This Week In The Pac-12: Washington A Challenger?
by norcalnick on Oct 3, 2011 3:01 AM PDT
in California Golden Bears Football
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It wasn't the most thrilling weekend in the Pac-12, with only one matchup involving two teams expected to finish in the top half of the standings. But there were still interesting games that helped bring some teams in the conference into a clearer focus. We'll start off with the biggest, and perhaps most surprising game of the week.
Washington 31, Utah 14
I don't think any Cal fans should be surprised that Washington won, but so easily, and in Salt Lake City? Utah certainly looked solid in a close loss to USC and a turnover fueled win over BYU, and they trailed by just 3 points at halftime despite two interceptions, one lost fumble (that handed UW 7 free points) and one turnover on downs. Then the second half started, and it was all Washington. The Huskies ran off 21 unanswered points with three drives of 50 yards or more.
UWDawgPound celebrates an important win:
Getting to four wins this early - by taking two of the "toss up" games on our schedule - bodes well for us not just in terms of getting bowl eligible but in positioning ourselves to get to that upper tier of eight maybe nine wins that most of us thought was the ceiling.
What chance do you give UW of knocking off Oregon and/or Stanford?
Block U takes a harsh stance on Utah's Pac-12 readiness:
Utah might be a fine non-BCS program, but in the Pac-12, they're far closer to the bottom than they are the top and it's not really even up for debate. Turnovers and Jordan Wynn's injuries aside, the Utes got worked on their home field against a far superior team and coaching staff and it really proves how far the program is from ever contending for a Pac-12 title.
Do you agree that Utah is closer to the bottom of the Pac-12 than the top?
Washington St. 31, Colorado 27
The loser of this game was going to be the tough luck fan base of the week, but the fashion in which Colorado lost to the Cougars just adds to the cruelty. A 10 point lead with less than 3 minutes to go sounds safe, but Marshall Lobbestael led two touchdown drives before a Paul Richardson fumble ended the game.
Cougcenter is relearning how to celebrate wins:
The pants are off. I may put them on when I go to the bar later. Not sure.
I screamed like a little school girl when Marquess caught that touchdown. I screamed even louder when Paul Richardson fumbled the ball.
I've probably asked this before, but might there be just a hint of a QB controversy as Jeff Tuel gets closer to returning to action?
Ralphie Report is too depressed to break things down:
Bob is out tonight and I'm still too bummed to write a full recap, so consider this your late night venting thread. Stay tuned for more tomorrow. This one stings.
Last week I asked if there was a road win on Colorado's remaining schedule. Now I have to ask: Is there a win period on Colorado's remaining schedule?
Stanford 45, UCLA 19
This was a weird game. Stanford looked unstoppable on offense, then briefly stumbled and seemingly gave UCLA a chance (that the Bruins promptly refused), then reasserted their dominance in the 4th quarter. UCLA looked like they could generally move the ball, but had the functional equivalent of 4 turnovers. If this was indeed UCLA's best effort (and I think it might have been) then the Bruins are in exactly as much trouble as we all expected.
Rule of Tree celebrates a comprehensive victory:
While Stanford's defense looked shaky at times (especially the secondary), Stanford managed to keep UCLA off the scoreboard for the first quarter while keeping the Bruins to only three touchdowns on the night. Although the D-line didn't have the same kind of success against UCLA as they did in its previous three games in the running department, Stanford still kept our friends from down south to their lowest yardage per carry this season and their lowest rushing total so far.
Bruins Nation finally brings out the big guns (emphasis mine):
When it mattered Bruins didn't get it done. We either killed ourselves with stupid mistakes, turnovers, and as usual pathetic conservative "playing not to lose" Donahue/Dorrellian and now Neuheisilian mindset. From what I saw it looked like Neuheisel never believed Bruins any chances to win this game.
Did UCLA's occasional imitation of a functional offense against Stanford plant seeds of worry in your mind?
USC 48, Arizona 41
Another weird game. USC was in control throughout, and responded with a touchdown every time Arizona got within a single score. But Nick Foles just kept passing and the Trojans never put the game away despite multiple opportunities. Hell, Arizona even managed to get 129 yards on the ground, a good 50 more than their average on the season! Per the usual, nobody could stop Robert Woods and Arizona didn't have the pass rush necessary to bother Matt Barkley.
Conquest Chronicles isn't especially pleased with a defense that allowed 41 points:
The simple fact is Monte Kiffin's defense is ineffective for the college game. It is easy to pile on here but the proof is in the film. Monte's Tampa 2 is effective when you have the likes of John Lynch, Warren Sapp, Simeon Rice etc...but when you have talent less than that, we are seeing the results.
I hate to say it, but it is only going to get worse.
Cal has not scored more than 17 points against USC since 2003. 2003!!! Will they break that lofty barrier this year?
