That picture of the Crypt Keeper …. errrrr … Madonna almost made me lose my breakfast. Put some sort of Advisory note before you scare the hell out of us will you! You really are some “shallow veneer of attempted comedy.”

First, I’d like to suggest that this is not CGB Cougar Week but CGB CougCenter Week. That makes all the difference.

Now that we have that cleared up….Go CGB CougCenter week!!

I will join CougCenter if we lose!!

Top 10 Festivities during CGB CougCenter Week:

10. Pin the Tail on the Cougar!
9. Hide and Go Seek a Cougar!

8. Truth or Cougar!

7. Hungry Hungry Cougars!

6. Sorry

Game view from WSU angle:

TRUE HOME OPENERS: The Cougars have won seven consecutive Martin Stadium openers, and 14 of their last 16. Since the formation of the Pacific-10 Conference in 1978, the Cougars have played their first Martin Stadium game of a particular season against a league foe nine times. WSU is an even 4-4-1 in those games.

NEARING HISTORY: Senior middle linebacker Greg Trent led the Cougars with nine tackles against Oklahoma State, and if he can match that total against California he will become only the 17th player in WSU history to record 250 tackles in a career. A four-year starter with 25 consecutive starts, Trent currently has 241 career tackles.

FIRST STARTS: Redshirt senior quarterback Gary Rogers made his highly anticipated first career start last week against Oklahoma State, but he was not the only Cougar to receive his first starting nod. WSU had six offensive players and three defensive players starting for the first time. Rogers, wide receivers Jared Karstetter (freshman) and Michael Willis (redshirt junior), offensive linemen Steven Ayers (redshirt freshman) and Brian Danaher (redshirt sophomore), tight end Ben Woodard and defensive backs Romeo Pellum (sophomore), Myron Beck (redshirt sophomore) and Tyrone Justin (redshirt freshman) each made their first career starts as Cougars.

4. Truth Or Cougar

New BlogPoll is out. Cal is 23rd.

Okanes writes an article about our kickers.

Tavecchio handled the first four kickoffs against Michigan State. Seawright took the final two. Tavecchio said he expects the competition to continue.
“I walked out on to the field and the hair was standing up on my neck,” he said. “I saw all the people and I felt this great sense of enormous adrenaline pumping through my body. It was a once in a lifetime experience, something I’ve never felt before. My goal is to contribute to this team as much as possible.”

SFGate article with various morsels of information.

Along with switching to the 3-4 scheme, defensive tackle Derrick Hill said the unit is playing with a new mind-set.
“We don’t want to just get sacks; we want to put people out of the game,” Hill said. "We’re not nice guys on the field. Maybe off the field, but on the field, we plan on putting guys out of the game and making plays.

Looking ahead, Maryland’s starting QB injured his thumb.

Jordan Steffy worked all summer to earn the job as Maryland’s starting quarterback, and now a thumb injury is threatening to end his reign atop the depth chart after only one game.
Steffy hurt his right thumb in the second half of Saturday’s 14-7 win over Delaware, a game in which coach Ralph Friedgen also used Chris Turner and Josh Portis at quarterback. Steffy, who was pulled in the fourth quarter, is still having difficultly taking snaps and handing off the football.

2. Cougar Twister

1. TwistNHook ruining Top 10 Festivities during CGB CougCenter Week.

10. Pin the Tail on the Cougar!
9. Hide and Go Seek a Cougar!
8. Truth or Cougar!
7. Hungry Hungry Cougars!
6. Sorry
5. Have sex with an older woman on the prowl for younger men.
4. Truth or Cougar
3. Musical Cougars
2. Cougar Twister
1. TwistNHook ruining Top 10 Festivities during CGB CougCenter Week.

My, what a disfunctional group of people

But I’m also sick

but CougCenter has a short story on how you can buy Ex-Football Coach Bill Doba’s house. There’s a link there to some pictures of the house.

I’m not one to rip on someone’s crib, but if that’s all you get when you’re the head coach of WSU football, no thanks!

Freidencat defends Steffy.

Today, Friedgen told Terrapin faithful and members of the local media to get off Steffy’s back:

"If you want to boo me, boo me. Don’t boo the kid," Friedgen said during a media briefing noteworthy for the coach’s intensity, but also for the fact that he wouldn’t commit to starting the fifth-year senior Saturday at Middle Tennessee State.

"You know, there’s a lot of things that bother me right now with this whole thing," the coach said. "I’ve got a kid that has done everything that I could possibly ask him to do. Would I like him to make some better decisions or throw some better passes? Sure. But this kid to me is the epitome of what we want in this football program," Friedgen said.

