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Taking the temperature of Cal fans, I think I'm alone on this island, but I honestly didn't think Glover played that poorly. I think he was undone by the number of deep and medium passes expected out of him - if we play call to an early heavy run offense, Glover showed JUST ENOUGH ability to throw some roll out passes to tight ends and short routes to keep us in business. As Nam pointed out in his novel, there was a huge stretch of consecutive passing downs that sealed the offense's fate and allowed the arizona d the opportunity to come through the line and tee off of Glover and then his passes got more and more wobbly.

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Hmm, I'd have to rewatch to confirm my memory, but my impression is that, counterintuitively, his deep throws were closer to hitting the mark than many of his short/intermediate throws.

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how much changes if Crawford doesn't lose that deep ball in the sun?

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He was missing receivers by miles!

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by the end, after a full game of being chased by arizona's defensive front. Let's say we go run heavy in the start and give him 1 throw every 5 plays off of play action. His first start stats and Steve Levy's are remarkably similar except Levy won.

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I-5 northbound today on way home to WA after visiting sisters in Sacto. Fired up No Truck Stops Here podcast and found myself spewing profanities on their shallow take of AZ game and after that I spewed on JW. Ending with. “Figure it out JW…..call your better mentors and plea for advice with your visor in your hand to save your career and my fan ego.”

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Is that podcast worth listening to? I could use a good general interest conference podcast

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Nov 9, 2021Liked by Nick Kranz

I enjoy it now. Young hipster irreverence so I have to adjust my cultural generation gap meter forward and don’t always get the frequency clearly. Much improved to the old Shutdown Fullcast if I recall the name correctly. It’s all PAC 12 focus at least.

You should, speaking of irreverence with sharp cynicism, check out Hardcore Husky Podcast. A bit older crew of local Husky longtime followers who are non PC that I find humorous with my long exposure living in PNW so I get many of the references. The recent one after the Oregon game was really good IMO.

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Great article Nick, ty.

AZ’s defense is 4th in the PAC12 for yards allowed per game, they have the ability to play defense and that side of the ball was mostly intact. Their pass defense is #2 in the conference. Their rush defense is #9 in the conference. They give up a lot of points and that is likely due to the fact that they lead the conference in turnovers lost (20) and points gained on those turnovers (short field). Cal gained 3 turnovers and got zero points to show for it.

Cal as well as most teams, save the elite teams, can not make up for the loss of 3 OL with one of them being a true freshman getting his first playing time at center. Just ain’t gunna happen. The nuances of Musgrave’s offense and the reps needed to produce just isn’t there for those 3 OL, yet. Not sure why Cal fans would expect a better performance. That said, we’ve been reviewing the tape (only through the 1st half) and Swinney had a decent game. So, Cal may have found a gem on OL during this game. EJ struggled and with the obligatory stupid penalties from Mettauer and Daltoso, Cal had + drives wiped out. It sure didn’t help that the receivers hardly helped Glover. Glover missing basic throws we’ve seen throughout Wilcox’s tenure and CG’s has had plenty of them, status quo.

I’ve been pounding the table on this defense and its potential; this game was one of the best during Wilcox’s era. Three turnovers, no depth chart, on the field for 35 minutes and in 90 degree heat. They laid it all down on the line and the future is bright for Cal’s defense. Avi will need to wear shades!!

Very proud of how the lads played given the hand they were dealt.

Go Bears!!

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It's worth noting that Arizona's defensive numbers took a massive jump up the conference standings specifically because they shut down Cal, and that their numbers were more like 9th/10th best in the conference going in

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Surely Cal should have been able to score more than 3 points and gained 120 total yards of offense against Arizona, especially when we generated 3 turnovers.

Even NAU who beat Arizona scored 21 points and had 240 yards of offense.

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I've sent emails to numerous staff members at the athletic department asking when Knowlton is going to get front and center of this shit show. No response yet. He's an abject failure.

