2009-Successful Season?
by calbears04 on Dec 6, 2009 10:09 AM PST
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What is your take on our 2009 season? Would you consider it a success as we had a winning season, rebounded from a 3-2 record to go 5-2 the rest of the way and avoid a tailspin like 2007? I think this team reflects the level of talent that it had, in that we have some great players on offense (Best, Vareen) that are surrounded by average players on offense (Riley and a decent WR core) and on Defense. I think a 8-9 win is pretty good considering the up and downs that this year's squad had.
I think the one thing that I take away from this season is not buy into the pre-season hype anymore. Outside of 2004, we have yet to see a Tedford coached team stay ranked in the top ten after starting out that high in the beginning. I just hope we can figure out what coaching changes need to be made in order to get this team to produce at a higher level.
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well, I always try to take a big picture look at things. Years from now what am I going to remember? I’m, more likely than not, going to remember the personal experiences from the season. In specific, games I attended. In games I attended I went 5-2 with exciting wins against Maryland (or so it certainly seemed at the time), Arizona, and, particularily, Stanford. There were 2 rough losses in there, but both were blowout losses, which I am much better equipped to deal with than the sort of 2007 Longshore losses. We still have a bowl game, of course, but right now, my personal experiences say success. I also had a remarkably fun time watching the ASU game with friends, which is another bonus.
Basically, Cal football has given me MUCH more happiness than sadness this year. That is partially due to how insanely insane the Big Game was. Tough to call this season a failure when we had so much fun down there on the Farm, yknow?
I realize that others might not look at it that way, but I don’t have any way to look at Cal football “objectively” without divorcing my personal experience from the situation.
President Emperor Warlord Of The Sun!
www.CaliforniaGoldenBlogs.com
I don’t know what to make of this season. I always try to remind myself that Cal football is a source of entertainment. It is a game played with the sole purpose of amusement, this usually insolates me from the anguish of defeat. Last year for example, even though we lost to USC, Oregon State, and Arizona, the games were thoroughly entertaining, in spite of the end result I enjoyed the experience. Disappointed yes, but also entertained and amused. This year, the losses were simply horrible. We weren’t close in any loss and appeared utterly unable to achieve the simplest of tasks. I was without the consolation of being entertained or amused. But, when determining the success of the year, you can’t focus solely on the negative, instead you need to evaluate the entire body of work. In regards to the entire body of work, Cal did achieve several small milestones.
1) We again won 2/3’s of our games.
2) We won on the road against respectable competition.
3) We broke the LA curse.
4) We had a 4th quarter comeback.
5) We beat a good Arizona team.
6) We beat a good Stanfurd team in dramatic fashion for the Axe.
7) We are bowling.
8) We are one year closer to completing the SAHPC.
And the season did have some great moments:
1) Vereen’s performance against Stanfurd
2) Best’s performance against Minnesota
3) Exacting glorious retribution upon Maryland
4) Best’s 93 yard run against UCLA
5) Back-to-back wins vrs top 20 opponents
When I focus on the positives, the season doesn’t seem that bad. Sure, prior to the season I thought we would do better, but considering I have no influence over the decision making within the program I can’t dwell on that. Instead, I’ll focus on the positives, and enjoy the season for what it was. Being able to enjoy the season, means it was a success.
If Cal had finished with 10 wins, I would consider this the most successful season since 2004.
While this is still a “successful” season, the losses really stung and several were downright mind-boggling. Still, when I’m itching to watch some football five months from now, I’ll rewatch the Maryland, Minnesota, ASU, Arizona, UCLA, and Stanford games and remember how thoroughly satisfying each of those wins was. In retrospect, this season had some fantastic wins and some terrible losses. Without those losses, the wins wouldn’t be as dramatic and without the wins, the losses wouldn’t have been as devastating. This season was a roller coaster, but at least it was a fun one.
Whose domicile? OUR DOMICILE!
If Cal had a win over UDub, as well as 3 relatively close losses to SC, Oregon, and OSU I think this would be a fantastic season.
A win over UDub, and the 3 blowouts to top 20 teams, and it’s a pretty good season.
Four blowouts and it’s part good season, part head-scratching WTF is rong here? It’s one thing to lose, it’s another not to show up – and this includes the players AND coaches. They were beaten in the booth (so to speak) and at the line of scrimmage. How to fix this:
1) better talent. We seem to again be in the hunt for the top dogs, but whether we can actually land them is another thing. Hinder won Gatorade Player of the Year which I think is a national award.
2) better coaching. I think this comes with $ for the coaches.
