This decade hasn't been too bad. For the decade before, I can name two off the top of my head: the 2004 USC-Cal game, where we lost 23-17 with Rodgers unable to convert on 1st-and-goal to the No. 1 team in the country, and the 2007 Cal-Oregon State game.
Winning the 2004 game likely would've led to the national championship. Special teams fumbled away what was otherwise a career-defining performance by Aaron Rodgers, who set an NCAA record for consecutive completed passes.
And that week in 2007, Cal was the No. 2 team in the country. No. 1 LSU lost to Kentucky just hours before. Winning that game, would've led to a guaranteed No. 1 ranking, first time in at least the last 50 years. But of course baby freshman Kevin Riley scrambled in field goal range for no good reason, running out of time where a FG would've tied the game and sent it to overtime.
We outgained them 424 to 205, held Leinart to 160 yards passing, Reggie Bush to 23 yards rushing. Usually-reliable Schneider missed a field goal that would have brought us within 3 and enabled overtime at the end. And lost out on the winning touchdown when Makonnen slipped in the end zone.
Great article! I’m getting old, and I don’t remember the year, but the game against Oregon where Tevecchio missed a field goal or two seem pretty unlucky as well.
That one just missed the cut, because Oregon outgained Cal both in total and per play yardage, and in my mind likely could've scored in the final, clock killing drive if Tavecchio had hit the FG to put Cal up 13-12. But it's in the conversation just for that one goofy FG.
But recall that Cal had to re-kick the FG because in the previous play (FG good!) GT was flagged for illegal procedure when he took a step before the snap.
We went for a two point conversion but from my vantage point in EE it looked like Duncan caught the conversion pass. But then I realized (as did everyone else in the stadium) that he dropped it. GASP! We lose 45-44. Even though it was Wilcox' first season the game had a very Dykesian feel to it.
It's absolutely ridiculous that Tucson is always a house of horrors whenever the Bears play down there. Doesn't matter how good Cal is or how bad Arizona is, some kind of weird B.S. always happens to us.
I've been to road games @ Stan, UCLA, SC, ASU and U of A. I've been outside the UO and OSU stadiums on a road trip, but not for a game. Wazzu was on the schedule this year but got COVID'ed....UW, CU & Utes are the final pieces of the puzzle - Buffs next year hopefully.
I lived in Phoenix for 5 years and don't have many fond things to say about it, but Tucson is definitely the worst IMO...when you bring hoops into the mix, the fans are by far the most obnoxious in my experience.
SLC blows imo, but they are getting a decent brewery scene. it's easy af to get in and out of, or at least it was before this amazing hoax (i joke). but Utah has some of the finest Natty Parks in the country (if you can get there before the drilling and mining commences) if you can turn it into an extended stay. haven't been to a game there yet, but i am prepared for their fans to suck bigly.
the beer throughout Oregon and Washington always make those trips fun. we had a great experience at OSU tbh, and Oregon was fine. the fans aren't necessarily "nice," but i don't suspect people feel threatened there.
havent been to UW yet
WSU was great. the people were real. we met some good ones. the scenery is unique and peaceful. the fans were decent. the stadium i rather liked. we went to the game where Jahved ripped off a couple of 80 yard runs. then Riley was throwing late in the game up by like 50 points, and the fans got mad. Cal went back to the run game, and Vereen (if i recall correctly) ripped off a long TD run. so then the fans were like ok, we are just bad.
i lived in LA for 6 years, so ...
USC is the worst place in the world for several reasons, if not primarily because the seating in that stadium is all shit unless you are between the 20s and rows about 20-60. games are unviewable from the rest of the seats. and the fans are white fragile fucks. i have had some good times trolling the shit out of them.
at least UCLA is great for tailgating, altho the seating is pretty similar to the Coliseum. i feel a bit more of a kinship with these baby bears.
ASU can suck it. shitty stadium. shitty weather. in a desert, so the only thing to do is not die from heat exhaustion. fans are the worst ime. we went to a late October game a few years back, and it was so hot that they had to move the kickoff to 8 PM. also where are all the strippers they talk about?
