"In a weird way, this was the most fun I’ve had in Memorial Stadium this year." My sentiments exactly. It was really nice to see a Cal QB who seemed to know what he was doing and that he was a freshie making his first start was exciting.
Also agree about the lack of trick plays. The Bears never pull a rabbit out of their hat. Maybe need a new hat.
They scored forty points. That’s quite a trick already. I might be more interested in seeing trick plays if they were not otherwise moving the ball so well. Trick plays often carry a higher degree of risk/possibility of going absurdly badly, so I think they did just fine with the offensive play calls, especially using a quarterback who’d never before received meaningful snaps.
I like the comment about a new folk hero but wondered if it might have been Ifanse! Mendoza and Ifanse are two especially easy to like players because of who they are as players and people and the positions they play. Hunter is a totally likable guy and a future NFL stud, but his position doesn't engender the sort of love a QB or RB does. Ifanse is a bad ass balls out assassin. He's the kind of guy to win the battle for you in a war. Mendoza is just an affable goofball who gets what it means to be a leader on a team. He has the body for the position, and the mindset. If he can put together the reps and skills, he really could be special and the whole time delightful.
This is a forum for Cal fans to express their thoughts and opinions in a reasonably civil way, and that's all this is. That's what I do. Not sure why you feel compelled to critique my posts, but I certainly honor your right to do that. Jeremiah Hunter is the one I am referencing, perhaps you have seen him play? There are approaches in literature of metaphor and analogy and so forth that help illustrate points. In his post game, Wilcox called our Ifanse as being someone who plays with enormous passion and purpose. Doesn't go down easily, doesn't quit, fights to the end. That's what we all see on game day. For this reason I say he's the sort you want in any battle, to help win the battle, because it matters that much to him. It's not Ifanse's fault that the D and special teams blew chunks on Saturday. He's run for 4,000 frreaking yards and you can see why. Do you really question his value?
Well that's normal to have differences of opinion on players. I think Ifanse is as good or better than just about any back in the league. He's not the speedster that Ott is, but gets tougher yards. I really see him as a mini-Marshawn in that way. Love the guys heart, skills and demeanor.
I'm guessing you don't know the players on our team at this point since you can't even get names right when you're hating on them. Did you mean Jeremiah?
This kid exudes positive energy, loves being at Cal, is big and tall, confident and competitive, showed his potential on Saturday and will only improve. Even if his stat line only measures out to be an average P5 QB at the end of his career, its all the intangibles he brings.
Things have been dark for so long, between the losing seasons and the emasculating conference realignment situation (albeit interesting) and as fans having to lie down and resign to this Wilcox Purgatory for the foreseeable future, Cal fans were/are ready/desperate for something/anything that resembles hope.. Let it be Fernando who gets to be the beneficiary of that desperation, the object of our glomming. Let it be a win-win!
I was wholly expecting, regardless of who was QB, that OSU would stack 8 in the box and dare us to throw. I was surprised that they didn't seem to do that? Or they did it early, but hen backed off when they realized FM could actually read and throw? Also he ran the mesh better than any of our other QBs, especially on that one play where he took off for a big gain.
Did you guys see the Justin Wilcox post game press conference. Justin Wilcox was so angry at the defense and special teams. As he should. He sounded like.. get me out of here so I can go yell at the defensive coaches. He had nothing good to say and was very plain about all the things that went wrong.
Those units are going to be reviewing film and getting an earful. I hope.
Perhaps Mendoza's performance will provide more opportunities for backups to step up and give it a go.
i'm just happy we can make field goals and extra points again
Refreshing to see a guy who could checkdown to multiple receivers before making a throw. Also the designed runs worked great for the most part. Hopefully Utah's game plan will be unsuccessful. I guess Rising will be out, not sure.
"Some combination of the best coached/play-called offensive game I have seen and/or the worst prepared defensive game plan I have ever seen."
For me, that was when I made the roadie to Eugene in 2009 to watch the then #6 Bears get housed 42-3. Ed Dickson still runs untouched through the middle of the field in my nightmares.
I was at that game. I didn’t go to another away game until last year at Washington State since it was the closest Pac venue to western MT. The result was equally demoralizing.
Yeah but the closer ones would be better odds for defenders Frankly, I think our secondary was getting gassed. One example is a TD where our guy didn’t even turn around.
Mendoza played his first real college game Saturday except for a few garbage time plays against N Texas. He'll improve as the season progresses and he gets more actual experience.
