182 Comments

My take-aways:

1. The Play 2.0.

2. It always feels good to beat Furd, but, I'm sorry, they were going to win right up until the takers took. Two interceptions in the endzone is not a good sign and are stone cold rally killers.

3. We have many problems to face and this win should not make a 4-8 season palatable, just, maybe, more endurable. Our recruitment and retention will not magically solve itself. What choices there are for an OC are a serious question, not to mention yet another learning curve for a new OC.

4. Our admin looks down upon football and loves its mediocrity, which is nothing to celebrate. We need to keep up the pressure on making football a priority.

Let's be happy for the win, which, IMHO, was as miraculous as The Play, but let's stay angry about engineered mediocrity.

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Plummer and his terrible decision-making is gone after this year.

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How do you know this?

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He's a senior, not like he can redshirt

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I was under the impression he had one more year of eligibility.

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I greatly enjoyed yesterday. A few notes for the receivers (catch the ball please) but otherwise pretty pretty pretty good.

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Nov 20, 2022·edited Nov 20, 2022

Also in the category of "noteworthy" for _this_ Big Game, the band held the high "free" note in the Star Spangled Banner for a REALLY long time. Musically, it seemed like forever, though it may have only been about 10 seconds in reality. At first we wondered what the heck they were doing. When the band director dramatically searched about the sky, I knew it was for a flyover. Unfortunately, he couldn't keep the band playing the note for much longer, and they wrapped it up. Maybe 90 seconds after they concluded, THREE jets in formation in an awesome low display delivered the expected shrieking flyover. This isn't the first time I've seen a badly coordinated flyover. Those things must be very difficult to execute, let alone in time with the music of TWO marching bands.

I blame Stanfurd.

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We won for the first time since September

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Oski’s mixing up a Bloody Mary, preparing to break down the All-22 from yesterday’s game.

The Axe remains in Berkeley…glorious.

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I think the sunshine of the win gets Wilcox another 1-2 years. If we go 6-6 next season diehards will be thrilled. Even though at this point expectations in year 7 should be higher.

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He gets an extra 2 years for beating a horrific Stanford team? Even if we finish the year 4-8?

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I am just waiting to see what bonehead loss we have next season that will knock us out of bowl consideration.

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Anybody else think its weird that we didn't run the ball until like the 20th play call? Guess the braintrust-by-committee thought that Ott would be bottled up, which he pretty much was until the 4th quarter.

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We actually filled Memorial. It was good to see. A reminder of what a football game in Strawberry Canyon can look and feel like. Good job football program.

While I really like Ahmad Anderson, ain't gonna lie, his on-field and mic'd up leading of Bear Territory was waaay too early. But now I take it as a sign that the program was at least trying to do something special and different.

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The students next to us did the "We believe that we will win" after the fumble return. We were like, hold up...

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That was clearly just an homage. I’m more concerned about doing it while the game was still (slightly) in doubt at the end. We’re the school of The Play we should know better.

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I've never heard it while we were trailing so definitely felt a twinge. But it was a very cool moment because, as the creator, he can set his own rules.

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author

You beautiful s.o.b's. We did it. Go Bears forever.

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That 4Q was a nice turn of events.

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I want to say a win, in spite of our QB and OLine.

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Plummer’s 2 picks are an example of why there’s no way he can be your QB next year. If he is, 5 wins is your ceiling.

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If we are getting a new OC, might as well go with new QB

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In today’s college game, if you lack mobility as Plummer does, you have to possess above average arm talent and accuracy, or be an incredibly efficient QB, to win ballgames. Really none of these traits accurately describe him, unfortunately.

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Agreed. It's confounding that we are not, at the least, splitting time between Plummer and Milner.

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Nov 21, 2022·edited Nov 21, 2022

Just one of the countless baffling decisions Justin Wilcox has made.

Literally the only things he does right is beat Stanford half the time and not have a team of criminals.

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Love my bears. Great day. Great tailgates. Great day with friends before the game. Terrible offense. Plummer should not be the QB last game. Need to score 30 a game…just not happening with Plummer…Oline aside…

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Yes, love the win! But Christ, can we please move on from Plummer??? A QB who is mobile and doesn’t throw bone headed picks would be nice!