UA was better. Tucson is a nicer town, weather is better. we had some nice pregame beer at a few places and walked to the game from there. stadium isn't great, but seating was good enough.
i live in CO
been to Cal at CU twice and Boulder several times. they think they are the Berkeley of the mountains, but mostly they are a bunch of smug liberal pricks and trust fund hippie wannabes. LEFTISTS DONT DRIVE RANGE ROVERS YOU FUCKS. the stadium is ok, and the scenery is great. make sure you sit on the east side so you can see the mountains. we did an official Cal tailgate thing, and it was cool. Oskie tried to Joe Biden my wife, but she likes Bears so ... whatcha gonna do?
oh the farm. i went to a couple games at the old stadium that had a hint of tradition before they tore it down including the last one in which the demolition equipment was idling and ready to go as we left the stadium. then i went to one game at the new stadium and no thanks. the tailgating is actually nice if when you think tailgating, you think a nice cab-syrah and aged gouda. unfortantely my lil cousin is on a full softball scholly there, so i will inevitably end up going to a foosball game. (Cal fucked up and overlooked her. amazing baller with full offers to Texas and a slew of other big programs. academically totally makes the cut. plus she's ginger, so doesn't that fill some quota?)
hey does David Shaw not have any bathrooms in his multimillion dollar Half Moon Bay house? how else can one explain the perpetually constipated look on his soon to be fired face?
all fair. the above is not my rankings, just random comments. completely unbiased totally objective total rankings off the tip of my arse with a few primary reasons:
1 - UO - stadium, beer
2 - CU - stadium, scenery
3 - OSU - fans, beer
4 - WSU - people, scenery, beer
5 - UA - stadium, desert sw culture
6 - UCLA - tailgating, at least when you get done you are in LA
7 - UW - [placeholder, but beer]
8 - UU - [placeholder, but conservatives]
9 - USC - [fuck everything about this experience, but in LA]
10 - Furd - [ugh]
11 - ASU - [nothing lives in the desert, not even strippers ime]
I had (rightfully) forgotten the level of ridiculousness of that pick-six against Arizona in 2018. It's bad enough that we never, ever, ever, ever win in Tuscon, but we always have to lose in the most bizarre, mind-boggling manner.
I was at that game with my buddy (who attends like 1 Cal game a year since he doesn't live in the Bay). It was also that game that broke him. He had already never been to a Cal win since 2009 and after that game he refuses to attend anymore because of how bullshit it was.
Yeah, the rest of that video is McIlwain turning it over again and again, which he also did in the other games he started. Perhaps it wasn't really luck, rather it was starting a turnover-prone QB.
He brought some athleticism to the position, which was exciting - but on the other hand, well, we all know how that experiment turned out. Now we have a QB with some wheels who can throw (Chase).
That was my argument at the time: that Garbers was just as much a dual-threat as McIlwain and could also actually be trusted with the ball. I did not understand why that experiment lasted for so long.
Because McIlwain was still the best athlete we had. It's like the boom or bust player on your fantasy team (my DeSean Jackson). He gave us a chance to score.
This decade hasn't been too bad. For the decade before, I can name two off the top of my head: the 2004 USC-Cal game, where we lost 23-17 with Rodgers unable to convert on 1st-and-goal to the No. 1 team in the country, and the 2007 Cal-Oregon State game.
Winning the 2004 game likely would've led to the national championship. Special teams fumbled away what was otherwise a career-defining performance by Aaron Rodgers, who set an NCAA record for consecutive completed passes.
And that week in 2007, Cal was the No. 2 team in the country. No. 1 LSU lost to Kentucky just hours before. Winning that game, would've led to a guaranteed No. 1 ranking, first time in at least the last 50 years. But of course baby freshman Kevin Riley scrambled in field goal range for no good reason, running out of time where a FG would've tied the game and sent it to overtime.
Cal-WSU in 2015 was pretty lucky. Vic Enwere had something like a 42 yd run on 3rd and 36 to really help run out the clock.
Cal USC 2004?
