Would I have liked for the rest of the game to have gone so well that one or two score-negating calls didn't flip the game to the other team? Sure. But the truth is that in Auburn, the refs called a play dead when it wasn't and thus negated a pick six – and in the USC game, there was egregious and obvious holding on the two-point conversion.
We've lost plenty of one score games where it was entirely due to coaching and player mistakes. I never blamed the refs on those. But it's pretty undeniable that this season, we had to games where the refs' bad decisions influenced the outcome. Other fans (including Pawlawski) feel the same way… But go ahead and call that the "ultimate loser mentality" if that makes you feel better.
Maybe this is a sign that I'm getting older but I skipped this game for my mental health. I just can't hold that feeling of watching us get drubbed with no hope anymore. Close games have a potential payoff but I was sure that this game was going to do more to ruin my weekend than make it. I do feel guilty but also much happier.
Watching my Lions beat the Raiders, I knew McDaniels would be toast. Watching SC give up 49 pts to Cal - almost lose but for the aforementioned pathetic coaching - then 52 to UW, I knew Grinch would take the fall. Didn't expect either before end of season tho.
But watching Cal's D suck somethin awful, we all know Wilcox won't fire anyone at this point, just like we're stuck w/ Knowlton & Wilcox for at least year one of the ACC debacle, just like we keep rehashing how Wilcox can't recruit, can't coach, can't hire coaches who develop the players, all pretty much a recipe for disaster. What a waste of nearly a decade of football.
Let's hope Mad Dog's the real deal. Lmk if anyone wants to say hi at Galen 1st week of Jan. when Cal plays Bronny, I'm gonna see the kid before he turns pro.
A ridiculously porous Stanford defense went into Pullman and held Cam Ward and his high flying WSU offense to 7 points for the whole game as Stanford recorded its second conference road win. As they say on the Full Ride college football show, "Troy Taylor your stock is way up." Cal has coughed up 50 or more points in four of its last six games. Prior to this season, no Cal team has given up 50 or more points in four games. The previous record was three 50 or more point defeats held by Tom Holmoe in his last and infamous 2001 season. Justin Wilcox, "your stock is way down."
The difference is USC has talent and depth of personnel that should be doing better than they are. Having seen all the teams now this year or last, the chart in the article pretty closely resembles the personnel the teams have to work with overall (ASU is an upward outlier).
I realize part of coaching is recruiting, but that's not something you can address once the season starts. But in evaluating Wilcox (and Sirmon), I try to envision what the effort Cal puts forth would look like if talent, speed, and depth were involved.
Jonathan Smith at Oregon State has a lot of the same recruiting restraints that Wilcox has and mostly ends up with 3-star recruits just like Cal. And yet his upward trajectory over the last three seasons has been nothing short of amazing. Ditto for Jed Fisch at Arizona. Wilcox is just a horrible excuse for a head coach, and I don't understand why fans keep giving him passes. Gee....what if we had more talent and depth? Gee....how great will it be when Wilcox fires Sirmon at the end of the season and begins a reign of bowl bids in the less talented ACC? Wilcox is on 4-year run that strongly resembles what Tom Holmoe did in his last four years at Cal. He has not had one quality win - NOT ONE - since the 2019 Lightning Bowl against Washington that required a bunch of fluke weather events to empty out Husky stadium to make happen. This is not going to end well, people.
I think most people at this point have resigned to the idea that we are stuck with Wilcox for the foreseeable future given the university leadership and financial situation. Sometimes we debate if we should call this Purgatory or Hell.. Nevertheless, it's sorta become a moot or tired point to call for Wilcox to be fired when it cant realistically happen. Then throw in the variables of joining the ACC next year and there's a glint of optimism about having less competitive schedules, maybe a unique new recruiting angle, and the program might increase its win totals and actually start to build momentum.
For me it's almost a catch 22 at this point because you want the team to do well but you don't want there to be any reason that Wilcox will continue (or even get extended again) once his contract gets reasonably closer to ending. Ideally, we have tons of money pour in and we have an AD and coaching change this year. But what is realistic at this point?