AZ Desert Swarm is experiencing a painful case of deja vu:
Saturday's loss was the Wildcats' fourth straight in 2011, and ninth consecutive against the FBS dating back to last November. It's a storyline repeated ad nauseum, and will contine to be until the dubious streak is snapped. And this season's four losses have come to the same squads that ended UA's 2010 on a sour note, like rewinding and reliving the end of a depressing movie.
Arizona St. 31, Oregon St. 20
True, Oregon St. is likely Very Bad. Still, this game might be an important step for Arizona St., because the Sun Devils made the kind of mistakes that in the past would have resulted in a season-crushing loss. But this time they spotted OSU 20 points off of four turnovers and still won by a comfortable margin. Admittedly, it should be noted that the Beavers were even more generous, gifting ASU 5 turnovers of their own. So on second thought, maybe this win doesn't mean all that much. In any case, the more important test for Arizona St. is yet to come.
House of Sparky is glad the slow start didn't sink the Devils:
The ASU Sun Devils started Saturday's contest against the Oregon State Beavers by surrendering the game's first 13 points, leaving many Sun Devil fans somewhat dazed and confused. Thankfully, the team regrouped after the first quarter and proceeded to give up only seven points the rest of the way en route to a 35-20 victory.
USC is ineligible, Arizona has no defense, Utah's QB might be broken, and UCLA and Colorado are both sunk already. Should ASU book their Pac-12 championship tickets now?
Building the Dam shares some grisly stats:
Oregon St. has now lost 6 games in a row, 8 of their last 9, 9 of their last 11, and 13 of their last 18. It's the Beavers' first 0-4 start in 15 years, and their first 6 game losing streak since 1997. Oregon St. hasn't lost 8 of 9 since 1996, during the Jerry Pettibone debacle.
What would scare you more as an irrational, doom fearing Cal fan? If OSU came into the Cal game without a win, or with wins over Arizona and Washington State?
Next Week
Thursday
Cal at Oregon, 6:00 pm, ESPN
Saturday
Arizona at Oregon St., 12:30 pm
Arizona St. at Utah, 12:30 pm
Colorado at Stanford, 4:30 pm, Versus
Washington St. at UCLA, 7:30 pm
Cal visits Autzen Stadium. Gee, I can't imagine how that could possibly turn out badly! Utah's implosion at home knocks some of the luster off of what is still probably the biggest game in the Big 12 North Pac-12 South this year. Colorado gets to recover from a tough loss by visiting Andrew Luck and company. And four of the five worst teams in the conference are all playing each other.
Burning questions: Can Utah pull of the Lazarus act at home to bring some much needed intrigue back to the Pac-12 South? Will Washington State end the day with their 2nd road win in Pac-12 play? Will you want to watch any of it after whatever happens on Thursday night?
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Quick and worthless I've-got-a-feeling predictions
Utah will beat ASU and throw the Pac-10 Sucks South division into complete disarray. And of the four games pitting Washington and Cal against Oregon and Stanf’rd, the former pair will win at least one. I am enough of an Old Blue, though, to believe that if the Bears do pull off the upset against either the Ducks or the Condaleezas, then they’ll be obliged to drop one to either the Cougs or Beavs.
Go Bears!
Hi Utah
Welcome to the PAC 10 12.
I have a feeling all the BCS conference teams are rooting for just these results as Utah joins the PAC 12. A lot of us have been saying for years, yeah, schools like Utah, Boise State etc could absolutely get up to play any team in the country on any Saturday… but when you have to play a conference schedule week after week, it gets a lot harder.
So This
I would add that in playing a tough opponent every week, Utah’s depth and quality of players is being tested. Playing 2-4 tough games against BCS level competition each year has allowed them to have relatively fresh bodies throughout the season. They don’t have that luxury anymore.
exactly
it’s quite a grind in the big boys conferences. Top talent in league play, and sometimes non-league play, week in/out. Your lines, TB, QB, WR, and other fragile players get dinged and slowed.
"We lose to Stanford in many sports, but if you want to make a Cal team quit, bring a weapon."
--Coach Clark
I agree with the whole grind thing except Utah hasn’t even started to hit the grind yet. This was only their 2nd conference game …. they’ve still got another 7 to go!
Instead of the UW smackdown illustrating what a BCS conference schedule can do, I think it speaks more to the fact that, despite constant derision and dismissal by everyone (non-AQ teams included), even the so-called “bad” Pac teams are actually kinda good. Just ask Colorado.
Being an Old Blue means never accepting success.
I agree with the whole grind thing except Utah hasn’t even started to hit the grind yet. This was only their 2nd conference game …. they’ve still got another 7 to go!
And they played like that vs UW after a bye week. 8 more games in a row with one being @ Pittsburgh this week. Makes me wonder what they will look like at the end of month let alone the end of the season.
I understand this sentiment
But playing USC, BYU, and Washington back-to-back-to-back is more grinding than what Utah is used to in the MWC.
I support the NBA player's union.
pathetic conservative “playing not to lose” Donahue/Dorrellian and now Neuheisilian mindset
That moronic 4th and 3(?) attempt in the red zone during the 1st quarter seemed pretty anti-conservative to me. That was just a dumb decision/playcall.
