On the phantom offsides penalty, I thought the penalty was going to be for leaping or lining up over the long snapper. It was truly amazing when they offsides.
I'm fairly sure a complaint has already been submitted. And the refs involved will get a slap on the wrist with a wet noodle. And that's where it will end. But, the entire Notre Dame organization and fan base should feel ashamed.
Cannot be overstated how good a write-up this is in terms of capturing the game itself and the experience of being a Cal football fan. The football team will likely struggle this year but at least WFC will provide some solace through the musings of its talented scribes.
At least it took Wilcox 6 years to figure out when your 4th or 3rd short you dont give the ball to your rb (four yards back), instead you allow your 6' 5" qb, quick count, pick a hole and get that yard!
Defense gave up the middle of the field. The most glaring one was the TD to their TE. Sirmon was over the TE but got sucked up by the QBs eyes and Scott was late covering the slant. Had Sirmon fallen back into the middle (likely where he should have been) the middle would have been closed off and no TD.
Wilcox in his post game presser commented on "a play or two". Ah no, it was way more than a play or two. Cal, in the first quarter, with superior field position did NADA. That is more than a play or 2. While the officiating was egregious and likely cost us the game (multiple times), Cal had ample opportunities to "control" the game and they did not.
Ultimately we lost cuz of our known weakness, the OL. But the OL isn't a weakness it is non-existent here in Wilcox's 6th year. By my eye, of college games I've watched this year, Cal has the worst OL by far.
Despite the OL this game was winnable had we had a better 1st quarter and made ND one dimensional. Very disappointing. I don't see a solution in the near term for the OL.
I agree. It was unfortunate as he was trying to make a play and Pine is short but it was targeting. Not nearly as bad as the ND targeting call, which was blatant.
It was bang-bang (there was one angle where it looked like he was doing proper technique and just barely hit his head), but yeah more an unfortunate "Cal being Cal" rather than an officiating oversight.
Built a perennial fcs contender out of a perennial doormat. Cal alum who bleeds blue and gold. Plays an exciting brand of football. Let’s just end that pipe dream… hiring him would make entirely too much sense.
Well said as always Avi. Makes me very happy to see Nam.
"Or tell some not-so-nice jokes about how part of the Notre Dame experience is recognizing the inherent corruption rampant within our privileged Catholic communities." This may be gratuitous and out of place in this football article but can't be ignored in our national moment of a Catholic majority on our Supreme Court making decisions based on their theology for the vast majority of Americans that are not Catholic. Have we not read this script before in human history?
Every game like this is a nail in the coffin that reads "Mediocrity" on the top and I'm getting dragged into it. For all the reasons enumerated, we are just mediocre right now. Watching the rest of the Pac play, I seriously wonder how we win against any but Arizona. And that's no gimme. UW, OSU, UO and the rest are putting up points like it's easy to do. What a concept.
I don't think UCLA is gonna blow us out. They'll be favored, but I don't think they'll have an uncoverable receiver like Dulcich was last year. Zach Charbonnet is gonna have no problem running all day though.
They won’t go 3-9. The defense is good and the offense has too many talented weapons to only get 3 wins. Notre dame is a hard to place to play in and Cal made ND feel uncomfortable at home. My guess is CAL will beat AZ and Colorado and then the schedule gets hard…6-6 or 7-5
I agree the O line is a mess right now. Anyone can see that. CAL went 5-7 last year with many of those losses coming with 7 points or less and all the issues with Covid. They can compete with anyone and while their young at the skilled positions, they are talented. Ott is the best talent cal has had since Keenan Allen and he will get lots of touches with his game breaking speed. Maybe I’m more bullish on this team than most but I can’t see only 3 wins.
This article will hopefully be step 1 in the healing process. Here's to moving on and not ripping open the wound next week against *checks notes* oh dear Oski...
Six years in and the losses come in the same excruciating fashion every time, and the 5 or so wins in the same miserable, grind it out, ulcer-inducing fashion. Just haven’t seen much growth out of this coaching staff. Meanwhile, the program has no excitement around it, and we continue to hemorrhage fans. Hope the athletic department is investing in more tarps for the stadium because this is showing no sign of changing. Can’t develop a qb we recruited. Can’t develop an offensive line. Stubborn playcalling and a lack of scheming around the offensive line’s deficiencies. Looking forward to being one of 20k ish in memorial this Saturday.
