81 Comments

dawgpound "thinks" they will hear something within the next 48

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Hmm, I really wonder who they will hire. I seriously doubt it will be Wilcox, this isn’t meant as Wilcox hate but I think he would be a tough sale to the fans, especially after last night.

I think they hire the Fresno State HC.

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Will be shocked if it's Wilcox after SC just went loud...agreed, not intended as a dig at JW...just more that it'd be a tough sell to donor & fan base, especially 48 hours after the UCLA mess

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USC is about to hire Lincoln Riley. This might be the best and last chance for us to beat USC for a long, long time.

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Great hire, congrats to $C.

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Grand slam hire by SC. I don’t think anyone thought Riley was going to SC or that Riley has any interest in SC.

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The 2017 Rose Bowl could be the only proof that he's even stepped foot in the Pacific Time Zone.

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He played the long game.

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Just a slam-dunk hire...gotta think UW bagmen are moving money around to make a splash just to keep pace.

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Ya...it may end up helping the overall P12 profile...Conference is at it's best when SC is elite...

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Yep, this.

If we go to an 8 game conference schedule, Riley turns SC around and Oregon remains good then the national profile for the Pac 12 is about to increase.

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Yup, devastating news for the rest of the P12

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Sure is.

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That is definitely not a whiff. Wonder what DC Trojan thinks of it....

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I’m sure he is happy. We will find out tomorrow in the DBDs.

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Ya, tough not to be happy at that. They could run us off the turf at Memorial now...talk about a team fired up with the news....

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Here is his wikipedia page. Not knowing that much about the national CFB landscape I had never heard of him...

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lincoln_Riley

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Cal just got beat, simple as that. It happens in sport when one team completely dominates another. It's not a good feeling and the avalanche that ensues is suffocating. It wasn't a mystery what fucla was going to do on both sides of the ball so congrats to them for executing. I don't watch many fucla games but of the few I've watched this was by far the best performance I've ever seen from DTR. So congrats to him.

I watched the $C game, they are not down in dumps like some believe. They played an inspired and physical game against BYU and came up just short. The $C QB has a cannon for an arm and he is accurate, as well as being a fierce competitor. This will be another tough game for Cal's young D. The OL will need to play exceptionally well, cuz $C will bring the heat next week.

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As I watched the third quarter it became apparent my Cal football "malaise" was morphing into surrendered indifference - turn it off - felt good, fandom struggle is over for now. The party's over so to speak, no rationale left, ease into a mildly interested observer of the SC game and start fresh next season with yet another attempt at an adjusted attitude.

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I couldn't do that, watched the whole damn thing.

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Yep gotta stick it out til the end. And being at the rose bowl in person, and holding the car keys, my group had no choice but to stick it out with me.

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This is some absolutely inexcusable coaching. We rush for 300+ yards last week, admittedly against a very bad team, and yet this week we completely abandon the run game despite decent success. UCLA is fast offense and we need to slow them down. Maybe a possession-based offense that plays to our strengths and gives our D time to breathe would be good?

But no, let's make our plucky but mediocre QB carry the whole game when we already know he can't do it alone and our O-Line has the structural integrity of a ravioli.

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and an 18 play drive that took more than 6 minutes and zero points in 4th quarter, down multiple TDs. They are super slow offense with no urgency.

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That’s why we have never seen this team come back from a 2 score deficit to win. This offense isn’t built to play or come from behind. Anytime they fall behind by 10+ they lose.

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After discussing this yesterday I got a burning curiosity and looked at the box score of all Wilcox era wins in which the opponent scored at least 10 points. Found these three, in which we were down by 2 scores at any point:

Ole Miss, 2017 -- Down 16-7 at halftime, won 27-16.

USC, 2018 -- Down 14-0 at halftime, won 15-14.

UC Davis, 2019 -- Down 10-0 in the 2nd quarter, won 27-13

Obviously this would be incomplete data as far as telling any particular story, but thought I'd share!

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Thanks for doing the dirty work. Of those three, the UC Davis game was the one I wasn’t worried about coming back to win.

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Thank you for that...I remember all those games now that you mention it...

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If they're down 10, it's almost always B-A-L-L-G-A-M-E

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Especially true if we are down 10 in the second half.

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Second half play calling really reminded me of the Nevada game. Running game was working well, game was still close and we just abandon the run in favor of forcing a passing game that wasn’t working and the OL couldn’t pass protect. Okay

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And where was the screen pass? Didn't break it out until it was 42-14

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No screen pass to the RB until the game was over. No WR screens, no bubble screens.

Just a bunch of, hold my beer, I’m going deep pass plays.

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We have to depend on the defense to score TDs.

