Rating the Bears: Cal vs. Syracuse Football

Orange you glad we joined a conference with a supposedly easier schedule?

Photo credit: Rob Hwang

How would you feel if at the conclusion of the four-game losing streak to FSU, Miami, Pitt, and NC State, an oracle told you that you would have not yet seen Cal’s worst loss of the season? Bewildered? Horrified? Irrevocably indifferent because Cal football has slowly but completely extinguished your capacity to feel emotion? I think I felt all three at different points during the first half as Cal fell behind by 20 points to a Syracuse team that entered the game as double-digit underdogs.

Fun fact: pass offense received the exact same grades. No, not the same games only when we round the number. They received the exact same grades. That’s an especially fun fact because it distracts us from looking at the rest of this awful table, which is a clear reminder of how terribly the team performed on Saturday. No category earned a passing grade, and only special teams finished with a rating above 50. Everything else was in the bad-but-not-quite-apocalyptic range. Speaking of apocalyptic, our predictions of a Big Game win have tumbled since preseason.

Ratings Comparison

Compared to all other games we have seen against non-conference P4/5 foes, this one was not good.

Gold dots represent Saturday’s ratings compared to all previous ratings under Wilcox. The box captures data between the 25th and 75th percentiles, and the horizontal line represents the midpoint.

Only two categories finished in the box, and both were below the midpoint. Everything else finished in the bottom 25%. Cool.

Awards

We have our trusty triumvirate of awards to distribute. First, the worst grades of the week. (Remember, numbers in parentheses denote the number of previous times earning that award)

Old Blues

Goose egg!

Sunshine Pumpers

Next, the highest grades of the week.

Only three people gave the team passing grades this week. Not fun!

The Voice of Reason

Finally, we have those whose ratings were closest to the community average.

A huge spread between 1st and 5th as TKE Prytanis handily took first place this week.

Onward to the comments. This week’s topics include absent fans and absent pass defense.

Comments

Any comments on the gameday experience?

HelloBowlesHall: Students never showed up but then again neither did the student-athletes.

Wiata78: As a Cal fan, I can take a lot of pain. But this is TOO MUCH.

GoldenBear88: It started with small slivers of hope and just went downhill from there.

CalvNavy1963: The contrast between the two teams on the field was what was most striking. Syracuse, well coached, efficient, effective, and imaginative play calling on both sides of the ball, and chock full of big, strong, athletic players. Cal, evidently poorly coached, often inept, unimaginative, and unexplainable play calling (the coaches are apparently blind to the fact that the O line can not be counted on for runs down the gut, or protecting Nando when he drops back), and lacking skill players in all but a few positions. And Cal's usually reliable defense was largely absent today. And who can explain the lack of ANY urgency by the Bears in running plays for the last two minutes of the first half? Even the announcers were stunned.

Bobe94549@gmail.com: Highly disappointed in Bears. Entire offensive line should be replaced. Coaching. On 4th and 9 down by 16 in second half, why kick a field goal ? Why not use Coe for 44 yard field goal at end of second half given his success last week. Team was flat and lackluster.

Goldenone: A chance to make a statement that we are mediocre to decent was lost

The Ghost of Joe Roth: I live in the EST zone. It is sad to see so many empty seats but certainly understandable.

BearsWillEndMyLife: There were a surprisingly large number of Syracuse fans in attendance, so not sure if they were all Bay Area residents or their fan base travels that well. There was absolutely no energy in the crowd, or what little there might have been was sucked out by those two INTs. And yet, we were still only down six points at that juncture. I guess we were all hung over from such a monumental win over...checks notes...Wake Forest???

What are your thoughts on Cal's passing game?

HelloBowlesHall: Nando struggled, but play calling didn’t give him much help (nor did the line).

Calboy76: Hung over. The 2 INT's were a surprise/shock after seeing Fernando slinging like a pro the last two games.

1988goldenbear: Bad time for Mendoza to have his worst game of the year. Cal should have been able to punish the soft zone, but the line was dominated and those picks were terrible. Probably should have had another INT for a pick-6.