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Or what if he actually knows our team isn’t 99% fully vaccinated and doesn’t want that to come out that the program and university lied or mislead the public, alums, and fans. That would be scandal that he probably doesn’t want to deal with.

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Given the absurdity going into and starting the game, the futility we saw from both teams, which was expected, was kind of fun in this absolute farce of a game...until it wasn't.

I really thought our offense (and our defense) should have still be good enough to put up some kind of points (another FG, a safety, pick 6) on the board. Arizona sucks and the Bears found a way to suck harder. So painful.

Then, unbelievably, the farce got even worse when Zona's meager attendance dribbled out onto the field and the Pac-12 network continued to cover the farce as if Zona had just made their way into the Pac-12 championship. How is it that Cal manages to consistently bring so much ridiculousness to the college football?

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Embrace the ridiculousness, because the only thing that would make the AZ game more ridiculous would be wins over SC, furd and UCLA.

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Oh, I do. I simply must. What choice do I have?

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Nick, great summary as usual, but I think your speculation is irresponsible. How can you say that "The Cal football program probably got lax with a whole bunch of pandemic safety measures. Avoiding crowded indoor events, consistent masking, etc." -- unless you have some inside info on their Covid practices? You're painting with a rather broad speculative brush. Moreover, from everything I've read, multiple players were unable to travel/play simply because of the City of Berkeley's authoritarian and capricious overreach that no other team in the country has been subject to. How many of the 24 players missing on Saturday would have been able to play for any other team in the nation?

I'm a Covid realist -- fully vaxxed as soon as I could. It's long past time to call Covid endemic and act accordingly. We've never imposed highly restrictive rules to prevent influenza. People get it, the vast majority recover from it, and unfortunately some people die. We can't all live in a bubble.

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Well, 'probably' is the key word here. I'll certainly acknowledge that I don't have any inside knowledge, but let's be real: it's really hard to imagine that Cal would have 24(!) break through cases on a 99% vaccinated team if they were being really responsible and cautious. At a certain point, the facts no longer earn you the benefit of the doubt.

And while I think there's absolutely room to question if the City of Berkeley's rules are good rules for our current, endemic reality, it's worth noting that they're the same as the Pac-12's rules, which are the same as the CDC's rules. Cal's staff should have been aware that this was what would happen if they had breakthrough infections.

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We don't even know that all the missing players and coaches tested positive. And if they did, there are reports that many of those players tested negative multiple times afterward. Were any or all of the original tests false positives? Moreover, the City's rules may be the same as the Pac12, but their response to a developing situation is what prevented players from traveling. The City having its own health czar is just another layer of unnecessary bureaucracy, and those bureaucrats have to flex their muscle on occasion, whether necessary or not, to justify their budget and their existence.

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I think it is unfair that the stadium is allowed to host fans without social distancing or mask and vaccine requirements but the football players are held to different requirements.

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It’s a bit different but the standards are similar indoors or being on campus.

If your going anywhere inside on gameday, pressbox or club seats you have to show vaccination or negative pcr test and wear a mask outside of eating/drinking.

To be a student on campus you need to submit vaccination confirmation or get an exemption (in which case you’d be put in a different routine of constant testing if your exemption is accepted).

The staff should be as well since they are state employees they’re mandated to get vaccinated or get an exemption. (Same as The Rolovich firing)

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I was expecting to have to show my Vax card image at the OSU-Cal game, but they couldn't have cared less, and said so.

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I had to show my Tax card to attend the Cal-Oregon game in Eugene. Is California more lax than Oregon?

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Sorry -- Tax

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I'm going to stop trying

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You don’t need to when entering the stadium as a general thing since it’s considered outdoors. But when you’re trying to enter the club zones you do. There’s check points to get the wristbands to go in from what I saw.

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I expected the checkpoints since they had them in Pullman, but I didn't see any in Berkeley.

