At least not from Bruce Jenkins. And a little dig at Coach Tedford’s decision to eschew trying for the dagger touchdown with under 3 minutes left.

— Bill Belichick, meet Jim Harbaugh: Down 31-28 with a 4th-and-8 from its own 23-yard line, 3:32 left, and Stanford goes for it? What a bizarre confluence of faith, arrogance and stupidity – although Cal’s Jeff Tedford joined the parade of lunacy when he had Kevin Riley take a knee on that third-down play from the Stanford 9. How can you not take a shot at clinching the game?

— Overall Big Game impression: As entertaining as any collegiate game played this season. It’s just too bad that Harbaugh acted like a punk – for the second straight week. Maybe some people enjoyed his attempt at a two-point conversion with a 48-21 lead over USC, but there’s no excusing his postgame “handshake” with Tedford. Not bothering to slow down, Harbaugh barely touched Tedford’s hand, didn’t even look at him, and hurried on. That’s just weak.

I loved that in the background you could hear our guys in the locker room chanting:

“Who’s Axe?”
“Our Axe!”

Come on! Freshmen more posts!

Is it We’ve Got The Axe or We Got The Axe?

Shouldnt the first part be We’ve Gotten The Axe? I’m so confused!

Also, Avi, I appreciate the kind words, but I’m not sure any of my videos are magnum opuses. Although I did put up that sweet video of Royal Exchange singing along to Don’t Stop Believing by Journey. That was awesome!

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2009/11/22/SP7F1AOUDG.DTL

Jeff Tedford outcoached Jim Harbaugh on Saturday. Besides the Axe, Cal gets a national ranking (No. 21) by its name again. Number-crunching guru Steve Sanchez said it’s only the second time in 12 games as an underdog since 2004 that the Bears have won. (The 31-24 win at Oregon in 2007 was the other one.) Cal was 8-6 as an underdog in Tedford’s first two seasons.

Wasn’t Cal an underdog to Oregon in 2006 or am I crazy?

Lyle Moevao, OSU Backup QB, tweeting mad shizz:

This is what I’ve been waitin for. Payback is a b*#+@!

Then, Mike Riley tackles him:

Excuse tweet from earlier. This game isn’t about payback. It’s about us. No rose bowl talk. We just need

Vereen gets hella honors:

BERKELEY – Cal sophomore tailback Shane Vereen earned multiple national honors for his performance Saturday in Cal’s 34-28 victory over Stanford in the 112th Big Game played at Stanford Stadium. Vereen became the first Cal player this season to be honored with a Walter Camp Football Foundation national weekly award when he was named the organization’s BCS National Offensive Player of the Week. He is also one of four nominees for the Week 12 AT&T All-America Player of the Week Award and was an honorable mention selection for the College Football Performance Awards Running Back Performer of the Week. The national honors are all the first of Vereen’s career.

Vereen rushed 42 times for 193 yards (both career highs) and three touchdowns (tied career-high) to lead the Golden Bears to their fifth win in their last six games overall, and their seventh victory in their last eight games against the Cardinal. The 42 rushing attempts tied for the most in the nation in 2009 along with Central Florida’s Brynn Harvey, who had 42 carries against Memphis on Oct. 3.

Vereen now has 738 rushing yards and 10 touchdowns on the ground this season on a team-high 147 carries (5.0 average) to rank seventh in the Pac-10 in rushing (67.1 ypg). He is also fifth in the conference in all-purpose running yards per game (136.18) with a team-high total of 1,498 (738 rush, 199 receive, 10 punt return, 551 kick return). In addition, he is sixth in the league in kick returns with an average of 23.0 (24 kick returns, 551 yards).

Fans can help Vereen win the Week 12 AT&T All-America Player of the Week honor by voting for him in the only college football honor determined by fan voting. Text VOTE to 345345 and then reply with your selection. Fans have until 8:59 p.m. PT on Wednesday to submit their votes. The winner will be announced during Thursday’s ESPN College Football Primetime presented by Applebee’s. Standard text messaging rates apply.