3) better facilities. Yeah, we’re working on that. I wonder how recruiting will be effected when recruits travel to the dumps like Candlestick and the Coliseum while our own dump gets fixed.
"We lose to Stanford in many sports, but if you want to make a Cal team quit, bring a weapon."
--Coach Clark
I think the Gatorade thing was just for Colorado
The Lack of Mack's Imposition Attacks My Disposition.
by Spazzy Mcgee on Dec 7, 2009 12:01 AM PST up reply actions
I hope we can build off this season and go to a new level next year as Vareen could be poised to have a break out season. I don’t think Best is coming back and I hope the WR core continues to develop.
Probably the biggest need we to address is our O-Line as the success of Riley seemed to be linked to his play.
I agree TwistNHook that perspective is needed as I remember the dark Holmoe years and thinking that we would never get the Axe back or make it to a bowl. I can’ tell you how excited I was to watch them play in the 2003 Insight.com bowl. I would have been ecstatic with an 8 win season 10 years ago.
Probably the biggest need we to address is our O-Line as the success of Riley seemed to be linked to his play.
That’s high up on the list. It’s no secret to anybody, even to somebody who knows nothing about our team, that by just glancing over our stats, they can see we lose games when we total less than 100 yards while rushing the ball.
Everything starts in the trenches in football and offense, we are really lacking here. The blocking is really bad and the TE blocking last night was subpar.
yes, but how long will the last paragraph last with fans burned by the Holmoe years? Tedford’s entire tenure?
I think it will be fair to expect Tedford to have consistent 9+ win teams a couple of years AFTER the facilities are built (given his salary and now facilities).
"We lose to Stanford in many sports, but if you want to make a Cal team quit, bring a weapon."
--Coach Clark
Don’t know. It’s by far the weirdest season since I became a Bear fan in 2004. We’ve looked phenomenal and we’ve looked terrible. I think it’s pretty clear that we didn’t have the talent of a Rose Bowl team, so I threw those expectations out the window after SC. But even in that context, it’s frustrating that we’ve looked so great solid at times (Stanford, SC), and so terrible at others (every single loss). I’m giving them a pass for OSU (can’t even imagine trying to get myself to care about a game after seeing a teammate fall like that), but the other three losses were just complete and systematic failures.
This season was a successful season a failure season a season
The #1 greatest threat to America: BEARS
I met norcal. Score one for the successful argument.
All aboard the Jahvid Best rickshaw!
by rollonubears on Dec 6, 2009 12:27 PM PST up reply actions
It's a weird season
I had some high expectations that I shouldn’t have had looking back. Our linebacking corps and our offensive line were major weak links that took the wind out of our sails.
Yet other teams had the same such weakness, especially Oregon’s O-line and Oregon St’s defense. They rebuilt it almost overnight. Why couldn’t we have done the same especially because we had a fewer number of losses (though one could argue that Mack, Tfauouou, Rulon Davis, Follet and co were bigger losses).
As for the wins we have a 8 win regular season and potential 9 win season. That’s not too bad. We beat UCLA on the road, ASU on the road, Minessota on the road, and a red-hot Stanfurd team on the road only to rush their field afterwards. So I guess it’s successful if you look at it like that.
However I only attended one of those big road wins: Minn. I attended three blowouts: Oregon, USC and UW. I spent way too much money to watch my Bears and if you look at the ROI it’s easy to see why I am disappointed.
Also I’m still frozen.
In other words, Go Bears!
How far away from completion of the Student Athletic Center from being completed? I think that would really help us in terms of getting a good boost in recruiting.
I agree that the losses are really befuddling. It wasn’t like we had any close losses. We seemed to be purely outcoached, which I am not sure how we are going to fix that….I don’t see us making sweeping changes in our coaching staff, especially with our athletic dept budget.
Do we let Gregory though? Maybe we need to need to move away from the Bend but don’t break philospohy and get the Hit Squad mentality back.
Wash loss left a really bad taste.
I think it actually depends on the bowl game, believe it or not.
We win that, I think it’s a pretty solid season with plenty of positives that happened over the year to keep me happy.
We lose that game, it’s just a big ass ???? until next season. Not gonna be happy.
Like everyone else, I’m frustrated in the manner of our losses to SC, Oregon, UW and OSU.
But we have 8 wins – including an epic win over Stanfurd and a bowl game to come . . . well, that will always been at least a “good” season for me.
Oddly enough, had we had the same record, but lost each game by under 10 or 14 points (instead of being blown out) I would feel a lot better about this season.