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We had two great kickoff returns that got us 0 points. Completely wasted. Had we just lined up and ran the ball on every down after each of those returns we probably at least get into FG range and get some points.

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I’ll admit I’m not super optimistic about next week, but is anyone else getting an error for the question asking us, from 1 to 100, how likely we are to beat usc next week, saying we have to put a number between 0 and 12?

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Yep. I put 6, meaning 50.

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Noticed that to. The football gods know we have no more than a 12% chance of beating the SC athletes, who no doubt will try to do what UCLA did, rattle Garbers with unrelenting pressure.

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Eh, I don't think Garbers was "rattled" as much as he had zero time.

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I applaud your optimism, sacman701! Wish I still had that positivity but years of Cal football has beaten it out of me....

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I filled out the ratings form, not very excited to fill in the blanks in our tied-for-worst-performance-of-the-year with the WSU game. Actually this was worse

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So how do we feel about Wilcox?

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I do like Wilcox, and am hoping he sticks around, as some semblance of continuity seems important right now, IMHO, FWIW. But he’s in no way worth big $ or an extension, and I’ll be flabbergasted if UW actually wants/hires him. I’ve come to terms with his ceiling & floor, which are 4-7 wins with the kids playing hard...I am terrified of what this offense looks like next year if Garbers moves on, however, as an excuse-laden, lean year of getting a new, young QB up to speed could result in a 3rd straight sub .500 record, which would then have the program trending drastically in the wrong direction.

Tough sledding tho - that young D played really well yesterday for 25 minutes but wore down with the offensive ineptitude...Garbers still can’t handle pressure, and for the life of me I can’t figure out why every team they face from here on out doesn’t blitz the F out of him! Smh

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I like him but I wonder what will happen next season. I don't think the extension discussions will yield the kind of deal that he wants. But at this point, who will want to give a coach with his record a big contract?

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It’s likely a lateral move at best as HC, tbh, despite what Wilner said, tho I’m sure he based his opinion-tweet on sources. I just can’t for the life of me imagine a program with CFP aspirations would settle for a guy with a 14-25 P12 Conference record in 5 seasons, regardless of whether he’s a high character guy or not.

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I think that just speaks more to Wilner's cynicism towards Cal. The narrative that other programs' ADs and boosters view Cal institutionally as an impossible place to win, and they see Wilcox's talent and potential going to waste here and think will flourish at their program with their resources and support. And while there is some truth to that, I would doubt programs like Washington would be that interested in Wilcox. I just dont see him being a "prime time" type of coach at a program that wants to purport their self as such. For example, Oregon. I just can't imagine Wilcox on that stage, with those expectations from the media and Uncle Phil.. not to mention the fact that they want the fan pleasing high scoring offense.

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Wilner hates Cal, admittedly, but at the end of the day, Wilcox just doesn't win enough, regardless of the institutional malaise. No one is expecting Rose Bowls here...just a bowl, period....

I could see him at Oregon quicker than I could see him at Washington, but honestly he's not a fit in either place for the reasons you mention, Gene...he's a fit in Minnesota, or at Wisconsin...D and big uglies on the OL...

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Woodshed time. Chip takes Justin for a whack.

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If Kaz Allen doesn’t muff that punt in their own red zone, this game is over early in 2Q.

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That 2nd half was a real buzzkill despite it representing the bulk of my evening's wine consumption.

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Me too. By the end of the game the pain was a bit numbed. But the 18-play drive that yielded nothing was emblematic of our failures.

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Why I continue to let myself watch blowouts against UCLA is becoming a real problem. 2018, 2020, and now 2021. Let this new pain end.

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Indeed, so I turned it off in 3rd quarter. My- my I said, those Bruins need to slow down, not play so quick & hard and be careful not hurt any of our Bears as we need a bit more time for our plays - this just shouldn't be and I shant watch.

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The confidence with which UCLA plays with under Kelly v Cal with DTR is disappointing

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They seemed to be smiling and laughing (particularly as the game progressed) especially DTR. Having fun.

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Yup. They played fast & loose the whole night.

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Perhaps TDR can stop DTR

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IDK ;-)

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Getting these kids up for the USC game is going to be a huge challenge for Wilcox. The only saving grace is SC has the same problem.

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Wow UCLA outrushed us 3:1 and still managed to outpass us.

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Over under on are we going to be back to seeing the "somebody should check on him to make sure he's OK" version of Wilcox post game presser mode now?

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Chip Kelly is sure rooting for Cal to extend Wilcox.

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Chipper owns a great deal of property on Wilcox island

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Wilcox needs to jump ship on a boat

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And there goes any bowl hopes

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off-season party at the Albany Bowl

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And the old ice skating rink in Berkeley is now a sporting goods store

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I do know he received an extension after the 2018 season that put him through 2023.

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