The Prophet gets honors, too:

ATLANTA – Cal linebacker Mike Mohamed was honored Sunday by the College Football Performance Awards as one of the CFPA’s Linebacker Honorable Mention Performers of the Week. Mohamed preserved a 34-28 Cal victory in the Big Game at Stanford on Saturday when he intercepted Cardinal quarterback Andrew Luck at the Cal 3-yard line with 1:36 remaining in the contest. Mohamed also had a team-high 10 tackles as he was honored with a weekly national honor for the first time in his career.

Mohamed leads the Pac-10 with a career-high 100 tackles in 2009 and ranks No. 35 nationally with an average of 9.09 stops per contest. He has five double-digit tackle games this season, while recording at least seven tackles in 10 of 11 games and at least nine stops in eight of those contests. His three interceptions lead the Bears and his 0.27 picks per game rank tied for sixth in the Pac-10.

Mohamed is the seventh Cal player to be honored by the CFPA in 2009. Others include P Bryan Anger, TB Jahvid Best, QB Kevin Riley, WR/RET Jeremy Ross, DB Syd’Quan Thompson and TB Shane Vereen.

VBall loses to Arizona:

TUCSON, Ariz. – The No. 11-ranked California volleyball team (18-9, 11-6 Pac-10) had its six-match winning streak snapped by No. 19 Arizona (19-8, 8-8 Pac-10) in a four-set defeat (25-17, 25-22, 18-25, 25-21) on Sunday, Nov. 22 at the McKale Memorial Center. Senior outside hitter Hana Cutura led the Golden Bear effort with 26 kills (8e, 52att, .346) and added two service aces with four digs.

Sophomore outside hitter Tarah Murrey had 12 kills (12e, 30att, 000) and logged her seventh double-double of the season with 10 digs. Junior setter Carli Lloyd led all players with 41 assists and tied a season high with 14 digs. Senior middle hitter Mindi Wiley had six kills (2e, 14att, .286) and senior libero Kristen Kathan added 11 digs to Cal’s total. The Bears attacked at a .183 rate in the match with 49 kills (27att, 120att).

Arizona’s junior outside hitters each had 14 kills apiece to lead the Wildcats in victory. Tiffany Owens had her 14 kills on 42 attacks (8e, .143) and Whitney Dosty had hers on 31 attacks (8e, .194). Senior libero Alanna Resch had a team-high 12 digs on Senior Day while Wildcat middle blockers Courtney Karst (9k, 3e, 23att, .261) and Stephanie Snow (9k, 2e, 14att, .500) each put in nine kills. The Cats attacked at a .221 rate and had 55 kills (25e, 136att) in the match.

Arizona opened the fourth set with a kill by Karst and in a blink had built an eight-point advantage at 10-2 as Resch served two straight service aces. The Bears continued to hang and cut the Wildcat lead to five at 17-12 as Cutura bounced a shot off the Wildcat court for a kill. Cal pressed and put up a block that forced Arizona into four attack errors and trimmed the Wildcat lead to two points at 18-16. The Bears trailed by two once again at 20-18 when freshman opposite hitter Correy Johnson connected with Lloyd on a slide play for a kill. Wiley earned a kill on a back-set from Lloyd to make the score 22-20 for Arizona but the Bears scored just one more point as Cutura logged her 26th kill of the night. Snow responded with the final point of the match to make the score, 25-21, in the fourth set. The Bears earned 13 kills (7e, 29att) and attacked at a .207 rate while the Cats posted a .176 rate with 14 kills (8e, 34att).

Womens bball loses to Baylor:

BERKELEY, Calif. (AP) -Brittney Griner had her chance to dunk in the waning minutes and missed again. It didn’t matter much.

Baylor’s 6-foot-8 freshman sensation did enough work to alter shots on the defensive end in the eighth-ranked Lady Bears’ 69-49 rout of No. 11/17 California on Sunday, a highly anticipated matchup pitting two of the country’s top young teams.

Griner had 15 points, seven rebounds and five blocked shots, missing a right-handed dunk along the baseline off a behind-the-back pass from Melissa Jones with 2:08 remaining. Shanay Washington scored 18 points to go with four assists, and Baylor used a big run to start the second half and pull away from cold-shooting Cal. Griner, who is trying to become the seventh woman to dunk in a college game, scored four of her points during a 12-2 spurt to open the final 20 minutes.

