This is more or less a repost of what I wrote last night after the game. We have the second winningest and we’re thankful. JT has the potential to run the team well because he’s done it before. And this year was a winning season. All that said, the team is at eight years w/Tedford’s system fully in place. Leaving aside whether he’s a nice guy or not, I’m interested to see what Tedford puts in place during the off-season – will Tedford get support where it’s apparently lacking, whether that is in recruiting, assistant coaches, or other factors?

Cal’s O-Line had difficulties this year, but they improved. Next season, time permitting, I intend to stat them a few games, to verify. Riley struggled this year. We’d like to see the slump stop.

I can’t see the locker room or Gregory inside it, but I can see Cal’s LB’s had difficulty this year. Over and over in the early games, and sometimes in the later games, the LB’s were out of position to make tackles on short passes because they did not react properly to the option and late release passes. These are high school techniques that are fostered and honed in college with proper coaching support.

I don’t believe Cal LB’s are inadequate athletically because they appear able to play the run well when they don’t arm-tackle (also coaching). But they appear unable to play the pass consistently. They need training to react immediately when they see the QB has kept the ball. Freezing in the headlights or treating every play like a run is why slants are getting behind them. This is a practice issue. That means a coaching issue. It might be Gregory, or it might be something we don’t know about.

Back to D. Cal DB’s had consistency difficulties this year, and I could see why on more than one occasion. On overload pass situations, cloud coverage did not react well, or support each other consistently. SQT is gifted athletically and Nnabufe impressed me with his fundamentals and reactions. DB’s appear inconsistently prepared for games and sometimes even confused. We want the Bears to win, and not just last season, or next year.

To me, the Bears are not playing to their potential. I can’t speak for others, but I doubt I’m alone in feeling direction appeared less evident from Bears leadership this year. Watching that screw-up at the end of the Poinsettia Bowl about going for two would not have happened in previous years I don’t think. Team focus apparently needs a renewal. Tedford should be sure that he and the team get the support in the off-season they need to improve in 2010, assuming the right pieces are available anywhere.

I was tempted to give this season a D, but the wins over Minnesota, UCLA, ASU, Arizona, and Stanford bring back too many positive memories to warrant a D, so I give this season a C. Had we won the final two games, it would have been a solid A.

It all depends on how you measure. Is this a grade of how the bears performed to their potential or how well they preformed in general? If it is the former, I don’t think that there is any question that they cannot be given a passing grade. This team had a great amount of talent (perhaps not quite as good as the preseason hype but still very good) and got blown out on four occasions, including once to a team that was should have been clearly inferior. All of the things on the “pro” list are things that were expected at the beginning of the year and probably would have been taken for granted had we had the season we hoped for.

Looking at it from the perspective of all of college football though, you have to give this season around a B-. While we did have some terrible losses, we also had some great wins, as noted above. Even though we didn’t meet our potential, I’d still rather be us than San Diego State, San Jose State, Washington State, and dozens of other teams who would die to switch with us.

It’s kind of like the high achiever who gets a B in a class: compared to other students it may not be that bad, but it is failing for him.

So I split the difference and give a C.

Showing heart at Minnesota. Started strong, let them back in it, but we hunkered down and played all 4 quarters, closing the door when it mattered.

Too soon.

Mostly because my expectations were so %$^&^ high given our pre-season ranking (which I swore I’d never put any credence in, and then I along came the basketball pre-season polls !!!!). I was at Memorial Stadium just after Fall Practice started and met The Jet (autograph, etc.). I told him, “On behalf of all us fans, I apologize for the pressure we’re putting on the team; we’re just really excited about the season.” He said the team was, too. But the two eggs we laid vs. Oregon and USC were SO bad, they don’t just count as losses to me. Really, the only thing that salvaged the season for me was beating the ‘Furd. Without that, I’d be pretty pissed off right now. As it is, I’m thankful football season is over and I’m looking to the future.

C grade…I think the 12th national ranking was way off to start with. Every expectation, or prediction, was based upon the stuff that just didn’t take place this year, like the linebackers stepping into the shoes of the three bears ( especially in pass D) Riley and the passing game improving ( this will obvioulsdy happen because they have one year under their belt – NOT) and the secondary continuing to be the shit. Oh yeah, then there’s Jahvid…
Most of that didin’t happen. Once teams figured out that our secondary ( Hagan, WTF???) couldn’t defend the pass – Nbuafie (sic) #15 ended up as a starter – opposing teams could gamble on three things:
a.) Riley would have an off day, because, he ahs off days, and
b.) the Receivers either can’t catch or can’t get open
c.) O-line may not block al that well that day

Hell, stack the box and blitz like crazy,you’ll catch Jahvid or the QB doing that. I’m happy we won 8 games, in particular stunfurd. I think this year the Bears knew there were issues, and knew they might not live up to expectations, so when it started to go bad in the games that it did, it turned into a major diarreah bath.

The only good thing about next year is we won’t have the same expectations…i would be surprised if we are rankled higher than 30.

if alamar has a job next year, i will simply be beyond words. i found myself hoping we wouldn’t score b/c i didn’t want us to give away all the momentum via kickoff td. there were a lot of games where we would’ve done much better to just kick it out of bounds every time. don’t think that reflects well on him.