We outgained them 424 to 205, held Leinart to 160 yards passing, Reggie Bush to 23 yards rushing. Usually-reliable Schneider missed a field goal that would have brought us within 3 and enabled overtime at the end. And lost out on the winning touchdown when Makonnen slipped in the end zone.
and now I notice that it's in the last decade, oh well
Great article! I’m getting old, and I don’t remember the year, but the game against Oregon where Tevecchio missed a field goal or two seem pretty unlucky as well.
That one just missed the cut, because Oregon outgained Cal both in total and per play yardage, and in my mind likely could've scored in the final, clock killing drive if Tavecchio had hit the FG to put Cal up 13-12. But it's in the conversation just for that one goofy FG.
But recall that Cal had to re-kick the FG because in the previous play (FG good!) GT was flagged for illegal procedure when he took a step before the snap.
Win vs. Arizona in 2009 with Vereen, Jordan and Alualu was one of the best games of that season.
Haw, that was the Nick Foles double pass game. I remember that. (Weird things happen when we play Arizona...)
Since nobody has mentioned it I will. Our 2017 home loss to Arizona in double OT.
https://www.espn.com/college-football/game?gameId=400935300
We went for a two point conversion but from my vantage point in EE it looked like Duncan caught the conversion pass. But then I realized (as did everyone else in the stadium) that he dropped it. GASP! We lose 45-44. Even though it was Wilcox' first season the game had a very Dykesian feel to it.
From S.I. - Six Pac-12 teams opened up for voluntary workouts today. Cal (and UCLA) was not one of them.
It's absolutely ridiculous that Tucson is always a house of horrors whenever the Bears play down there. Doesn't matter how good Cal is or how bad Arizona is, some kind of weird B.S. always happens to us.
Arizona and Oregon State. sigh
When we lose to OSU it's usually just because we play like crap. The weird unlucky stuff seems to happen at Arizona.
There seems to be something about OSU that always makes us play like crap.
Ok, this was more fun to read than I thot it would be!!!! Thank you!
Nick, would be great if you could add the final scores for each game for context!
Arizona has actually been my least favorite P12 team ever since I attended that 10-9 loss in person...dreadful place, obnoxious fans...
but have you never been to ASU or USC? Zona is tame imo, and Tucson is not the worst place in the PAC-12 world (looking at you Phoenix)
perhaps a good filler article would be ranking the road destinations on:
getting there / the road trip
local culture / things to do
stadium
fans
add it all up for a total ranking
these are fun, because they are highly subjective, and homers get to come out and call us morAns
i have not been to Utah or Washington games, and thus i am not qualified to put this together :D
I've been to road games @ Stan, UCLA, SC, ASU and U of A. I've been outside the UO and OSU stadiums on a road trip, but not for a game. Wazzu was on the schedule this year but got COVID'ed....UW, CU & Utes are the final pieces of the puzzle - Buffs next year hopefully.
I lived in Phoenix for 5 years and don't have many fond things to say about it, but Tucson is definitely the worst IMO...when you bring hoops into the mix, the fans are by far the most obnoxious in my experience.
Ahhh, fair enough. I was strictly referring to the foosball. I would not be surprised to learn that the hoops environment reeks of entitled smugness.
Yes, that smugness drives me nuts!
SLC blows imo, but they are getting a decent brewery scene. it's easy af to get in and out of, or at least it was before this amazing hoax (i joke). but Utah has some of the finest Natty Parks in the country (if you can get there before the drilling and mining commences) if you can turn it into an extended stay. haven't been to a game there yet, but i am prepared for their fans to suck bigly.
the beer throughout Oregon and Washington always make those trips fun. we had a great experience at OSU tbh, and Oregon was fine. the fans aren't necessarily "nice," but i don't suspect people feel threatened there.
havent been to UW yet
WSU was great. the people were real. we met some good ones. the scenery is unique and peaceful. the fans were decent. the stadium i rather liked. we went to the game where Jahved ripped off a couple of 80 yard runs. then Riley was throwing late in the game up by like 50 points, and the fans got mad. Cal went back to the run game, and Vereen (if i recall correctly) ripped off a long TD run. so then the fans were like ok, we are just bad.
i lived in LA for 6 years, so ...