It drives me crazy how little we ran in the 4th quarter. We had two drives where the clock wasn't a concern and we could have ran any play we wanted. There was one run of 0 yards for Ott and a double reverse to a WR. That's it. Brooks never saw the ball again.
So much of football is finding something the opponent can't counter easily and running that until they figure it out. Cal under Musgrove in particular refuses to do that and shies away from what works.
When Cal had success on the ground, the starting Irish defensive end was injured and out, and Cal ran right at his replacement. Unfortunately, the defensive end returned to the field. Point being, the advantage Cal had on that possession was temporary.
Geez guys. You'd think we lost to Colorado or something. If Plummer could have a receiver corps that were all 6' 10" the game wouldn't have been close.
Who needs Football Jesus when you have the refs in your pocket?
Indeed; bizarre calls out of nowhere, raining down from the Heavens
On the phantom offsides penalty, I thought the penalty was going to be for leaping or lining up over the long snapper. It was truly amazing when they offsides.
The thing that really frustrated me...the flag did not even come out until after the Notre Dame kicker missed his FG attempt. Total fucking bullshit.
I'm fairly sure a complaint has already been submitted. And the refs involved will get a slap on the wrist with a wet noodle. And that's where it will end. But, the entire Notre Dame organization and fan base should feel ashamed.
Cannot be overstated how good a write-up this is in terms of capturing the game itself and the experience of being a Cal football fan. The football team will likely struggle this year but at least WFC will provide some solace through the musings of its talented scribes.
I really do love W4C, there is solace in being among fellow Bears
Hear hear
At least it took Wilcox 6 years to figure out when your 4th or 3rd short you dont give the ball to your rb (four yards back), instead you allow your 6' 5" qb, quick count, pick a hole and get that yard!
Defense gave up the middle of the field. The most glaring one was the TD to their TE. Sirmon was over the TE but got sucked up by the QBs eyes and Scott was late covering the slant. Had Sirmon fallen back into the middle (likely where he should have been) the middle would have been closed off and no TD.
Wilcox in his post game presser commented on "a play or two". Ah no, it was way more than a play or two. Cal, in the first quarter, with superior field position did NADA. That is more than a play or 2. While the officiating was egregious and likely cost us the game (multiple times), Cal had ample opportunities to "control" the game and they did not.
Ultimately we lost cuz of our known weakness, the OL. But the OL isn't a weakness it is non-existent here in Wilcox's 6th year. By my eye, of college games I've watched this year, Cal has the worst OL by far.
Despite the OL this game was winnable had we had a better 1st quarter and made ND one dimensional. Very disappointing. I don't see a solution in the near term for the OL.
The Antzoulatos penalty was legit IMO.
Completely legit.
Agree
I agree. It was unfortunate as he was trying to make a play and Pine is short but it was targeting. Not nearly as bad as the ND targeting call, which was blatant.
It was bang-bang (there was one angle where it looked like he was doing proper technique and just barely hit his head), but yeah more an unfortunate "Cal being Cal" rather than an officiating oversight.
Cal gonna Cal, which is why my therapist just put a new pool in
His mom wears a “Make Football Violent Again” cap at games and at one point yesterday nearly got kicked out of our section.
Wow, what was she doing to almost get kicked out?
Not entirely sure, but the usher was having a spirited talk with the family and then security came immediately after. They left the game early.
Seriously?
It was legit; he should have kept his head up and gone for the block….
A correct call by rule, just a rule I don't like.
Just saying.........Troy Taylor won yesterday.
Get on the Annual Bob Hope for Troy Taylor Hype Train!!
Does Troy Taylor accept payment in the form of Jumbacos
Built a perennial fcs contender out of a perennial doormat. Cal alum who bleeds blue and gold. Plays an exciting brand of football. Let’s just end that pipe dream… hiring him would make entirely too much sense.
Who is he?
Maybe someone can find a wiki page for him.
You need to read a wikipedia page on digital literacy.
Well said as always Avi. Makes me very happy to see Nam.