GoldenBear88: Mendoza was really off. It seemed that the Syracuse defense was really dialed in on him. Too many three and outs.

CalvNavy1963: Cal needs an O line that can protect the QB and block.

KJ1980: Mendoza’s two interceptions in the first quarter will not earn him ACC quarterback of the week award.

The Ghost of Joe Roth: Fernando's terrible start hurt obviously but I still admire his grit and toughness.

BearsWillEndMyLife: Look, those two INTs were bad, especially the first one, which you could see coming. But what is Nando supposed to do when he knows he will have no complementary run game? I've said this for weeks now - our opening game script is way too predictable, and clearly Syracuse watched film.

What are your thoughts on Cal's running game?

Calboy76: 2 plays of note. The rest? No comment.

1988goldenbear: Two great runs but not much else. The line couldn't create any gaps. Good for Jet though.

59RoseBowl: Two good plays. Period. Bloesch doesn't know how to game plan or call plays.

BerkeleyRich: Some stellar big play examples against a multitude of run blocking absence

Bobe94549@gmail.com: Blocking non existent for all but two big plays. If I were a running back on this team I would be checking out the portal

Goldenone: Slightly better than the mean for this season but unable to make key plays when it counted

KJ1980: Two nice long runs were the highlight of an otherwise dismal day for the Bears.

Old Bear 71: Surprised ‘em with Up the Middle! Got you one of the needed Eight yards! Woo hoo

AKBear: Need to be more consistent. Sometimes there are holes as wide as Strawberry Canyon. Other times it’s a stone wall.

What are your thoughts on Cal's pass defense?

Calboy76: Porous.

1988goldenbear: McCord was dominant. So many wide open receivers all day long.

59RoseBowl: Sirmon put together a horrible game plan and didn't adjust at half. No pressure on their qb. He just sat back there and picked Cal apart.

CalvNavy1963: Syracuse and their big, sure-handed receivers knocked off consistent big plays look easy. Convertng 4 for 4 on fourth down meant they knew Cal had no answer.

Ron: Worst of the year, by far. We make average teams look good.

Bobe94549@gmail.com: Was there a pass defense. I must have missed it.

KJ1980: The pass defense did not have a great day. Syracuse QB McCord moved the ball against Cal.

BearsWillEndMyLife: Trash. WTAF was with the soft coverage all day? And never an attempt to make any adjustments? Syracuse looked like they were running a spring game 7 on 7 offense out there. Did we just skip on scouting this week? No pass rush, no stops, no chance to win.

AKBear: The Bears were dinked and dunked to death and didn’t seem to make any adjustments. Another head scratcher.

What are your thoughts on Cal's run defense?

Calboy76: Fine. Orangemen didn't need to run much. McCord looked great.

1988goldenbear: Not a great effort today. Gave up the gut-check runs on 4th downs, just couldn't hold when needed.

59RoseBowl: Terrible. The D didn't show up the entire game. Clearly weren't ready to play.

CalvNavy1963: Syracuse executed their blocking schemes superbly. The better team dominated today.

BerkeleyRich: Syracuse may have the Heisman winner RB

Bobe94549@gmail.com: Did a serviceable job. Though tackling was hit or miss

Goldenone: Ok but let Syracuse get too many first downs via the rush

Old Bear 71: About as bad as the pass defense

BearsWillEndMyLife: Also trash. Could not stop them at any point when the game was still competitive. Were we surprised to face a back with decent size? We got simply owned along the D line.

What are your thoughts on Cal's special teams?

HelloBowlesHall: Not even close on that longish fg but in the end it didn’t matter. Would have been nice to have the onsides at least be close. Don’t even get me started on that kickoff return to the like 2.

1988goldenbear: Glad to see Coe make one, but puzzled why he didn't kick the longer one that Morris missed? Probably didn't matter.

the townie: Missing field goals isn’t good. Going for field goals when touchdowns are needed isn’t good.

BerkeleyRich: Punting, kickoffs collegiate level, Field Goal continue to be the most exiting moment in footfall

KJ1980: Another missed field goal when it mattered.