Every thing you said makes sense, but let's stop this nonsense that Wilcox is just a few coaching changes away from putting it all together. I think there are probably at least 10 teams in the ACC that would beat Cal right now, and anyone who thinks the Big Game is not a jump ball or even a slight edge to Stanford is not paying attention to recent events.
Call me naive or ignorant of the financial situation but if we lose out and finish 3-9 the money will be found and Wilcox will not be the coach next year.
No way we can go into a new conference with all time low apathy for the program.
I thought he should get one last chance and he did well with the Spavital hire. The offense is so much better. But now the defense is awful and would defensive coaching changes be the final missing piece?
Except the coaches are responsible for recruiting….
This defense has regressed every game and every season under Sirmon.
Don’t forget how much better our defense was in Wilcox’s first year verse Sonny’s last year. That defense had the same kids playing as the year before. Coaching matters and Sirmon is not it.
Good points. I don’t know how you can coach closing speed in the secondary, or instill instinct/vision that affects your ability to take a good line to the ball carrier against elite talent. It was hard to watch our safety get burned on the Ducks’ quick, straight-line shot over the middle that turned into a long touchdown. A safety’s job is to be the help that prevents those. I don’t want to single out one player or cherry pick plays; however, Cal’s safety was in decent position as that play developed, but didn’t execute-he never came close to getting a hand on the guy due to taking a very bad angle; with the Ducks’ talent and speed, it was six in a heartbeat. Just saying, after a few of those, you start to notice to a degree the wide disparity in recruiting/depth playing out. Granted, recruiting is a huge part of coaches’ jobs. This being said, if we appear grossly overmatched versus the Cougs and Cardinal in the next two weeks, we’ve got a whole different problem.
One thing you didn't mention was that after Williams got hurt and the severity of the injury and the wait the team had while he was taken to the hospital, the Cal players probably lost their incentive and were distracted and their effort was less than earlier. The ducks are by far the best team in the PAC12. They lost to Washington because of a coaching decision which backfired. Now Washington has regressed and had trouble beating ASU and furd.
Seems as if our D comes out, plays a few good downs to get to 3rd or 4th down...then the other team converts and next thing you know they are 50 yards down field (and the how tf you let somebody convert on 2 and 37 is unbelievable). Hence, failure to get off the field in critical situations seems to be a big theme this year. Not sure how the numbers actually shake out, but it sure seems like a trouble spot in 2023.
Makes you wonder if teams know they can convert on 3rd and anything against us, they are more likely to try lower % plays on 1st and 2nd. Whereas a team like us on offense is permanently in a set-up-a-manageable-3rd-down mode (while hoping Ott breaks one).
We got our butts kicked and I was just surprised that we kept it close for a stretch of time. It's one of those games where you just hope to get through without injuries (unfortunately, not the case) and prepare to fight another day. Glad Jaivian is feeling well and am wishing good progress for him and others.
Yeah, good to hear Jaivian is doing better, though it is not clear how severe the neck injury is.
I have hope for Cal to turn things around. For the Bears to become bowl eligible, they have to play decently in two winnable games (Cal might be favored in both the WSU and ‘Furd games) and then upset the Bruins, which they very well could also do. UCLA, similar to many of their games this year, looked really bad offensively against Arizona, and has multiple injuries at qb, so if Cal gets a few burst plays or a couple of turnovers in that one (and takes care of the ball) there’s a good shot to be in it. I’m not giving up on the season yet.
After the debacle loss against Auburn the writing was on the wall.
One of the two games we very well may have won if not for the refs. In that case we'd be 5-4 (2-4 Pac) and almost certainly bowling.
Blaming refs is the ultimate loser mentality
Would I have liked for the rest of the game to have gone so well that one or two score-negating calls didn't flip the game to the other team? Sure. But the truth is that in Auburn, the refs called a play dead when it wasn't and thus negated a pick six – and in the USC game, there was egregious and obvious holding on the two-point conversion.