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As shitty as it was, the offense by committee and play calling was still more fun to watch than Musgrave’s offense. I really don’t want to see another Jack Plummer falling backwards airmail 50/50 ball ever again.

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I think I would have preferred Musgrave calling plays. He did have success in scoring points against Stanford and generally called good games against them.

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The playcalling was definitely new. No running in the first half. But if we are going to be pass happy, I don't want Plummer playing.

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I don’t think Plummer got sacked once (ignoring his shitty scramble where he got tackled instead of running for a 1st down by using a blocker). Maybe we played better, maybe Furd sucks (well…..), or maybe even both!!!!

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They called more moving pockets and quick-hitting passes . . . so basically what we should have always been doing with a bad O-line.

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A few fun facts: Justin Wilcox is now 3-3 in Big Games. Jack Plummer has quarterbacked more Big Game wins than Jared Goff, Mike Pawlawski and Craig Morton combined. The Bears have won back-to-back Big Games for the first time since 08-09.

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JW’s record in Big Games is kind of deceiving. So much of that is just the Furd being absolute shit as opposed to us being good.

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So wins don't count if the other team is bad. Does that mean losses against Furd count from years when they were good?

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Yes, but it was the same way when Furd had some of their winning streaks against Cal. That's how it goes.

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We still owe them for 63-13 fwiw.

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But Furd being absolute shit is all the more reason for us to be pounding on them when they are. 41-11 last year was glorious.

And because the fever dream of David Shaw as some sort of genius had finally broken.

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He should be 4-2 and on a 3 game winning streak as we should have won in 2020 during the Covid game.

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But we didn’t……

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That would mean a four-game winning streak.

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Jack Plummer has also quarterbacked more Big Game wins than roughly ~117 billion of the humans who have ever lived combined.

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I was only counting people who'd actually played in Big Games and I can't believe I have to explain this but here we are. Goff, Pawalski and Morton played in eight between them. Plummer one.

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He also has won more Big Game than me.

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More than you and me combined!

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I appreciate Joe Kapp for being Joe Kapp….. got his autograph on my hat at UW 12+ years ago. Perfect gentleman, happy to chat…..I wanted to give him a hug. So glad he got his tribute last night!!!!!

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Not a hero, but rather an icon. Spectacular but ultimately fleeting moments of success, coupled with absolute frustration over his flaws. He encapsulates the very essence of Cal.

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It probably was, but that 1982 team was heavily populated with juniors and seniors with chips on their shoulders, and pretty much ran itself despite Kapp, winning the games it should have won (while still being overmatched by the ranked teams on its schedule) and finishing 7-4.

By 1983, as Theder’s recruits began to move on, Kapp’s flaws became more obvious and troubling, exemplified by a nearly disastrous sequence in the 1983 opener in College Station against Texas A&M that nearly cost us the win if not for Ron Rivera…

https://www.eastbaytimes.com/2006/12/21/rivera-rescued-cal-vs-texas-am-in-83/

Yes, by the end of the 1986 season, Kapp’s shtick as a coach had long worn off. The 1986 Big Game win was even more of a miracle given how badly the program had atrophied under him.

The criticisms of his coaching were well-founded, as well as his limitations as a player (for instance, in the NFL, once he left Minnesota and got traded to the Patriots). But I’ve never seen anyone doubt his love for Cal, despite his obvious flaws. As a fellow Chicano, Kapp was a true “pendejo” at times, but he’s one loyal Bear you’d rather have on your side than not.

As I said above, I don’t necessarily consider him a hero but he remains a school icon and a reminder for a lot of us about loving one’s alma mater, faults and all.

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If this is an argument about "best Cal coach", then yeah. But I don't think I was ever trying to make that specific point. Clearly Kapp's flaws have been obivous to everyone, and I would imagine that even Kapp himself would be the first to admit to it.

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Uncomfortable and true confession: I left Memorial before the 4th quarter. The Bear did not quit, even though I did.

