I believe (and most certainly hope) that the Bears are sincere about still competing for a Pac-10 title. But I don’t think Inman was suggesting so much that they’ll quit—a la 2007—but rather that the Bears just aren’t that good. Championship teams do lose games, and they sometimes lose them by sizable margins due to turnovers, big plays, etc.. But they don’t normally get blown out in a manner where 42 to 3 actually underestimates the size of the ass whooping.

The eternally hopeful Cal fan that I am, I’m trying to rationalize yesterday’s loss as something akin to the Tennessee game in 2006, with Oregon being a better team—at least yesterday—than Tennessee was then. Hence the even sounder beating than what went down in Knoxville. If that is indeed the case, with yesterday being a perfect storm of Cal playing its absolute worst and Oregon playing its absolute best, then yes, we’re still in this thing (unlike our pitiful Giants). And it would make a great story line for Cal to bounce back, win the rest of its games, and claim a Rose Bowl berth as a very redeeming and satisfying result. For me, at least, however, such a scenario is grounded more in hope than in realistic belief.

What do I more realistically hope to see the rest of this year? Wins over USC, UCLA, and Stanford, plus the other remaining home games on the schedule. Right now, a return trip to the Holiday Bowl doesn’t sound so bad. And if Cal can finally find consistent play at quarterback, be it Riley or someone else, so much the better to provide reason for optimism in 2010.

what is the deal with the cc times these days. In the past they were always friendly to Cal. It seems like Jay Wilner must be their sports editor or something.

Might make for a good fanpost topic California Pete. I know it’s an issue that’s been debated before, and I can definitely see the pros and cons to each side.

You might be on to something. Many times when they did pre-snap shifting, it made it easier for me to predict what they were going to do because I recognized the movement from previous games.

He’s only had one true BAD year as a DC and that was 2007. We were just weak defensively that year with a shoddy D-line, and other than Follet, DeCoud and Syd we didn’t really have that many big name players on D.

I just think every member of the Oregon team was half a step ahead of every member of the Cal team after they went up 18-3. Doesn’t matter if Gregory’s reads are perfect and Ludwig calls the best plays, if one team is playing a fraction of their heart, they’re gonna lose.

Bad.

You people and your details… Thanks, though. I fixed that little error.

It’s alarming because he’s just “keeping it real”. Of course the Bears should still believe in themselves. And, of course, as devoted fans we should still support this team with all our hearts. But from a rational journalist’s perspective, it’s quite reasonable to write that this is not a championship-caliber team but, at best, a Holiday Bowl team. I would love nothing more than for these Bears to prove Inman, and me, wrong. But I’ll believe it when I see it.

I would have preferred a bigger line to hopefully instill some sense of disrespect and underdog attitude. We clearly need something to get our heads straight and motivated!