Jones had 15 points, 11 rebounds and five assists for Baylor (2-1), which finally came to Berkeley 11 months after the teams were scheduled to play at Haas Pavilion. Baylor couldn’t make it to the Bay Area for its game last Dec. 22 because of a severe winter storm in the Northwest and the Lady Bears were stuck in Portland after playing at Oregon.

Alexis Gray-Lawson led Cal with 12 points and a career-high 11 rebounds for her third career double-double. DeNesha Stallworth scored 15 and grabbed six boards as the Golden Bears (2-1) struggled offensively for the second straight game. Cal shot 27.1 percent Sunday, including 24.1 percent in the first half.

Cal tried everything against Griner: a 2-3 zone to start with two post players collapsing on her at all times, then a trapping press followed by a 1-3-1 zone before switching to man-to-man. It didn’t really matter.

Womens swimming gets 2nd at Toshiba classic:

LONG BEACH, Calif. – Sixth-ranked California posted several strong swims, including Sara Isakovic’s win in the 200-yard butterfly and Caitlin Leverenz’s performances in the 200-yard breaststroke and 200 fly, en route to a second-place team finish on the final day of the Toshiba Classic on Saturday at the Belmont Plaza Olympic Pool. Cal collected 1,137 points to place behind Stanford, with 1,809.5 points. UCLA, with 725 points, was third in a field of 25 teams.

Cal raced to eight NCAA B qualifying, or NCAA consideration, times on Saturday night.

Isakovic, who won a silver medal in the 200-meter freestyle for Slovenia in the 2008 Olympics, swam an NCAA B qualifying and pool-record time of 1:55.83 to win the 200 fly. Bears filled four of the top five spots, with all four also posting NCAA consideration times. Leverenz was second in a time of 1:57.57, junior Katie Kastes was third in a time of 1:59.75 and junior Amanda Sims was fifth in a time of 2:00.32.

Leverenz also earned an NCAA B time of 2:12.37 in the 200 breaststroke preliminary heats, though she did not race in the final. The freshman moved into Cal’s all-time top 10 lists for both the 200 breaststroke (6th) and 200 fly (9th) with her swims tonight. Leverenz has had an impressive meet, as on Friday night, she set a school record of 4:09.76 in the 400 individual medley.

XC does well at meet:

SAN FRANCISCO – Michelle Davis led the Cal women with a 10th-place finish and Simon Schmidt paced the Cal with by taking 16th, according to unofficial results at the 23rd annual Pacific Association cross country championships contested Sunday in San Francisco’s Golden Gate Park.

Davis covered the four-mile course in 24:01, with teammate Hillary Hayes right behind in the 11th spot in 24:08. Chelsea Reilly (18th, 24:36) and Taylor Dutch (19th, 24:38) also posted top 20 results. In addition, Nicole Hough finished in 25:18 and Taylor Bryson recorded a time of 25:42.

The men’s competition featured a six-mile event, with Schmidt crossing the line in 31:57. Matt Petersen claimed 22nd in 32:21, while Andres Diaz was 40th (33:26), James Attarian was 62nd (34:53) and Dmitry Kislyuk was 76th (35:38).

Official results should be available within a few days.

Mens water polo loses Big Splash. When I was walking to the stadiumI passed by it with CalNet and PaleoDan. In the 10 seconds we watched, Cal scored the game tying goal with 8 seconds left. Lost in OT apparently. :(!

STANFORD, CALIF. – The No. 2-ranked Cal men’s water polo team (20-5, 6-2) saw a nine-match winning streak come to an end, falling at No. 3-ranked Stanford, 8-6, in the annual Big Splash, Saturday, Nov. 21 at Avery Aquatic Center. The Golden Bears were led by senior captain Spencer Warden’s two goals. Cal had held a 4-2 lead at halftime, but was outscored, 6-2, in the second half.

The Bears hadn’t lost since falling to No. 1-ranked USC, 7-6, back on Oct. 11 in the championship match of the UC Irvine Invitational. Of Cal’s five losses this season, three have against the Trojans and two against the Cardinal (20-2, 7-1). The Bears, however, did give Stanford one of its two losses this season, defeating the Cardinal, 10-8, in the semifinals of the UC Irvine Invitational.