Mendoza’s decision-making does appear to be good given his inexperience. SJV had a couple of huge gainers vs. ASU negated by penalties, and we’ve seen what he can do once he gets into the secondary with his exceptional speed. That’s a level of explosive run threat that Mendoza doesn’t possess. What’s great about Mendoza though, so far (albeit with small sample size), is that he seems to understand what he’s capable of and confidently take what the play allows, including a few nifty chunk runs.
Sometimes, once a coach has been around for a bit, their playbook gets around. This seemed to have happened to Tedford, eventually. Wondering if the same thing is going on with Sirmon: the word is out on his schemes and some coaches have figured out how to exploit it...?
I certainly saw the Beavers make a bunch of good plays on offense (more than bad defense, per se). In some cases the coverage was not even bad; they just called and ran great routes and DJU was dropping dimes and their receivers rarely missed catches. In other words: great execution on offense.
Peter Sirmon sucks and his "soft zone with no pass defense" scheme kills my soul. He should have been tarmac'd after the game even though it was a home game.
"Hey Justin, sorry about tonight, we'll figure it out."
"Sure thing, Petey. Hey, let's take a quick drive."
"All good, bro! Say, what do you think about a fried turkey for Christmas dinner this year?"
"Sure, sure. Sounds good."
"Hey... ummm... why are we turning onto Hegenburger Road?"
"Going to the airport, Petey."
"Why? Who are we picking up?"
"Not picking anyone up, Petey. Leaving someone."
"Eh? Who're we leaving?"
Wilcox turns and gives Sirmon a long, silent stare
Really digging the cover photo 👀👀
"In a weird way, this was the most fun I’ve had in Memorial Stadium this year." My sentiments exactly. It was really nice to see a Cal QB who seemed to know what he was doing and that he was a freshie making his first start was exciting.
Also agree about the lack of trick plays. The Bears never pull a rabbit out of their hat. Maybe need a new hat.
They scored forty points. That’s quite a trick already. I might be more interested in seeing trick plays if they were not otherwise moving the ball so well. Trick plays often carry a higher degree of risk/possibility of going absurdly badly, so I think they did just fine with the offensive play calls, especially using a quarterback who’d never before received meaningful snaps.
More than anything, it was freaking glorious watching them finish a f’ing drive in the red zone and not settle for FG’s.
I like the comment about a new folk hero but wondered if it might have been Ifanse! Mendoza and Ifanse are two especially easy to like players because of who they are as players and people and the positions they play. Hunter is a totally likable guy and a future NFL stud, but his position doesn't engender the sort of love a QB or RB does. Ifanse is a bad ass balls out assassin. He's the kind of guy to win the battle for you in a war. Mendoza is just an affable goofball who gets what it means to be a leader on a team. He has the body for the position, and the mindset. If he can put together the reps and skills, he really could be special and the whole time delightful.
This is a forum for Cal fans to express their thoughts and opinions in a reasonably civil way, and that's all this is. That's what I do. Not sure why you feel compelled to critique my posts, but I certainly honor your right to do that. Jeremiah Hunter is the one I am referencing, perhaps you have seen him play? There are approaches in literature of metaphor and analogy and so forth that help illustrate points. In his post game, Wilcox called our Ifanse as being someone who plays with enormous passion and purpose. Doesn't go down easily, doesn't quit, fights to the end. That's what we all see on game day. For this reason I say he's the sort you want in any battle, to help win the battle, because it matters that much to him. It's not Ifanse's fault that the D and special teams blew chunks on Saturday. He's run for 4,000 frreaking yards and you can see why. Do you really question his value?
Well that's normal to have differences of opinion on players. I think Ifanse is as good or better than just about any back in the league. He's not the speedster that Ott is, but gets tougher yards. I really see him as a mini-Marshawn in that way. Love the guys heart, skills and demeanor.
I'm guessing you don't know the players on our team at this point since you can't even get names right when you're hating on them. Did you mean Jeremiah?
Isiah Hunter is definitely not a future NFL stud. I don't even know if he plays football.
This kid exudes positive energy, loves being at Cal, is big and tall, confident and competitive, showed his potential on Saturday and will only improve. Even if his stat line only measures out to be an average P5 QB at the end of his career, its all the intangibles he brings.