8 wins + the Axe + a Bowl game = successful, but not completely satisfied.
I had too high of hopes
At the start of the season I thought I would be smelling roses. now im smelling poinsettias. maybe tedford needs to stept it up or hes gone?
maybe tedford needs to stept it up or hes gone?
No.
"Let me tell you a story. I was a political prisoner for two years. The instant I was released I ran to McDonald's. I had a Big Mac and a Coke.
It was fantastic."
-Toyama Koichi, US Presidential candidate from Japan
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uGZqOkeYbB0
He gets, at the very least, a couple seasons after the SAHPC is finished. Anything less would be unfair. There’s no way we even get that building off the ground (HA!) without Tedford’s coaching efforts.
So, basically, you gotta Go Bears!
Beyond that I just don’t buy that Tedford’s going to get fired for winning 9 games a season unless something entirely different starts going wrong.
"Let me tell you a story. I was a political prisoner for two years. The instant I was released I ran to McDonald's. I had a Big Mac and a Coke.
It was fantastic."
-Toyama Koichi, US Presidential candidate from Japan
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uGZqOkeYbB0
I dunno, even if we don’t make a Rose Bowl for ten years, if we’re still pulling off eight to ten win seasons and getting a Holiday Bowl bid every couple years, I see absolutely no grounds to fire Tedford.
7
I agree. 8-10 wins a year and no Rose Bowl? Well, it’s not ideal, and it’s not what I want, but it’s cough acceptable.
I really hope we don’t end up like Auburn or Kansas, who fire good coaches due to delusions of grandeur.
7
Esp. Kansas. They had 3 bowl games in like 100 years and then 3 in Mangino’s tenure!
President Emperor Warlord Of The Sun!
www.CaliforniaGoldenBlogs.com
I remember reading a Kansas fan’s comments that read almost like this:
“Mangino had a nice run and he took this team to the Orange Bowl in 2007, but I feel that the teams have gone downhill since then. We didn’t even make a bowl game this year. I feel his time is up”
I don’t understand who these guys think they are.
7
He was a .500 coach who lost 7 straight to end the season, ostensibly had lost the support of the team, and allegedly was only tolerated by the AD as long as he was winning to begin with. I don’t get what’s so mystifying about the Mangino-shitcanning to you. Makes sense to me.
"Let me tell you a story. I was a political prisoner for two years. The instant I was released I ran to McDonald's. I had a Big Mac and a Coke.
It was fantastic."
-Toyama Koichi, US Presidential candidate from Japan
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uGZqOkeYbB0
The advantage of decades of Cal football brutally lowering expectations is that the boosters aren’t accustomed to throwing their weight around. Old money like Auburn or Notre Dame have boosters who expect instant gratification in either the form of wins or heads rolling. (All of this has nothing to do with Kansas, which is a different situation entirely.)
"Let me tell you a story. I was a political prisoner for two years. The instant I was released I ran to McDonald's. I had a Big Mac and a Coke.
It was fantastic."
-Toyama Koichi, US Presidential candidate from Japan
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uGZqOkeYbB0
It is what it is.
If it becomes a pattern that Cal gets blown out multiple times a year, then it’s that. If not, then we’re where we ought to be. Unfortunately Cal has to play by the same rules as the majority of BCS teams: domination is not in the cards and if you finish the season with more wins than you have losses you’ve done something right.
It’s often pointed out that Cal fans need to move past comparing the Tedford era to the Holmoe years, but so too must it stop comparing itself to the dynasty at USC.
A dispassionate observer would say that a team is successful when they’ve won significantly more games than they’ve lost. We’ve won more games than we’ve lost this year. QED motherfuckers.
"Let me tell you a story. I was a political prisoner for two years. The instant I was released I ran to McDonald's. I had a Big Mac and a Coke.
It was fantastic."
-Toyama Koichi, US Presidential candidate from Japan
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uGZqOkeYbB0
I don’t think we have to worry about Tedford ever being fired as he is one of UC’s highest paid employees….
Suggestion for author, or mod:
add a quick yes/no poll?
The Lack of Mack's Imposition Attacks My Disposition.
Hells yes it was successful!
broke the LA curse
8-9 wins
furd win
az win
ASU win
Maryland blowout
Minny win
I will easily remember all the good games over the crappy ones.