Cal will now be the No. 3-seeded team behind USC and Stanford in next week’s Mountain Pacific Sports Federation Tournament at USC. The Bears will take on No. 6 seeded UC Irvine (15-11, 3-5) on Friday, Nov. 27 at 1:30 p.m. at USC’s McDonald’s Swim Stadium. Earlier this season Cal defeated the Anteaters, 13-10, Oct. 31 at Spieker Aquatics Complex.

The Trojans are the defending NCAA champions, having defeated Stanford (7-5) in the 2008 title match, but Cal topped USC in both the 2006 (7-6) and 2007 (8-6) NCAA championship.

Womens swimmer sets record:

LONG BEACH, Calif. – California freshman Caitlin Leverenz swam a school-record time of 4:09.76 in the 400-yard individual medley and the sixth-ranked Golden Bears remained in second place at the Toshiba Classic on Friday, the second day of the three-day meet held at the Belmont Plaza Olympic Pool. Cal has collected 775 points to trail leader Stanford, which has 1,202.5 points.

Leverenz finished second in the 400 IM behind a meet record from Stanford’s Julia Smit (4:03.31). Cal senior Heather White was fifth in a time of 4:17.67. Both Leverenz and White posted NCAA B qualifying times in the 400 IM. Two more Bears finished in the top 10: senior Courtney Eronemo was seventh (4:23.33) and sophomore Shelley Harper was 10th (4:22.63).

Cal opened the evening finals by taking third place in the 200-yard medley relay. The foursome of sophomore Colleen Fotsch, Leverenz, junior Amanda Sims and junior Hannah Wilson posted an NCAA B qualifying time of 1:42.14 to finish behind Stanford (1:40.05) and San Diego State (1:41.93).

Wilson and Sims had Cal’s best finishes in the 100 butterfly, with Wilson placing fifth in an NCAA-B time of 53.90 and Sims taking seventh in 54.85. In the 200 free, Isakovic (3rd, 1:46.49) and senior Lauren Boyle (4th, 1:47.61) had the Bears’ best performances with a pair of NCAA B or NCAA consideration times. Wilson, who did not swim in the finals, posted an NCAA consideration time of 1:48.95 in the 200-free preliminary heats.

VBall beats Asu:

TEMPE, Ariz. – The No. 11-ranked California volleyball team (18-8, 11-5 Pac-10) defeated Arizona State (13-14, 3-12 Pac-10) in four sets (25-22, 22-25, 25-20, 29-27) Friday, Nov. 20, at Wells Fargo Arena to earn its sixth consecutive victory. Senior outside hitter Hana Cutura led the Golden Bears to the win as she posted her 10th double-double of the season with 19 kills (7e, 50att, .240) and 19 digs; tying her career high.

Senior libero Kristen Kathan had 15 digs and moved ahead of Tiffany Rochelle (1986-89) into third place all-time at Cal in career digs with 1,410. Sophomore outside hitter Tarah Murrey added 15 kills (6e, 38att, .237) and five digs and senior middle hitter Mindi Wiley had 11 kills (6e, 28att, .179) and four blocks. Junior setter Carli Lloyd put up 49 assists to go with five kills (2e, 9att, .333) and five digs. Freshman opposite hitter Correy Johnson put down seven kills (3e, 13att, .308) to go with four blocks and freshman middle hitter Kat Brown had a career-high six kills (2e, 12att, .333) and added four blocks as well. The Bears attacked at a .245 rate in the match as they logged 63 kills (26e) on 151 attacks.

Arizona State junior outside hitter Sarah Reaves tied for team-high honors with 15 kills (8e, 47att, .149) and added 10 digs. Freshman outside hitter Ashley Kastl also had 15 kills (6e, 34att, .265). Junior libero Sarah Johnson led all players with 21 digs and had one of the Sun Devils’ six service aces. ASU posted a .164 attack percentage with 54 kills (29e, 152att).

