In your hypothetical, Cal is bowl bound with wins over Stanford and likely USC. Hell yes I would be happy. Not thrilled because of what could've been, but happy nevertheless.
Can Cal salvage the season? Nothing to date indicates this is a probability. Too much inconsistency everywhere. The OL drives me nuts, and the ST play has been killing us. Is it possible? Sure, it is Pac 12 football, the other teams are inconsistent too. Heck, I am a Cal fan, Go Bears, beat Oregon!
6-6 with wins over Stanford and USC would make me happy and salvage the season. I will say, if we get to 6-6, we better have some dominate wins against Arizona and Colorado because 6-6 with close wins over those teams, would be cause for concern.
6-6 seems unrealistic because of our special teams play alone. We're unable to get any separation from teams while playing with one arm tied behind our backs. If we even had just a mediocre unit this year, our W-L would look much different right now.
Speaking of salvage, how about Zeke Berry?? Who is he you may ask. Welp he is the former teammate of Lu-Magia Hearns from De La Salle. Berry is a 3* CB. Berry just decommitted from AZ. Perhaps Hearns got in his ear and said, "Mate, come to Cal we need your services".
My optimistic view for the rest of the season is that the Bears will win the rest of their home games and beat Stanfurd. My pessimistic view is that they will only beat Colorado and Arizona. My realistic view is that they will be Colorado and Arizona and pull off one upset.
"Can special teams just stop shooting itself in a the foot?" deserves more than a single line. But I'm very much of the salvageable mindset! Having seen good portions of U$C, Arizona, UCLA, Stanfurd on Fri/Sat, these are all very beatable teams. In that if our offense plays like first half versus TCU for 3/4 of each game, we can beat all these teams!
Let's beat Oregon and put the moribund part of the season behind us. I don't see how we can win more than 4 games because our lack of consistency and mistakes, no matter who the opposition is. And we have to develop a killer instinct. Geez, we were ahead of Sac State 28-6 and allowed them to get back into the game. Nevertheless, six wins is possible if Cal plays crisp, clean football, with improved tackling and OL play, but I am not terribly optimistic at this point.
I hope the Bears shock Oregon, the national audience, myself, and the other 150 or so east coast Cal fans who stay up for the 10:30 P.M.(!) kick off. I endured till Chris Taylor put the Dodgers into the NLDS, I will be there until the Bears put away the best team Nike can buy.
In your hypothetical, Cal is bowl bound with wins over Stanford and likely USC. Hell yes I would be happy. Not thrilled because of what could've been, but happy nevertheless.
Finishing the season 5-2 even with a historically bad Pac-12 seems like a pipe dream to me.
If the Bears beat the Ducks, then the game should be used in Haas lectures as proof that past performance does not predict future results.
best moment of the year - Will Craig the hero
https://youtu.be/aFQd2gVOKqI
Can Cal salvage the season? Nothing to date indicates this is a probability. Too much inconsistency everywhere. The OL drives me nuts, and the ST play has been killing us. Is it possible? Sure, it is Pac 12 football, the other teams are inconsistent too. Heck, I am a Cal fan, Go Bears, beat Oregon!
6-6 with wins over Stanford and USC would make me happy and salvage the season. I will say, if we get to 6-6, we better have some dominate wins against Arizona and Colorado because 6-6 with close wins over those teams, would be cause for concern.
6-6 seems unrealistic because of our special teams play alone. We're unable to get any separation from teams while playing with one arm tied behind our backs. If we even had just a mediocre unit this year, our W-L would look much different right now.
Depth chart is out for the Oregun game, no changes to the offense <rolls eyes>.
Speaking of salvage, how about Zeke Berry?? Who is he you may ask. Welp he is the former teammate of Lu-Magia Hearns from De La Salle. Berry is a 3* CB. Berry just decommitted from AZ. Perhaps Hearns got in his ear and said, "Mate, come to Cal we need your services".
My optimistic view for the rest of the season is that the Bears will win the rest of their home games and beat Stanfurd. My pessimistic view is that they will only beat Colorado and Arizona. My realistic view is that they will be Colorado and Arizona and pull off one upset.
"Can special teams just stop shooting itself in a the foot?" deserves more than a single line. But I'm very much of the salvageable mindset! Having seen good portions of U$C, Arizona, UCLA, Stanfurd on Fri/Sat, these are all very beatable teams. In that if our offense plays like first half versus TCU for 3/4 of each game, we can beat all these teams!
Let's beat Oregon and put the moribund part of the season behind us. I don't see how we can win more than 4 games because our lack of consistency and mistakes, no matter who the opposition is. And we have to develop a killer instinct. Geez, we were ahead of Sac State 28-6 and allowed them to get back into the game. Nevertheless, six wins is possible if Cal plays crisp, clean football, with improved tackling and OL play, but I am not terribly optimistic at this point.
Man 6-6 and a bowl game would be a spectacular end of the season. Here’s to hoping!!
I hope the Bears shock Oregon, the national audience, myself, and the other 150 or so east coast Cal fans who stay up for the 10:30 P.M.(!) kick off. I endured till Chris Taylor put the Dodgers into the NLDS, I will be there until the Bears put away the best team Nike can buy.
GO BEARS !!