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+1 for honesty. -1 for execution. Net result - Go Bears, sorry you missed it.

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I'd prefer to think my leaving made the difference.

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I did get home in time to watch the finish and hear Starkey have to correct himself about fifteen times. On the Sirmon play he thought Cal threw two laterals.

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Like Churchill said about the king Arthur myth: “And every word of it was true, or ought to be.”

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my son suggested that we listed to the radio feed and Starkey next week while watching on TV. Gonna go for it.

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Happy days. We've got the Axe. Improbable but delightful 4th quarter. Plus I got to meet Avinash on the field after the game.

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Nov 20, 2022Liked by TD_24, Berkelium97

Fuck Andrew Luck, fuck Peter Thiel, fuck Tiger Woods, fuck Josh Hawley, fuck Elon “space Karen” Musk, fuck Elizabeth Holmes, fuck Condoleezza Rice, certainly fuck Herbert Hoover, fuck Mitt Romney, fuck Jim Harbaugh, fuck David Shaw, and fuck you to if you went to Stanford university.

Fuck Stanford from today to infinity. In a shit stain of a season we still wiped our asses with your shitty uniforms, with your shitty program and even shittier school.

Big Game bitches!

WHOES AXE!?!?! OUR AXE!!!!

Go Bears!

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Nov 20, 2022Liked by Piotr Le

You had me at, "fuck Josh Hawley".

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Thank you for bringing balance to the Force of Furd Hate.

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Nah, the Democrats are the good guys in this narrative.

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OMG, can we just hate Furd? LOL

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Nov 20, 2022Liked by Piotr Le

Fuck them all as well for making a poor decision in their youth.

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Fuck elite private colleges, one of the biggest running scams in America.

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Yes, fuck ND for the Immaculate Encroachment call.

And, always, fuck SC.

I was rooting so hard for UCLA and DTR played hurt and courageously.

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This should be the only comment allowed on this thread…there really is not anything else anyone can add!

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Nov 20, 2022Liked by Piotr Le

Well, John Elway was left out of the rant, but maybe it's because he lost to Cal 3 out of 4 Big Games.

He also sucked on the pitcher's mound at Evans Diamond while playing baseball against us, but that's a different anecdote...

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Elway declined to participate in this rant like it was an E:60 episode.

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He was offered the 1st overall “fuck” in the draft but he declined and decided to sit out a year. We will get him next season.

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LOL, you sure seem like fun guy that can’t take a joke.

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It was all a joke, I don’t really hate them. Well, maybe one or two of them.

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Beautifully put.

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Ummm, I'll have what SD81 is having.

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How come I can’t like this post 100x????

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My period for hating on Stanford never ends and will never be over. Not today, not tomorrow, not ever.

Stanford can put my sweaty, bloody balls in their mouth from now to eternity.

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Glad you did not say "bloody," because that mental image is too much to process.

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Go cry at Stanford stadium and university if you’re upset with my post.

For a Cal fan that just won the Big Game you sure seem upset.

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Tell us how you really feel.

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Oh Musk did go to Stanford

https://fortune.com/2022/02/15/why-elon-musk-dropped-out-of-stanford/amp/

Rice and Harbaugh were employed at the evil empire known as Stanford. Guilty by association.

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When I read this "Daily Californian," quoting Joe Kapp as saying, "I swear to God, life's just not fair," I would have sworn it was really. It sounded just like something Kapp would say.

https://stanforddaily.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/11/Screen-Shot-2017-11-16-at-2.19.25-AM.png

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The packed stadium of fans carried that game during unwatchable stretches. Defense carried the day, though.

Have to deduct some fan points for the worst fan field rush I've seen. Basic flow dynamics, people!

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I was incredibly surprised by the turnout today. I was telling my buddy that I thought maybe 40k would show up.

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how can the stadium be packed when the end zone was tarped over. Was it under construction?

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But that stadium holds, like, 1.5 million people…..IDK, maybe someone could look that up for me….

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Student section was awesome today.

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Also I think Evan Weaver led a cheer?

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I wandered over to Q because QQ was full. It was pretty empty for the 1sf quarter but filled in to standing room only.

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