Womens water polo gets 7 new recruits:

The University of California women’s water polo program, coached by former USA men’s Olympic coach Richard Corso, former UCLA player and coach Matt Flesher and former USA Olympic standout Maureen O’Toole-Purcell, has signed seven high school athletes to national letters of intent, it was announced today (Nov. 20). The Golden Bears’ list of signees includes O’Toole-Purcell’s daughter Kelly Mendoza, as well as Emily Anderson, Kathryn Klippert, Maxine Sharf, Jennifer Talbott, Emily Turner and Ashley Young.

Kelly Mendoza, considered by many to be the top high school recruit in the nation, is a 5-10 utility player from Monte Vista High School in Danville. Mendoza is a three-time High School All-American and three-time All-North Coast Section honoree, helping her school to a 107-4 record and four-straight North Coast Section titles. She is Monte Vista’s all-time leader scorer with 330 career goals, including 115 goals this fall. Mendoza is also a five-time USA Water Polo All-American and a current member of the Junior National Team. She helped Team USA to a gold medal at the 2008 Global Championships in Brisbane, Australia, and was the MVP of the 2007 and 2008 Junior Olympics.

Emily Anderson is a 6-0 goalie from San Ramon High School, where as a senior she notched 187 saves with 40 assists and 21 steals. Anderson’s club team highlights including capturing three gold medals at the Junior Olympics and being a member of the 2005 Speedo Cup National Champions. She was an 18 and Under first-team All-American at the 2009 Senior Sports Junior Olympics, and is a two-year member of the Junior Olympic Development Team.

What do you all think of this song in highlight video? Opinions?

http://songza.fm/~h82a3u

Small group of Klan members rally before Ole Miss-LSU game

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2009/football/ncaa/11/21/oxford.rally.ap/index.html

There really isn’t a whole lot to the story, other than the attention grabbing headline.

"I don’t know who called for the spike"

–Les Miles

Pac-10 Ranks 1, 2, & 4 (Again, this is article was posted 4-5 years ago)

The Wall Street Journal decided to figure out which programs attract the most eyeballs during bowl season. To do this, the Journal collected final Nielsen ratings for 15 of the most popular bowls dating back at least 10 years. Every time a school played in one of those games, the paper measured how the rating compared with the average for that bowl. Merging the results produced a positive or negative “score” for each team.

The numbers aren’t perfect. Some scores are based on just five bowl appearances. They do not take into account scheduling issues, poll rankings, the quality of the opponents or whether the game was a blowout.

http://www.statesman.com/sports/content/sports/stories/longhorns/01/4bowlratings.html

I use IE8 (and before you request I change, I’m not allowed to change it at work, and besides we want to keep royrules gainfully employed), and I notice it repeatedly crashes while on CGB. Anyone else having the same problem?

Coincidence that it coincided with the Big Game? I think not.

2 BCS Bowls for the Pac-10?
Guidelines for participating teams:

A. Has won at least nine regular-season games, and
  B. Is among the top 14 teams in the final BCS Standings.

If USC becomes ranked 14th, will they be selected?

Currently they are 20th in the latest BCS. They also have two games to play (compared to one for most teams), and both games are against bowl eligible teams (strength of schedule will improve, helping the computer rankings).

The teams ahead of SC with their remaining schedules:

19. BYU vrs Utah (21)
18. Clemson @ South Carolina & Georgia Tech (7) (ACC Title Game)
17. Miami @ South Florida
16. Oregon St @ Oregon (8)
15. LSU vrs. Arkansas
14. Virginia Tech @ Virginia
12. Oklahoma St. @ Oklahoma
9. Pittsburgh @ West Virginia & vrs Cincinnati (5)

Penn St, Iowa, and Ohio State are ranked 10, 11, and 13, and have concluded their seasons.

Will six of the previous teams lose, or struggle enough to allow USC to rise six spots in the rankings and become BCS eligible? I doubt all the teams lose, but only one game (Virginia Tech vrs Virginia) would be a surprise if the ranked team lost. USC also has the extra game, and assuming Arizona beats ASU, would have a lot of people watching the final week of the season.

A loooooooooooooonnggg shot yes, but I think if they become eligible, they become a favorite for a BCS game, spreading that BCS money around.