"Or tell some not-so-nice jokes about how part of the Notre Dame experience is recognizing the inherent corruption rampant within our privileged Catholic communities." This may be gratuitous and out of place in this football article but can't be ignored in our national moment of a Catholic majority on our Supreme Court making decisions based on their theology for the vast majority of Americans that are not Catholic. Have we not read this script before in human history?
Every game like this is a nail in the coffin that reads "Mediocrity" on the top and I'm getting dragged into it. For all the reasons enumerated, we are just mediocre right now. Watching the rest of the Pac play, I seriously wonder how we win against any but Arizona. And that's no gimme. UW, OSU, UO and the rest are putting up points like it's easy to do. What a concept.
"And that's no gimme. UW, OSU, UO and the rest are putting up points like it's easy to do. What a concept."
No kidding - not easy let alone frequent enough for us. Like a dog passing peach pits.....once in a while after much anguish, one might plop out.
We should beat Colorado. It will be ugly and we will probably win 17-13 or something like that but we should win that game.
I think our floor is probably 3-9 and our ceiling is 6-6 this season.
Blowout losses to USC and ucla.
Losses of 10-14 to Oregon and UW.
Toss up games against Arizona, WSU, OSU and Stanford.
I don't think UCLA is gonna blow us out. They'll be favored, but I don't think they'll have an uncoverable receiver like Dulcich was last year. Zach Charbonnet is gonna have no problem running all day though.
UCLA isn't too formidable but they've rocked us in just about every game of Wilcox's career.
They won’t go 3-9. The defense is good and the offense has too many talented weapons to only get 3 wins. Notre dame is a hard to place to play in and Cal made ND feel uncomfortable at home. My guess is CAL will beat AZ and Colorado and then the schedule gets hard…6-6 or 7-5
I agree the O line is a mess right now. Anyone can see that. CAL went 5-7 last year with many of those losses coming with 7 points or less and all the issues with Covid. They can compete with anyone and while their young at the skilled positions, they are talented. Ott is the best talent cal has had since Keenan Allen and he will get lots of touches with his game breaking speed. Maybe I’m more bullish on this team than most but I can’t see only 3 wins.
This article will hopefully be step 1 in the healing process. Here's to moving on and not ripping open the wound next week against *checks notes* oh dear Oski...
Six years in and the losses come in the same excruciating fashion every time, and the 5 or so wins in the same miserable, grind it out, ulcer-inducing fashion. Just haven’t seen much growth out of this coaching staff. Meanwhile, the program has no excitement around it, and we continue to hemorrhage fans. Hope the athletic department is investing in more tarps for the stadium because this is showing no sign of changing. Can’t develop a qb we recruited. Can’t develop an offensive line. Stubborn playcalling and a lack of scheming around the offensive line’s deficiencies. Looking forward to being one of 20k ish in memorial this Saturday.
The offside call stirred up some Game 6 NBA 2002 WCF trauma for me.
Now that was a huge bummer, to put it mildly. I was outraged, in today's parlance, for weeks.
Best two minute drill run by Cal since Aaron Rodgers against OCU. Same result.
When I heard that, I blew a sarcasm gasket spouting off about it.
Fascinating to me that GA called out Musgrave on the play calling, like a lot of clowns like me on blogs.
There must be similar questioning going on in the building. Would love to be a fly on the wall at the next O meeting.
I SO wish we’d run some misdirection runs y’day. ND pursued well, use that against them. You get Ott in space and his ceiling is Touchdown Jesus high.
I also hoped we’d been saving up more creativity and trickeration the first two games to unleash against the Irish.
The double reverse took so long to develop I checked other scores around the nation and came back to see it end in a three yard gain.
It drives me crazy how little we ran in the 4th quarter. We had two drives where the clock wasn't a concern and we could have ran any play we wanted. There was one run of 0 yards for Ott and a double reverse to a WR. That's it. Brooks never saw the ball again.
So much of football is finding something the opponent can't counter easily and running that until they figure it out. Cal under Musgrove in particular refuses to do that and shies away from what works.
When Cal had success on the ground, the starting Irish defensive end was injured and out, and Cal ran right at his replacement. Unfortunately, the defensive end returned to the field. Point being, the advantage Cal had on that possession was temporary.
Geez guys. You'd think we lost to Colorado or something. If Plummer could have a receiver corps that were all 6' 10" the game wouldn't have been close.
Hail Oski, Lord of Pathos. Amen.