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If youre sitting in the stands it’s not required. If your sitting in the university club or any of the club seats or press box that’s considered indoors there are specific points of entry. Unless you were entering those areas you wouldn’t have necessarily seen them or been asked.

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Well I think Memorial actually has signs that say masks are required. It's just that it isn't enforced. Even at the entrances. It isn't like everyone wears them to get in and then just remove them once inside.

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Why can't you change it in your profile, did someone snatch it from you? Why not go with GoBears49.5?

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But we aren’t living in a bubble. Life has largely returned to normal in terms of having large public events and gatherings. I think all of society has gotten rather lax in terms of attending large indoor and outdoor events and wearing masks at such events.

Other than testing, I would say even California has largely rolled back restrictive rules and what rules still remain are largely ignored or hardly enforced.

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The players are being asked to live in a bubble. Moreover, masks and vax checks have never been a part of our response to influenza, even though thousands die from it every year.

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Being asked and encouraged are different than being forced. No one is watching these players that closely, it is largely an honor system.

You’re right, thousands die each year from influenza. Thousands are dying daily from Covid.

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Take Covid away and treat Garbers absence as a regular injury, is that the type of offenses ineptness we can expect if Garbers has to miss a game due to injury?

Looking ahead, is that the type of offensive ineptness we might have next season if Garbers graduates?

Let’s be honest, that Arizona team was/is one the worse Pac 12 teams of the last decade and probably the weakest Pac 12 opponent that Wilcox has faced in his tenure. If our backup QB and OL can couldn’t produce yards and points against a defense that was giving up 32 a game, what hope do we have when Garbers is gone.

While we were without our starting QB and 3 OL we still have 2/5 of our starting OL, all our starting/experienced RBs, TEs and the majority of our starting/experienced WRs available and we only managed 3 points and 130 yard of offense. The offense was so bad yesterday that I even question whether we could have beat a FCS team.

Next year is going to possibly be a bit of rebuild year on offense, that’s true even if Garbers comes back.

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Um, missing 3 starting OL is a lot. Offensive line requires a lot of coordination, so if you have that many guys who haven't played together it's a big problem.

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I agree it is a lot and the OL has been disappointing and underwhelming for years now. Even then, the Arizona defense was allowing 32 PPG so our OL and offense should have been able to put up more than 3 points or sustained a few drives out there. This is the same Arizona defense that gave up 148 rushing yards and 21 points to NAU.

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Well, you know, it was like 2~3 years ago that they kept saying "When Garbers starts and finishes the game" Cal is.... nothing has changed except that we have lost many games even when he started and finished the game this year.

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Nick noted:

"The Cal football program probably got lax with a whole bunch of pandemic safety measures. Avoiding crowded indoor events, consistent masking, etc."

This is everything right now, as the COVID numbers had slowly begun to move back up recently, thanks to pandemic exhaustion, more indoor events, and just plain old continued ignorance.

I hate to see Cal lose a game in this manner, but if, in fact, this comes down to a Halloween Party as a super spreader event, I can see my Mexican mom slapping everyone one of these kids on the head with a "quien se lo manda" as their just dessert.

I have had to keep 24 3rd graders masked inside and practicing common sense precautions outside since the beginning of my school year. It's exhausting, and, at times, frustrating. But up until this past week, these kids have had no access to a vaccine. Even now, even if I managed to get a 100% vaccination rate among my 8 and 9 year olds, that's still going to take weeks. And the risk of breakthrough infections will remain a reality, even with myself, despite having had the COVID booster as a precaution.

But I also want to maintain safeguards while at work because I don't want to bring anything home, nor do I want my 3rd graders to bring anything into their homes. I don't want to get my coworkers sick, as my 2 grade level partners are among my closest friends, and I'd be distraught if I caused an infection--we've already had a staff member do that this year.