Taking off Wednesday! woot!

LINK

Let’s start with a sign that we saw at ESPN’s Game Day set on the UA campus. A Duck QB injury checklist? Seriously? It read something like, “Kellen Clemens – check, Dennis Dixon – check, Jeremiah Masoli – you’re next.” What an amazing display of stupidity. To the douchebag who made and displayed that sign, I hope you’re enjoying your karma breakfast this morning. That taste in your mouth is Masoli’s…well, you know.

Should we be surprised about someone from UA celebrating opposing players suffering severe, career-impacting injuries? No. As Joe Giansante reminded me during the CSN rebroadcast late last night, it was UA students who taunted a visibly-crushed Dennis Dixon after a blown knee ended his Oregon career, his national title hopes and his shot at the Heisman Trophy.

Star-divide

‘Nough said about that. Let’s move on to the Arizona students pouring onto the field with more than six minutes to play. Oregon had two time outs and the Wildcats were going into a shell. It was obvious Oregon was going to get the ball back and an educated fan would understand the Ducks don’t need much time to score. Nice job by the UA student section. You just looked like idiots during the national game of the week. Even worse, you collectively chose to watch the best finish in college this season from a terrible vantage point. What is it that Guinness guy says? Brilliant!

My last complaint is the worst of the bunch.

We learned this morning that Oregon senior cheerleader Katelynn Johnson was carted off the field and taken to the hospital after being hit in the head by a full bottled water. According to the Associated Press, Johnson was pelted just off the side of the field while celebrating the Ducks’ dramatic win with other Oregon cheerleaders and personnel. Mike Bellotti said, “There were many things — water and other things — being thrown down there.” Jeremiah Masoli added, “That’s just unacceptable behavior from fans, whether it was an Arizona fan or any fan across the nation.”

For people who make fun of Cal fans for being fairweather, the Rose Bowl was half empty yesterday.

Shame on current UCLA students who consider themselves Bruin sports fan. Saturday’s announced attendance was at 46,151. The Rose Bowl looked sad on television and our student section looked like a total joke. Embarrassing really. Any one who considers himself or herself a UCLA sports fan (especially the clowns who live on or around campus) ought to feel humiliated today. This also goes for the alums and so called fans in Southern California who can be found after moments like Gonzaga tournament game jumping around and claiming to bleed blue and gold. Way to show up and support the team on Senior Day on what was one of the biggest win for the program in recent years. Just pathetic. GO BRUINS.

Teams that beat USC have a disturbing track record of gagging the next game.

WTF…I thought these guys were supposed to be the second coming after laying the wood to us. These guys were so full of themselves that it was rumored that were all wearing “Trojan Killer” T-shirts under their pads.

I think we can put the national Harbaugh love fest on hold for now. Yes, Stanford beat us and they beat us good but Stanford is still just an above average football team and Harbaugh is no different than any other coach…he loses to teams that he shouldn’t.

Many have said it before me, but I wholeheartedly agree. Regardless of how a team ends up at the end of the season their title game is against USC. They line up to take their best shot and some even think that opposing coaches set up their game plans for USC weeks in advance slipping little things in here or there for the team to get comfortable with. Maybe that’s true, I don’t know. The three teams that beat us this season have all gone on to lose the following week.

Today’s the only day the Axe gets paraded around campus, available for photos and shit. The rally starts at noon on Sproul Plaza and continues around campus, interrupting a few classes for a few minutes on the way.

Stanford running backs coach Willie Taggart will be named the new head coach at Western Kentucky, the AP is reporting.

http://espn.go.com/blog/pac10/post/_/id/5608/stanford-assistant-taking-over-at-wku

Obviously, he couldn’t take being the second best running backs coach in the Bay Area. He then did the only logical thing, run for the top of a hill in Western Kentucky!

NY Times: NFL to seek independent advice on concussions

In a shift in the National Football League’s approach to handling concussions, the league will soon require teams to receive advice from independent neurologists while treating players with brain injuries, several people with knowledge of the plan confirmed Sunday.

Will college football follow this lead?

Another Fee increase protest at 12 which coincides with the Axe Rally. Should be interesting.