We've lost plenty of one score games where it was entirely due to coaching and player mistakes. I never blamed the refs on those. But it's pretty undeniable that this season, we had to games where the refs' bad decisions influenced the outcome. Other fans (including Pawlawski) feel the same way… But go ahead and call that the "ultimate loser mentality" if that makes you feel better.
Fire Sirmon
Bring back TDR
And GA
Maybe this is a sign that I'm getting older but I skipped this game for my mental health. I just can't hold that feeling of watching us get drubbed with no hope anymore. Close games have a potential payoff but I was sure that this game was going to do more to ruin my weekend than make it. I do feel guilty but also much happier.
I went surfing and scored excellent waves. Like you, I could not bring myself to watch that debacle.
Glad I am not the only one to feel the same way.
USC defense is terrible, they give up a ton of yards and points. USC fires its DC after the UW game.
Cals defense is terrible, they give up a ton of yards and points. Cal doesn’t fire its DC after the Oregon game.
Watching my Lions beat the Raiders, I knew McDaniels would be toast. Watching SC give up 49 pts to Cal - almost lose but for the aforementioned pathetic coaching - then 52 to UW, I knew Grinch would take the fall. Didn't expect either before end of season tho.
But watching Cal's D suck somethin awful, we all know Wilcox won't fire anyone at this point, just like we're stuck w/ Knowlton & Wilcox for at least year one of the ACC debacle, just like we keep rehashing how Wilcox can't recruit, can't coach, can't hire coaches who develop the players, all pretty much a recipe for disaster. What a waste of nearly a decade of football.
Let's hope Mad Dog's the real deal. Lmk if anyone wants to say hi at Galen 1st week of Jan. when Cal plays Bronny, I'm gonna see the kid before he turns pro.
A ridiculously porous Stanford defense went into Pullman and held Cam Ward and his high flying WSU offense to 7 points for the whole game as Stanford recorded its second conference road win. As they say on the Full Ride college football show, "Troy Taylor your stock is way up." Cal has coughed up 50 or more points in four of its last six games. Prior to this season, no Cal team has given up 50 or more points in four games. The previous record was three 50 or more point defeats held by Tom Holmoe in his last and infamous 2001 season. Justin Wilcox, "your stock is way down."
Not even Dykes??
I missed one year, the 2013 first Dykes season where there were four losses of 50 points or more. So let's call it a tie. Still.......
Ok.
So it's a tie with two of the worst football seasons in Cal history. The infamous 2001 and 2013...
The difference is USC has talent and depth of personnel that should be doing better than they are. Having seen all the teams now this year or last, the chart in the article pretty closely resembles the personnel the teams have to work with overall (ASU is an upward outlier).
I realize part of coaching is recruiting, but that's not something you can address once the season starts. But in evaluating Wilcox (and Sirmon), I try to envision what the effort Cal puts forth would look like if talent, speed, and depth were involved.
Jonathan Smith at Oregon State has a lot of the same recruiting restraints that Wilcox has and mostly ends up with 3-star recruits just like Cal. And yet his upward trajectory over the last three seasons has been nothing short of amazing. Ditto for Jed Fisch at Arizona. Wilcox is just a horrible excuse for a head coach, and I don't understand why fans keep giving him passes. Gee....what if we had more talent and depth? Gee....how great will it be when Wilcox fires Sirmon at the end of the season and begins a reign of bowl bids in the less talented ACC? Wilcox is on 4-year run that strongly resembles what Tom Holmoe did in his last four years at Cal. He has not had one quality win - NOT ONE - since the 2019 Lightning Bowl against Washington that required a bunch of fluke weather events to empty out Husky stadium to make happen. This is not going to end well, people.
I think most people at this point have resigned to the idea that we are stuck with Wilcox for the foreseeable future given the university leadership and financial situation. Sometimes we debate if we should call this Purgatory or Hell.. Nevertheless, it's sorta become a moot or tired point to call for Wilcox to be fired when it cant realistically happen. Then throw in the variables of joining the ACC next year and there's a glint of optimism about having less competitive schedules, maybe a unique new recruiting angle, and the program might increase its win totals and actually start to build momentum.