Things have been dark for so long, between the losing seasons and the emasculating conference realignment situation (albeit interesting) and as fans having to lie down and resign to this Wilcox Purgatory for the foreseeable future, Cal fans were/are ready/desperate for something/anything that resembles hope.. Let it be Fernando who gets to be the beneficiary of that desperation, the object of our glomming. Let it be a win-win!
Fernado-to-Trond all day!
I was wholly expecting, regardless of who was QB, that OSU would stack 8 in the box and dare us to throw. I was surprised that they didn't seem to do that? Or they did it early, but hen backed off when they realized FM could actually read and throw? Also he ran the mesh better than any of our other QBs, especially on that one play where he took off for a big gain.
Did you guys see the Justin Wilcox post game press conference. Justin Wilcox was so angry at the defense and special teams. As he should. He sounded like.. get me out of here so I can go yell at the defensive coaches. He had nothing good to say and was very plain about all the things that went wrong.
Those units are going to be reviewing film and getting an earful. I hope.
Perhaps Mendoza's performance will provide more opportunities for backups to step up and give it a go.
i'm just happy we can make field goals and extra points again
Maybe get a special teams coordinator, a real one.
How are people not tired of Justin Wilcox yet?
“Freshmen, more Wilcox!”
He did when he dropped Musgrave and the Browning last season..... it's in him, but I think he has to dig it out.
Browning is still on staff coaching the defensive line.
I knew that sounded wrong, but was lazy....Angus?
Refreshing to see a guy who could checkdown to multiple receivers before making a throw. Also the designed runs worked great for the most part. Hopefully Utah's game plan will be unsuccessful. I guess Rising will be out, not sure.
"Some combination of the best coached/play-called offensive game I have seen and/or the worst prepared defensive game plan I have ever seen."
For me, that was when I made the roadie to Eugene in 2009 to watch the then #6 Bears get housed 42-3. Ed Dickson still runs untouched through the middle of the field in my nightmares.
I was at that game. I didn’t go to another away game until last year at Washington State since it was the closest Pac venue to western MT. The result was equally demoralizing.
In addition to the offense...the D hasn't been creative either in finding ways to create pressure/sacks on the opposing QB's!
Ugialeilei was dropping dimes..... there's only so much you can do if you can't pressure a guy like that....
Dime or not, the OSU receivers got tremendous separation for those dimes, which should have, at the least, been contested catches.
Even when they just had half a step and he was getting killed, he would put the ball exactly where it needed to be.
P12 has some great QBs this year, and we've only played two of them so far.
Yeah but the closer ones would be better odds for defenders Frankly, I think our secondary was getting gassed. One example is a TD where our guy didn’t even turn around.
The time of possession was killer
Mendoza played his first real college game Saturday except for a few garbage time plays against N Texas. He'll improve as the season progresses and he gets more actual experience.
The surprising part with Mendoza is he actually was better than Jackson in the RPO.
Mendoza’s decision-making does appear to be good given his inexperience. SJV had a couple of huge gainers vs. ASU negated by penalties, and we’ve seen what he can do once he gets into the secondary with his exceptional speed. That’s a level of explosive run threat that Mendoza doesn’t possess. What’s great about Mendoza though, so far (albeit with small sample size), is that he seems to understand what he’s capable of and confidently take what the play allows, including a few nifty chunk runs.
Sometimes, once a coach has been around for a bit, their playbook gets around. This seemed to have happened to Tedford, eventually. Wondering if the same thing is going on with Sirmon: the word is out on his schemes and some coaches have figured out how to exploit it...?
I certainly saw the Beavers make a bunch of good plays on offense (more than bad defense, per se). In some cases the coverage was not even bad; they just called and ran great routes and DJU was dropping dimes and their receivers rarely missed catches. In other words: great execution on offense.
Peter Sirmon sucks and his "soft zone with no pass defense" scheme kills my soul. He should have been tarmac'd after the game even though it was a home game.
"Hey Justin, sorry about tonight, we'll figure it out."
"Sure thing, Petey. Hey, let's take a quick drive."
"All good, bro! Say, what do you think about a fried turkey for Christmas dinner this year?"
"Sure, sure. Sounds good."
"Hey... ummm... why are we turning onto Hegenburger Road?"
"Going to the airport, Petey."
"Why? Who are we picking up?"
"Not picking anyone up, Petey. Leaving someone."
"Eh? Who're we leaving?"
Wilcox turns and gives Sirmon a long, silent stare
End
Thanks Nick.
Mendoza absolutely did a lot of things well Saturday.
The near-certain 1-5 record from here on out never looked so good. ;-)