"You know, I’m like the father. If you’re booing my son I’m going to get upset. That’s how I look at this kid. If he was a kid that didn’t give effort, that didn’t prepare, then that would be a different story. That’s not the case with the kid," the coach said.

I don’t think you’re truly a cougar unless you prey on younger men. So a lot of these women you are posting pictures of are not cougars, they are just older hot or presumably hot women. It’s very confusing! Especially Zeta-Jones and Pam Anderson, come on now!

New SBN blog about SBN!

How delightfully meta.

WSU coach praises our offense, suggests his cougars can’t wait to wrap their arms around our young Bears (I love Cougar Week on CGB, I can’t wait for Beaver Week and Trojan week).

Indeed, while other teams around the country looked rusty when it came to making crisp open-field tackles, the Cougars seemed to be moderately efficient.
 
"We stressed this from the day I got on campus," Wulff said. "You can talk about it, but we worked on it. Every day we work on it, even on the days we’re not in pads. I think there’s a lot of progress made."

But Wulff was the first to admit that the defense needs to be even better this week, because the California offense is far more talented and explosive than Oklahoma State.

"From a talent standpoint, they’re definitely one of the top teams in the conference," Wulff said.

"We’re facing two of the fastest running backs without question, so for them to be able to tackle those guys, we’ve got an even tougher challenge on our hands," Wulff said.

While the Cougars figure to have their hands full with the Bears’ rushing attack, they also have to be wary of the passing attack. Sophomore quarterback Kevin Riley threw for 202 yards and two touchdowns last week against Michigan State.

"He’s a good player," Wulff said. He’s very efficient. He takes care of the football and he’s not going to force a lot of things with his arm. For a young guy to show that kind of trait this early in his career, that’s obviously a very good thing for Cal."

Apparently he’s fast at running or something?

http://collegefootball.rivals.com/content.asp?CID=845402

placed on injured reserve by the Ravens, ending his season. Man, this guy can’t catch a break.

So are we just waiting for the COA to

a) decide whether they want to sniff the case and
b) if they do, decide whether they want to uphold the injunction (does this require a hearing?)

Bodog: Cal -13 1/2 @ WSU

Some quotes from today’s media luncheon.

–Kevin Riley talked a little bit more about the disappointment of hearing fans boo Nate Longshore: "I remember my first game I ever went to at Cal it was Joe (Ayoob) against USC. From the first pass he threw, they were booing him," Riley said. "I was like, ‘God, I hope that’s not me.’ (Longshore) goes to school here and represents the school. It didn’t go his way.
"Yeah, they can be upset because bad things happen, but it’s tough going through that. Nate went through a lot last year as well. Nate is a strong kid so I don’t think it will bother him that much."
-Riley also said he’d like to say hi to former Cal running back James Montgomery while the team is at WSU. Montgomery transferred to Washington St. in the spring.
"James is a good guy," Riley said. "I hope he’s having a good time there. I wish he was still here."

–Cal center Alex Mack, on playing against Washington’s senior-laden defensive front: "We’re not going to trick them that easily. They’re going to know football. We’re going to have to play well. If you make a mistake, they’re going to capitalize on it."

Morrah also talked Tuesday about his improved attention to blocking. Morrah has always been considered a terrific pass-catching tight end but the belief heading into the season is he had to improve on the physical aspect of playing at the line of scrimmage.

"I’m getting a little more comfortable with it," Morrah said. "Before, it just wasn’t part of my game. It didn’t have to be. Now that i’m stepping into that starting role, I can’t be just a one-dimensional player out there or else teams are going to really key down on me if I’m just coming in to run a route. My blocking has to continue to grow."

My professor mentioned Berkeley and the tree sitters in class today. This probably doesn’t seem that unusual if I was still an undergrad and at school in Berkeley but I’m not. Instead I’m elsewhere studying other things – we’ll just say I’m at the culinary academy in another part of the Bay Area. Anyways, my professor who likes to think he’s knowledgeable in all things including law started talking about “standing” or something and then mentioned how some dude named Scalia wouldn’t “climb a tree in Berkeley to prevent them from building a new stadium” if he didn’t have standing or something. Anyways, I was amazed that my professor would actually drop something like that in the middle of lecture while we’re learning about proper vegetable chopping technique.

Has anybody else’s professor mentioned the tree sitters in class?

http://www.mininova.org/tor/1759136