For me it's almost a catch 22 at this point because you want the team to do well but you don't want there to be any reason that Wilcox will continue (or even get extended again) once his contract gets reasonably closer to ending. Ideally, we have tons of money pour in and we have an AD and coaching change this year. But what is realistic at this point?
Every thing you said makes sense, but let's stop this nonsense that Wilcox is just a few coaching changes away from putting it all together. I think there are probably at least 10 teams in the ACC that would beat Cal right now, and anyone who thinks the Big Game is not a jump ball or even a slight edge to Stanford is not paying attention to recent events.
Call me naive or ignorant of the financial situation but if we lose out and finish 3-9 the money will be found and Wilcox will not be the coach next year.
No way we can go into a new conference with all time low apathy for the program.
I thought he should get one last chance and he did well with the Spavital hire. The offense is so much better. But now the defense is awful and would defensive coaching changes be the final missing piece?
Except the coaches are responsible for recruiting….
This defense has regressed every game and every season under Sirmon.
Don’t forget how much better our defense was in Wilcox’s first year verse Sonny’s last year. That defense had the same kids playing as the year before. Coaching matters and Sirmon is not it.
Good points. I don’t know how you can coach closing speed in the secondary, or instill instinct/vision that affects your ability to take a good line to the ball carrier against elite talent. It was hard to watch our safety get burned on the Ducks’ quick, straight-line shot over the middle that turned into a long touchdown. A safety’s job is to be the help that prevents those. I don’t want to single out one player or cherry pick plays; however, Cal’s safety was in decent position as that play developed, but didn’t execute-he never came close to getting a hand on the guy due to taking a very bad angle; with the Ducks’ talent and speed, it was six in a heartbeat. Just saying, after a few of those, you start to notice to a degree the wide disparity in recruiting/depth playing out. Granted, recruiting is a huge part of coaches’ jobs. This being said, if we appear grossly overmatched versus the Cougs and Cardinal in the next two weeks, we’ve got a whole different problem.
DC and two DB coaches
Props, Nick. I had walked away after this sh*t show numbed by the expected outcome. But your break down helped me care about the details again.
Did we just leave Sirmon in Eugene?
One thing you didn't mention was that after Williams got hurt and the severity of the injury and the wait the team had while he was taken to the hospital, the Cal players probably lost their incentive and were distracted and their effort was less than earlier. The ducks are by far the best team in the PAC12. They lost to Washington because of a coaching decision which backfired. Now Washington has regressed and had trouble beating ASU and furd.
Seems as if our D comes out, plays a few good downs to get to 3rd or 4th down...then the other team converts and next thing you know they are 50 yards down field (and the how tf you let somebody convert on 2 and 37 is unbelievable). Hence, failure to get off the field in critical situations seems to be a big theme this year. Not sure how the numbers actually shake out, but it sure seems like a trouble spot in 2023.
Makes you wonder if teams know they can convert on 3rd and anything against us, they are more likely to try lower % plays on 1st and 2nd. Whereas a team like us on offense is permanently in a set-up-a-manageable-3rd-down mode (while hoping Ott breaks one).
We got our butts kicked and I was just surprised that we kept it close for a stretch of time. It's one of those games where you just hope to get through without injuries (unfortunately, not the case) and prepare to fight another day. Glad Jaivian is feeling well and am wishing good progress for him and others.
Yeah, Fernando is enough if a reason to watch this team, by God….
“ Is that likely? Hell no.”
Lol!
Yeah, good to hear Jaivian is doing better, though it is not clear how severe the neck injury is.
I have hope for Cal to turn things around. For the Bears to become bowl eligible, they have to play decently in two winnable games (Cal might be favored in both the WSU and ‘Furd games) and then upset the Bruins, which they very well could also do. UCLA, similar to many of their games this year, looked really bad offensively against Arizona, and has multiple injuries at qb, so if Cal gets a few burst plays or a couple of turnovers in that one (and takes care of the ball) there’s a good shot to be in it. I’m not giving up on the season yet.
Cal Bears have something special with Fernando Mendoza.