The Lack of Mack's Imposition Attacks My Disposition.
by Spazzy Mcgee on Dec 7, 2009 12:04 AM PST reply actions 2 recs
I am going to remember this season as a massive failure
With only 1 true moment of glory (telling the Furd to suck it), I am really disappointed and somehwat cynical about the immediate future of the program. The primary reasons for this are:
1) Returning talent was very high
2) USC was way down
3) 4 losses
and most importantly…
4) how those 4 games were lost
If we had been competitive in those 4 games and still lost them, I wouldn’t be quite as bitter as I am. Sure, disappointment would rule the day but at least I would have seen signs of life. Instead, I saw 4 brutal prison rapes with a puzzling mixture of minimal/zero offense, below average to absolute shit defense and above all, ZERO heart shown by the coaches and players.
That’s the killer I think, the fact that the team laid down and died on 4 weekends for no discernable reason. Don’t make excuses (the D played pretty well against SC, Jahvid getting hurt against OSU), good well coached teams don’t lose 42-10 to an inferior Washington team. Good, well coached teams don’t trail OSU 14-0 at home before Jahvid scores and knocks himself out ending his season. Good, well coached teams don’t lose 42-3 and 30-3 on back to back weekends.
I am concerned that Cal under Tedford has peaked. I have seen some signs that Tedford can continue to mature as a coach because of his recognition of how recruiting has changed. I have hopes that the SAPHC and Memorial retrofit will be attractive to a higher level of recruit. What I have yet to see however, is that the coaching, preparation and motivation of the players by Cal’s coaching staff will ever be anything more than uneven and sporadic.
Don’t get me wrong, I’m not calling for Tedford’s head or anything. He’s turned the program around, won 2/3rds of his games and made Cal football at least somewhat relevant again. Still, how long will 8-4 be good enough? Is Cal being a mid level Pac-10 team good enough?
Just my post Seattle thoughts.
Goin' balls deep with Cal since 1972!
by Fire Starkey on Dec 7, 2009 7:10 AM PST reply actions 1 recs
You might have liked the games a lot more if you didnt have to hear them through Joe STarkey!
President Emperor Warlord Of The Sun!
www.CaliforniaGoldenBlogs.com
What about when Joe Starkey said a) he votes for the heisman and b) he voted for Toby on the Cal broadcast during the UDub blowout?
"We lose to Stanford in many sports, but if you want to make a Cal team quit, bring a weapon."
--Coach Clark
You know, I don’t have a problem with Gerhart winning. I think McCoy is undeserving this year (as opposed to last year which was criminal), Ingram is ok, Tebow a stiff, Spiller has no shot.
If anything, Suh should win it. What a fuck beast. Remember how close Cal was to signing him a few years back? Oh, what might have been.
Goin' balls deep with Cal since 1972!
Still, how long will 8-4 be good enough?
If Tedford continues to:
a) manage everything else about the team beyond wins and losses as well as he has and
b) consistently beat Stanfurd
then what he’s been doing the last few seasons will be good for a long while
The #1 greatest threat to America: BEARS
I disagree with #1 and #3.
Regarding #1. I think a lot of us drank a bit too much of the koolaid and thought that we really were a talent-loaded top15 team due to the national preseason hype. But our OL was always suspect, our QB was suspect, our WRs were suspect. On offense, we only have three really great players: Best, Vereen, and Schwartz (perhaps Jones too). As for defense, our LBs were suspect, and our secondary did regress as a whole. We only have two truly great players on defense: Syd and Alualu. I don’t think our overall returning talent level was very high. We had a few extremely talented players here and there, but the team as a whole (the team average talent), wasn’t that high.
As for #3, I don’t agree with 4 losses being an argument for this being a bad season. Again, I think most of us who didn’t drink too much of the koolaid knew that we could be a 7 or 8 win team solely based on the ineptitude of our 2008 offense (esp. passing offense), coupled with a regression in our defense. Well, that’s at least what I was thinking.
But as for #4, yeah, the way in which we lost those four games is concerning.
www.californiagoldenblogs.com
We had at best 4 NFL players in the whole team: Alualu, Syd, Best and maybe Anger.
That is terrible.
In other words, Go Bears!
Cal has never graduated players to the NFL en masse, why is it terrible now?
"Let me tell you a story. I was a political prisoner for two years. The instant I was released I ran to McDonald's. I had a Big Mac and a Coke.
It was fantastic."
-Toyama Koichi, US Presidential candidate from Japan
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uGZqOkeYbB0
Really? At best?
You don’t think the Prophet or Kendricks (if he ever fulfills his potential) or MSG, Schwartz or Anthony Miller could make the NFL?
I think Jordan has the physical talent to, and Guanaro as well.