Basically, the coaching staff needed to convince the team that the pandemic wasn't over and failed at that badly. They also failed each other as teammates as well. They could be angry at the City of Berkeley all they want, but the fact is, like in all things involving Justin Wilcox, this team, as currently run, allows things to get so close to the margins, that they wind up getting burned as a result nearly every time. Running afoul of COVID guidelines is just another version of that. And if I was a Cal "Bearent" of one of the players, I'd be angrier at Wilcox and his staff for not following the common sense precautions that are still in play. That would have avoided all of this, or at least limited it from growing into the extent that it became.

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How do you know our football team (coaches and players) are not following safety precautions? I'm sure they are extra careful about it to make sure we can field a team each Saturday during the football season.

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One to two cases can be viewed as unfortunate, but 20+ suggests a serious breakdown in protocols.

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This video after the OSU win is not promising: https://www.instagram.com/p/CVrU4DKFDwz/

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The chant was for a few minutes at most though

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Something along those lines happens at every college and high school after pretty much every win that's in any way close, or an upset.

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I call bullshit on this being the cause. You don't think the bear territory chant wasn't performed under the same conditions the previous week vs Colorado? Close quarters, unmasked, yelling in unison? The variable here is the OSU game happened halloween weekend. A big win plus a traditional party holiday could only mean that players who spend most of their time together somewhat isolated went out into the general public and were exposed.

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I don’t think this was the cause for the Covid spread but it could have been what CoB used to determine that the entire team needed to be tested.

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I don't know if this is the cause. But when you have 20+ infections, and you see things like this, it's unlikely the football program is being super strict with indoor masking on a day-to-day basis.

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then why not after the Colorado game? or Sac St? or any game where the entire team might be unmasked in the locker room? Why Oregon St?

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The level of enthusiasm after upsetting OSU was pretty high, and I suspect higher than after any of those events.

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Who knows, Covid comes in waves, right? Maybe it wasn't as present in September. It's just really unusual for that many positive tests to come up if everyone is following proper protocols.

It's possible that the wave started against Colorado but we don't really have definitive timelines.

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I really doubt any of the football players would attend a halloween party during football season. They can't be that stupid, especially the first string players and most importantly Chase Garbers.

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You know these are 20 year olds right?

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I don’t doubt it at all and it’s certainly not because they are stupid. They are human and like to have fun, they are vaccinated, probably didn’t get to attend one last season, coming off a big win, they are all young and in college, for some of them this might be their last chance for a Berkeley/college Halloween party.

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These kids put all the effort and everything into football. If I were them, I wouldn't do it even if I were 19 years old, but I'm not them so I can't say for sure.

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This.

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Agreed 1,000 recs. It is so silly and absurd.

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the cohort in this vid is 99% vaccinated, that is the epitome of "herd immunity". It's also way above the vax rate of this country.

Avi, I'd like to think you are smarter than that cuz this vid does not prove anything. I get it, you are anti-Wilcox and will pull whatever out of the proverbial arse to support your narrative. But using that as your "proof" is silly.

Honestly I thought when opening the link that it would be 24 players and 12 coaches at this infamous Halloween party.

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What is this "infamous Halloween party"? Did I miss something?

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I keep hearing about it but it seems to be a myth. Can anyone confirm there was a Halloween party attended by Cal players who subsequently were unable to go Arizona.

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Nothing has been confirmed about a Halloween party. It's an inference and assumption people are making.

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It’s Saturday night, in Berkeley and the night before Halloween. I can guarantee they multiple Halloween parties happened on Saturday night, the question is how many player attended one or more of them.

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He said "if".

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"It’s not necessarily a happy memory, but it’s something that is now a part of your DNA as a Cal fan, and you embraced that fate a long time ago." Yes I did. Brilliant closing line, Nick. So true.

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That bloody hand picture has made everything better, thank you hahahaha

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A mystery trapped within an enigma = what has been revealed so far by either the C of B or Cal Athletics on the covid situation.

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It's weird that Larry Beil is the one breaking this story. What year is it? 1992?

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I'm not sure why you're sharing that with me.

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