The Ghost of Joe Roth: Not terrible. Not good.

BearsWillEndMyLife: What were we going to achieve going for a field goal down 16 with less than 10 minutes to go in the fourth quarter? And if we suddenly have confidence in Coe again to hit long field goals, why did we let Morris embarrass himself before the half? I mean, it was coaching, clock management, and offensive failures that put us in that position in the first place, but still.

What are your thoughts on the coaching staff's performance?

HelloBowlesHall: Team was just off from minute one and the coaches couldn’t pull them back from the abyss. Not sure what the game plan on either offense or defense was but they clearly didn’t work.

Calboy76: Did they watch any tape of the Pitt v Syracuse game?

1988goldenbear: We were thoroughly out-coached today. We started flat, and Syracuse shredded our secondary all day. Time of possession was horrible. Coaches had no answers.

59RoseBowl: At the very least, Cal needs new OC and DC (never been a Sirmon fan). The OC has no idea how to put together a creative game plan and his in-game play calling is inexplicably bad. If Wilcox is lucky enough to keep his job, these guys have to be replaced

CalvNavy1963: Pretty fed up with Wilcox's coaching, which hasn't improved over the last 5 or so seasons. He and his staff would be better suited for work at the Division II level.

the townie: The team wasn’t up. The coaches did nothing to change that. Total disaster. Touchdowns win games.

Ron: Bad choice calling upon Morris for the first "long-ish" FG. Wasted a bunch of time off the clock in the closing minute or two. Too many unnecessary huddles, wasting time. Seemed totally unsure what they wanted to do. Pretty amateur really.

Goldenone: As Wilcox said himself "we were out coached"

KJ1980: The Bears did not seem prepared. This was a big game for Cal and the team was not ready.

BearsWillEndMyLife: Was this the worst-coached game of the Wilcox era? I dunno, too many to go through. How badly and comprehensively unprepared can you possibly be? Why is Bloesch still the offensive coordinator and O line coach? We must at minimum take one of those responsibilities away from him.

AKBear: Wilcox said that they were out coached. This should not be happening to the degree it did this much into the season. Maybe looking ahead to Big Game too much?

What are your thoughts on Cal's overall performance?

HelloBowlesHall: Disheartening game. At a time that we could have tried to pull this season out of the pit we instead got complacent and let it die. There is no way to justify such apathy with this season having gone the way it has.

Calboy76: Probably the worst performance I've seen at CMS in a while.

GoldenBear88: Worthy of eye-bleach and that's about all. In all fairness, the Bears did try to come back but they were too deep in the hole to really have a shot at coming back.

59RoseBowl: Worst game on a very long time. Terrible game planning on both sides of the ball. Team not ready to play even with bowl eligibility at stake. Truly a depressing day.

the townie: Lackluster. Disappointing. Embarrassing. The team hasn’t improved over the season.

Ron: Worst game of the year by far, on both sides of the ball. We deserved to lose. Didn't look like we came to play while Syracuse clearly did come to play. I put a lot of this at the feet of the coaching staff. The year now is pretty much shot, a year that started with so much promise a mere 2 1/2 months ago. Even if we do win our last two games (we will never beat SMU in Dallas) it will be a marginal year at best and once again a big time losing record in our conference. We were supposed to be a better team this year with an easier schedule than in the Pac 12, but we succeeded in "playing down" to our competition and demonstrating no real improvement at all year over year. The top priority for the portal season is building a far, far stronger O line!

Goldenone: Weak and makes me wonder why I am enduring this experience in half of our games. Surely something more exciting like tiddlywinks would be more satisfying. The wheels came off the Tercel in this one

The Ghost of Joe Roth: I know the team and coaches are more disappointed than we are but it is tough to always dream of what might have been.

Old Bear 71: Not a P4 level effort at any point. A few nice runs by Jet and Ott but way too little and too late.

Icee_Kingsley: This game was over before the 2nd half even started! Cal only lost by 8, and they need to beat Leland Stanford Junior University or else, no bowl game.

Thanks to all who participated! And by Oski’s blessings let next week’s piece be more uplifting…