14 Comments

At one of the Cal Grid Club (Sacramento) events, I recall some thoughts that Cal would steal Troy Taylor. Definitely some conflicted emotions being murmured. Nick may remember it.

Expand full comment

Everyone remembers that he played for Cal, but few seem to remember that he also coached for us - hired by Mariucci, then demoted and later fired by Holmoe.

I always wonder if he felt scapegoated for those bad years. If I were in his shoes I would LOVE to hand a bad loss to the Bears.

Expand full comment

I didn't remember it and I was a student during the Mariucci-Holmoe years.

Expand full comment

I remember when the 1991 Cal team opened with an 86-24 rout of UOP, which has since cancelled football but at the time was straight up Division 1. Not looking for a rout of that magnitude, but an early and decisive victory is what is sorely needed. But my instincts tell me that Cal will make this thing too close, too long. LOL....the 2005 Cal team went into the locker room at halftime leading Sac State 10-3. I believe a guy named Tedford did some yelling in that locker room, and the final result was 41-3. There were 64,000 people at that game. Wonder what attendance will be on Saturday.

Expand full comment

Thanks Christopher. This game will be a litmus test for Cal. If we lose or it's a close game that does not portend well for the Washington game, who also is playing a patsy this weekend and is likely to pick up that elusive 1st victory.

Expand full comment

Maybe you could have also watched movies directed by Ryan Coogler as well?

Expand full comment

Best game film evah.

(Props for the deeeeep reference. Did not know he played for Sac State.)

Expand full comment
author

I, uh... don't get this reference.

Expand full comment

Check the Cal Sacramento State 2005 Box Score. Especially under Sac State receiving stats.

Expand full comment

Whoa I just dialed up a search on the world wide web and found that he is a Sac State alum with some big time, reel big time, writing and directing movie creds. Often collaborates with Michael B Jordan for the make believies and Ludwig Göransson for the euphonics.

Expand full comment
Comment removed
Expand full comment
author

No, sorry, strongly disagree. Chase Garbers is miles ahead of Sac State's QB in both running and passing. We probably won't see too many runs from Garbers because it's not worth the risk of injury, but if he were to run, Garbers would run circles around him. And the arm talent isn't even close-- you won't see very many 4-star QBs starting for FCS teams (I looked this one up actually; Princeton once had a 4-star QB, but that's obviously a school-decision and not a football-decision).

Less established QBs tend to be more gutsy on runs because they're still competing for the starting job (and Sac State's depth chart lists their starting QB as "QB A OR B OR C," so they're obviously very much still locked in a battle for the starting job. You see the same runs from freshman QBs all the time. Once a QB has established himself as the starter and is no longer at risk of losing their job, they play a lot smarter/safer in regards to runs -- because the only way they lose their jobs then is if they get injured.

Expand full comment
Comment removed
Expand full comment
author

We're talking about the O'Hara who lost against a 0-9 Rice in 2019?

https://www.sports-reference.com/cfb/boxscores/2019-11-16-middle-tennessee-state.html

Christ man,

>(from the little I know of him)

It shows.

Expand full comment
author

Man, how depressed are Cal fans that they still predict doom and gloom against a ~20-point underdog FCS opponent? I guess if you predict a Cal loss every game, you can be mildly surprised when Cal wins, and move on to predict Cal's loss the following week.

I've never looked at a box score and judged someone's stats... but as a thought experiment, how about you filter out his games at Middle Tennessee against lower-tier G5 teams, and instead look at his games against P5 opponents? I bet you it would paint an entirely different picture.

And again... I literally just watched the games, I saw the 3 picks and 2 fumbles. They weren't due to any defensive mastery on Northern Iowa's part (I mean, great job on the tip drill and all), but O'Hara consistently got himself into trouble because his throwing mechanics would break down any time he tried to throw on the move. He made poor reads and tried to force the ball into tiny (or nonexistent) windows on throws he wasn't capable of making. He could pick up yards on his feet, but he doesn't have the game-breaking speed to frustrate a P5 opponent. O'Hara isn't the athlete that Max Duggan is, or the athlete Jayden Daniels is. Just because a quarterback has the ability to run the ball himself doesn't mean he's going to run it for 100+ yards on Cal. That's ridiculous.

Expand full comment
author

I mean, seriously. Anyone predicting a Cal loss to Sacramento State is basically predicting an 0-12 season from Cal. This isn't a 2013-esque team with a new coach, all freshmen, etc., this is the most experienced Cal squad I can remember. If Cal can't beat Sacramento State, there is literally no one else on the schedule that Cal can beat

Expand full comment