We dedicated the game to Paul Joiner, a great LB who was paralyzed in a car crash during the offseason. He actually showed up to the Coliseum in his wheelchair. Then the Bears promptly went out and lost 61-0. I actually went to that game and stayed at a friend’s place that had no TV or alcohol. Horrible, horrible weekend.

As for this year, we just have to hope we bounce back like the Ducks did after Boise St. Granted, USC is MUCH tougher than Boise St., but we have to do it. If we lose, Bears are in hot water. Lose to UCLA, and I will have a lot more free time on my hands this fall. The only silver lining I can see is that this game is early in the season and Oregon looks like it will be a good-great team. If we were #6 in the nation in November and we had a loss like this, it would be the end of the season. So, we have a chance to climb back. Not saying it will be easy, but the opportunity is there.

Cal had started the season 2-0 in the Pac-10, UCLA was 3-0. It was the nationally televised game of the week on ABC, and the Goodyear Blimp was in Berkeley for the game. This was huge in an era when there was only one nationally televised game each week, and there were only three blimps in the entire country. Cal’s quarterbacks set what was was then, and for all I know still is, an NCAA record by throwing 11 (yes, that’s “eleven”) interceptions in a single game. The guy sitting behind me in the student section summed it up by saying, “well, there is one good thing about this game: Cal has re-established its reputation as an academic institution.” The Roger Theder era had begun.

Dishonorable mentions:
(1) San Jose State 27, Cal 24 (1981). Another Roger Theder special. Not only did Cal lose to San Jose State, at Memorial Stadium, but they did it in a humiliating fashion. Cal was behind the whole game, but came back to score a touchdown to tie with a few seconds left. Cal also got a 15-yard unsportsmanlike penalty for excessive celebration. On the ensuing kickoff, Cal’s special teams somehow forgot that the kickoff was coming from the 20 and, instead of kicking deep, the kicker squibbed the ball. SJS fell on it around the 30, sent in its kicker, and won the game with a field goal. Watching San Jose State students engaged in wild celebration at Memorial Stadium was horrible beyond description.

(2) The 2004 Holiday Bowl, of course.

(3) Yesterday’s game, which was made worse by having driven 700 miles and spent something like $400 for the privilege of watching it in person. As we were leaving stadium after the game, the Oregon fans couldn’t have been nicer to us. Condescending bastards.
 

at San Diego State. For reasons that are not clear to me in retrospect, there was some optimism in what was the 4th (and final) year of the Gilby era. We opened the season at SDSU, which wasn’t supposed to be a very good team that year. I decided to make the road trip down to SD. I witnessed an uninspired, inept, pathetic performance. SDSU dominated us. It was embarrassing. We lost 33-9, with our lone TD coming late in 4th Q in garbage time. I fumed the entire drive back home to SF.

Maybe in the grand scheme of things, losing a season opener during a horrible time in Cal football history doesn’t seem like it belongs on this list. But as far as personal experiences go, that still remains the worst I’ve ever felt as a Cal fan attending a game (in the “wow that was embarrassing” sort of way).

The following week, we lost our home opener to Fresno State, 25-24. I attended that one, too. It marked the 2nd year in a row we opened our season 0-2 with two losses to WAC opponents. (Yes, SDSU was in the WAC back then.) Great times, the Gilby era.

Not a single game … there are too many lopsided Cal losses to consider.

No, the worst ownage has to be the long (long long long long long) losing streak to Ucla from 1972 – 1989.

Horrible.

These may not be the worst or most embarrassing losses in Cal history, but in the interests of trying to purge the horror of 40 years of Cal fandom, here are some miserable games that haven’t been mentioned above:

1979 vs. Michigan – Cal has a chance to upset highly-ranked Michigan at home. Cal dominates the first half and leads 10-0 at halftime. Cal fumbles the opening kickoff of the second half and Michigan goes in for a touchdown. We lose 14-10.

1979 Garden State Bowl – Cal gets to its first bowl game in 20 years against Temple. Cal is heavily favored, and the Cal fans smirk at the idea of playing the lowly-regarded Owls. Temple scores on its first three possessions to go ahead 21-0 in the first quarter. Cal makes a try at a comeback, but is never really in the game. We lose 28-17.

1981 vs. Washington – Cal scores two touchdowns in the first minute of the game, to go up 14-0. Can this be the year we finally beat those dam Huskies? Nope. We lose 27-26.

1985 at Washington State – Cal is ahead 19-0 with 7 minutes to go in the fourth quarter. We lose 20-19.

1988 at Oregon State – We lose 17-16 in the last minute of a game that lasts 61 minutes. Joe Starkey is going insane on the radio screaming about the extra minute, but the Cal coaches never notice.

1990 vs. Stanfurd – Cal allows Stanfurd to score 9 points in the last 12 seconds to win 27-25. I actually think this was a more horrible loss than Saturday’s loss to Oregon. It was not as embarrassing nationally — we were not ranked and there was no national television. But it was Stanfurd (!) And we had the game won. We totally screwed it up. In our own stadium. And then we had to listen to the taunts of thousands of Stanfurd fans on the way out. Yeah, that was worse – for me, anyway.

1991 at Stanfurd – Cal’s best season in decades, while Stanfurd had a poor year. We go into Big Game 9-1, looking at the possibility of the Fiesta Bowl or Sugar Bowl, and a chance to redeem ourselves for the prior year’s debacle. But Cal plays like idiots, handing the game to Stanfurd on a raft of personal foul and unsportmanlike penalties. We lose 38-21, and once again have to walk to our cars to the taunts of the Stanfurders. We settle for the Citrus Bowl (which wasn’t too shabby, really).

I omit the Holmoe years. When your team just completely sucks, and you never have any hope, your heart doesn’t get broken. You just exist in a state of constant depression.