilcox needs to go - six years of unwatchable football. Don’t see much changing next year.
Totally agree—- we should not have taken the bowl bid
Mendoza looked so lost that you have to wonder whether the QB competition isn’t just totally wide open
It’s completely wide open.
Mendoza did some good things this year, and provided a steady presence where we had none. But Rogers didn’t sign here strictly to back up Mendoza…he’s going to compete. Mendoza is a hard worker, and deserves the chance to mature, but the decision making has to improve - he easily could have had 3 more turnovers last night.
My money’s on Rogers starting v UC Davis on 8/31/24…
He's young enough that pending QB competition might have had him overreaching and a bit confused.
I give OC Bloesch a C+/D- with his first game calling plays. Thoroughly out coached by TDR who made the correct in-game adjustments on D. Some of the play calling, especially the 4th down calls, were atrocious.
And if analytics say go for it on 4th and 2, three minutes into the game, with your QB out for the play, instead of kicking an easy field goal to go up 10-0, then this whole analytics thing needs to be trashed.
Going for a 4th and 2 out of shotgun in an obvious run where we don't even pretend like we're going to pass is a fireable offense in my opinion. If you're going to power it, you go from under center.
I think we ran one play all season from under center, a QB sneak. And I was shocked.
The lack of adjustments was the most troubling aspect…and that TTU DL was predominantly backups, as they were missing a number of key contributors.
I don't mind going for it, but the play call was atrocious.
Hats off to TT. A comprehensive mauling. Hard to pinpoint a single root cause of our troubles. There were several. But a near total lack of a pass rush stood out to me: Challenging an already challenged secondary. Their QB had days to throw. Mendoza didn’t look the same after that knee hyper extension. Clearly flustered in a way he otherwise hasn’t been this season. Never got Hunter involved, or anything really on the outside. I thought Hearns had one of his better games of the past couple of years. Ualave was largely silent.
Ulaeve didn’t even seem to see the field until Q2.
We noticed that. I wonder if he was suspended for Q1.
Oof. re Mendoza, really wonder at the impact of the voice in his helmet ear. Seems like it totally interrupted his more usual calm/progression check. Was it the added voice, the new non-Spav voice, or combo? Those last pics he also looked potentially concussed.
Every phase of the game Cal was completely dominated. We were outcoached (understatement). Our OL 7 years into Wilcox's tenure is still the weakest unit and we have an inexperienced coach for that unit next year.
Going into the game I expected a good competitive game (hell, TT lost most of their front 7 prior to the game!). This wasn't a competitive game. I feel for the players returning next year who have to live with this the entire off season. Mendoza was running for his life the whole game and unfortunately looks lost now at his position.
Wilcox has to make coaching changes. If not, he may lose the team and definitely the fan base.
Agree with Taco on performance. There was no aspect of the game in which we did decent. Even Luckhurst's fumble recovery was on a blown play -- he slipped and fell kicking the ball, so it only got to the 15 yard line.
That said, other than Wilcox changing himself, not sure the others matter as much.
That’s fair.
I’ll be extremely happy with another 6-6 next year…he’s not going anywhere, so the least he can do is start stringing together bowl appearances, even if they are trash ones like Shreveport.
"...Cal was completely dominated."
Sometimes that costs extra.
The defense actually played very well after the first four drives (which were ugly). Tech's average starting field position on their last nine serious possessions was our 49, and three of those started inside our 30. They scored a total of 13 points on those, with the one touchdown 'drive' going all of 15 yards, and averaged 3.2 yards per play. If our offense had done anything (besides commit bonehead turnovers) during that time span, the game would have gone down to the wire. Overall, I'd say the defense fought Tech to a draw.
Now the offense got annihilated. The last three quarters were worse than the Cheez-it Bowl. The line play in particular was horrendous, and Mendoza often looked like he was hallucinating.
I agree that our offense hurt our defense, but not willing to call it a draw. They flustered Mendoza. We didn’t do the same to their qb, who had time to throw all night. They forced turnovers. We really didn’t other than the INT. The fumble came on the opening kickoff of course. I guess we mostly tackled in the open field though?
What game were you watching where you think our defense fought Tech to a “draw”?
Losing Spavital at Offensive Coordinator really hurt. The play caling had no semblance of continuity last night. Having the OL coach call the offense was suspect. Example: he called a counter early and Ott made and easy 9 yards. It was not called the rest of the game.
Looking at the stat line, it's clear the turnovers were the killer. Hate those kinds of games 😑
A few of those happened at towards the end, after our fate was already largely sealed.