USC is the worst place in the world for several reasons, if not primarily because the seating in that stadium is all shit unless you are between the 20s and rows about 20-60. games are unviewable from the rest of the seats. and the fans are white fragile fucks. i have had some good times trolling the shit out of them.
at least UCLA is great for tailgating, altho the seating is pretty similar to the Coliseum. i feel a bit more of a kinship with these baby bears.
ASU can suck it. shitty stadium. shitty weather. in a desert, so the only thing to do is not die from heat exhaustion. fans are the worst ime. we went to a late October game a few years back, and it was so hot that they had to move the kickoff to 8 PM. also where are all the strippers they talk about?
UA was better. Tucson is a nicer town, weather is better. we had some nice pregame beer at a few places and walked to the game from there. stadium isn't great, but seating was good enough.
i live in CO
been to Cal at CU twice and Boulder several times. they think they are the Berkeley of the mountains, but mostly they are a bunch of smug liberal pricks and trust fund hippie wannabes. LEFTISTS DONT DRIVE RANGE ROVERS YOU FUCKS. the stadium is ok, and the scenery is great. make sure you sit on the east side so you can see the mountains. we did an official Cal tailgate thing, and it was cool. Oskie tried to Joe Biden my wife, but she likes Bears so ... whatcha gonna do?
oh the farm. i went to a couple games at the old stadium that had a hint of tradition before they tore it down including the last one in which the demolition equipment was idling and ready to go as we left the stadium. then i went to one game at the new stadium and no thanks. the tailgating is actually nice if when you think tailgating, you think a nice cab-syrah and aged gouda. unfortantely my lil cousin is on a full softball scholly there, so i will inevitably end up going to a foosball game. (Cal fucked up and overlooked her. amazing baller with full offers to Texas and a slew of other big programs. academically totally makes the cut. plus she's ginger, so doesn't that fill some quota?)
hey does David Shaw not have any bathrooms in his multimillion dollar Half Moon Bay house? how else can one explain the perpetually constipated look on his soon to be fired face?
also i know how to spell Jahvid :/ my bad
all fair. the above is not my rankings, just random comments. completely unbiased totally objective total rankings off the tip of my arse with a few primary reasons:
1 - UO - stadium, beer
2 - CU - stadium, scenery
3 - OSU - fans, beer
4 - WSU - people, scenery, beer
5 - UA - stadium, desert sw culture
6 - UCLA - tailgating, at least when you get done you are in LA
7 - UW - [placeholder, but beer]
8 - UU - [placeholder, but conservatives]
9 - USC - [fuck everything about this experience, but in LA]
10 - Furd - [ugh]
11 - ASU - [nothing lives in the desert, not even strippers ime]
I had (rightfully) forgotten the level of ridiculousness of that pick-six against Arizona in 2018. It's bad enough that we never, ever, ever, ever win in Tuscon, but we always have to lose in the most bizarre, mind-boggling manner.
I was at that game with my buddy (who attends like 1 Cal game a year since he doesn't live in the Bay). It was also that game that broke him. He had already never been to a Cal win since 2009 and after that game he refuses to attend anymore because of how bullshit it was.
Brandon McIlwain.
Yeah, the rest of that video is McIlwain turning it over again and again, which he also did in the other games he started. Perhaps it wasn't really luck, rather it was starting a turnover-prone QB.
He brought some athleticism to the position, which was exciting - but on the other hand, well, we all know how that experiment turned out. Now we have a QB with some wheels who can throw (Chase).
That was my argument at the time: that Garbers was just as much a dual-threat as McIlwain and could also actually be trusted with the ball. I did not understand why that experiment lasted for so long.
Because McIlwain was still the best athlete we had. It's like the boom or bust player on your fantasy team (my DeSean Jackson). He gave us a chance to score.
Did he really, though?
We didn't have any other playmakers last year. It was like putting a Camry engine on a Corolla and it still failed.
First half of article: "Ha ha! This is a great article concept!"
Second half: [The Sound of Silence plays]
I am a content idea generator!
The luckiest wins actually made me feel worse because it felt like we were so inept at times.