I think they probably will eventually but if you had the entire team declare for the draft right NOW they won’t be in the draft. I think MikeMo will eventually be a late draft pick along with Schwartz and MSG and Miller middle to late. But right now, no they won’t be drafted.
In other words, Go Bears!
I think they probably will eventually but if you had the entire team declare for the draft right NOW they won’t be in the draft.
Jesus, no shit.
"Let me tell you a story. I was a political prisoner for two years. The instant I was released I ran to McDonald's. I had a Big Mac and a Coke.
It was fantastic."
-Toyama Koichi, US Presidential candidate from Japan
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uGZqOkeYbB0
You have a strange definition of terrible.
I’m pretty sure 85% of college teams would kill for four NFL prospects playing on their team.
Email: bearsnecessities@gmail.com
by Avinash Kunnath on Dec 10, 2009 9:25 AM PST up reply actions
I think we have to be realistic about our talent level too. I think we keep overhyping our players and we start to think that we are a top 10 team. I think certain areas of our coaching needs to get better (maybe secondary coaching after watching UW game, O-line seemed outmatched all season), as we came out unprepared.
I just wonder if we have peaked with our recruiting and combined with mediocre coaching, we have hit a little bit of a rut. I think we can only scrutinize Tedford until the facilities are complete, as that should give us the major boost in recruiting.
Still 7 straight years of bowl games and our best run since the 1950s does help to keep things in perspective.
I think the record is about what this team should have gotten.
But we won against the teams I wanted to beat most (save $C). I look back at it as mostly successful. I’ll be happy with the season if we win our bowl game.
Here’s a post from a Cal fan on Bleacher Report arguing for Tedford’s head. I don’t agree with that sentiment, but he brings up good points about special teams and inconsistent QB play.
http://bleacherreport.com/articles/304550-42-10-eff-you-jeff-tedford
“Eff You Jeff Tedford”
High quality editorializing from a source you can trust. Bleacher Report: Better Than BusterSports.
"Let me tell you a story. I was a political prisoner for two years. The instant I was released I ran to McDonald's. I had a Big Mac and a Coke.
It was fantastic."
-Toyama Koichi, US Presidential candidate from Japan
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uGZqOkeYbB0
Man, them 8 win seasons, they really grind my gears.
Email: bearsnecessities@gmail.com
by Avinash Kunnath on Dec 10, 2009 9:27 AM PST up reply actions
8 win seasons are great....
but our 4 losses are TERRIBLE….
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Golden Bears Football Schedule
| Fresno St. | Sat 09/03 | W 36 - 21 |
@
Colorado
|
Sat 09/10 | W 36 - 33 |
| Presbyterian | Sat 09/17 | W 63 - 12 |
|
@
Washington
|
Sat 09/24 | L 23 - 31 |
|
@
Oregon
|
Thu 10/06 | L 15 - 43 |
|
USC
|
Thu 10/13 | L 9 - 30 |
|
Utah
|
Sat 10/22 | W 34 - 10 |
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@
UCLA
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Sat 10/29 | L 14 - 31 |
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Washington St.
|
Sat 11/05 | W 30 - 7 |
|
Oregon St.
|
Sat 11/12 | W 23 - 6 |
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@
Stanford
|
Sat 11/19 | L 28 - 31 |
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@
Arizona St.
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Fri 11/25 | W 47 - 38 |
|
@
Texas
|
Wed 12/28 | L 10 - 21 |
Pacific-12 Conference Standings
(updated 1.2.2012 at 11:12 PM PST)
| North | Conf | Overall | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| W | L | W | L | |
|
Oregon Ducks
|
8 | 1 | 12 | 2 |
|
Stanford Cardinal
|
8 | 1 | 11 | 2 |
|
Washington Huskies
|
5 | 4 | 7 | 6 |
|
California Golden Bears
|
4 | 5 | 7 | 6 |
|
Oregon St. Beavers
|
3 | 6 | 3 | 9 |
|
Washington St. Cougars
|
2 | 7 | 4 | 8 |
| South | Conf | Overall | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| W | L | W | L | |
|
USC Trojans
|
7 | 2 | 10 | 2 |
|
UCLA Bruins
|
5 | 4 | 6 | 8 |
|
Utah Utes
|
4 | 5 | 8 | 5 |
|
Arizona St. Sun Devils
|
4 | 5 | 6 | 7 |
|
Arizona Wildcats
|
2 | 7 | 4 | 8 |
|
Colorado Buffaloes
|
2 | 7 | 3 | 10 |
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