"Some people watch adult videos on their computer - I go to YouTube and watch Jahvid Best highlight clips. That’s what gets me going."- Jim Schwartz, Detroit Lions head coach
When will the Oregon game hype begin on CGB?
It’s Monday! I’m getting pumped! I’m ready for some insightful analysis and rabid Golden Bear excitement. Let’s do this thing, damn it. Come on you great CGBers! Let’s start getting up for this game, even if we know the road is hard. We’re expected to lose 55-13, so what the hell, this team has so far demonstrated a big bag of cajones, and that will at least make it interesting.
What did Allen say yesterday, that this game is an opportunity to show greatness or something like that. We have the best receiver tandem in the Pac12, and a quarterback who’s a honey badger. There’s hope!
by Calbear91 on Oct 3, 2011 8:55 AM PDT reply actions 2 recs
I'm with you!
The Bears have no expectations…which of course means we have Oregon right where we want ’em!!! The Bears by 10, 125-115. No overtime. I guarantee it!
Lawrence Ross
for some reason I don’t think we’re going to get blown out. We may lose, but it won’t be more than 2 TD’s. We can play w/ Oregon’s OL.
"We lose to Stanford in many sports, but if you want to make a Cal team quit, bring a weapon."
--Coach Clark
and they very well could win if a) we don’t stop passing and scoring and b) are fairly effective running the ball and c) ZMay can use his creativity with his feet.
Despite our efforts, the pass defense will not lose the game for Cal.
"We lose to Stanford in many sports, but if you want to make a Cal team quit, bring a weapon."
--Coach Clark
I'm frightened for our outside linebackers
I want to use the new guys because of better athleticism, but am incredibly skeptical of their possessing the discipline needed to stop Oregon’s misdirection/read and react offense.
Also, we don’t have a first team all-conference safety this year.
I support the NBA player's union.
Discipline from the OLBs is also my biggest concern
"Some people watch adult videos on their computer - I go to YouTube and watch Jahvid Best highlight clips. That’s what gets me going."- Jim Schwartz, Detroit Lions head coach
At least we’ll go with our best players out there. I’m over the “let’s play Campo and Davis just cuz they’re more experienced” experiments. Those dudes haven’t made a play all year.
Another athlete with no experience (McClure) is also playing this week, although I do like Anthony’s tackling skills. The problem is he can’t cover worth a damn.
"We lose to Stanford in many sports, but if you want to make a Cal team quit, bring a weapon."
--Coach Clark
I was okay playing Campo and Davis some the first few games as the youngin’s learned the ropes. But it is time to remove the training wheels and take our lumps. Based on the amount of playing time McCain and Whiteside received during the Washington game, I feel the staff shares this view.
I support the NBA player's union.
I don’t think our glaring pass defense issues will be that big of a deal this week.
Then again, I said the same thing in ’09 before Masoli completed 150% of his passes against us.
"Some people watch adult videos on their computer - I go to YouTube and watch Jahvid Best highlight clips. That’s what gets me going."- Jim Schwartz, Detroit Lions head coach
that was a totally different defense. Gregory was playing hella soft zone defense (I think The Ones with Epic Knowledge called it a Tampa 2 variant?) with Syd often covering the # 2 TE, 2 safeties and a MLB 10 yards from the LOS, an OLB on a slot WR, and the non-Syd CB at least 8 yards from the WR. They ran whatever they wanted to.
this is what Wilner had to say:
The matchup: The key to slowing Oregon is to make quarterback Darron Thomas a passer, and the Bears did just last season: He had 29 attempts while tailback LaMichael James averaged just 3.1 yards per carry.
* The Ducks will anticipate Cal deploying similar tactics this time around and have countermoves ready.
How will the Bears counter those countermoves? The Chip Kelly-Clancy Pendergast chess match should be fun to watch.)
* Clearly, Cal’s defense isn’t playing at the level it did last season.
What will Oregon counter with when we stopped their bread and butter?
I don’t think they’ll counter at all. I think they’ll come right back with their bread and butter and make us stop them again (which no one in America is sure that we can do right now). If we do, we’ll have Thomas throwing 29 times again and Cal can win. If we don’t, it’ll be 42-3. However, the “Oregon countered with a completely new look that threw Cal completely off” is not going to happen.
Maybe they have a trick play or 3, or go for it on a few more 4th downs, but what they win with will be what they bring on Thursday.
Do you believe?
"We lose to Stanford in many sports, but if you want to make a Cal team quit, bring a weapon."
--Coach Clark
I do
Contingent on a few factors, I think we can win if we outscore them (well no duh), but what I mean is our offense needs to stay on the field and get TD’s, and keep the Duck’s offense off the field, so our D can be fresh.
I don’t think we can win this 16-13 or something; I don’t think our D is anywhere near as good as it was last year, if we win, it will be 42-36 or something along those lines.
Execution on offense is the most important key, nice long sustained drives.
Am I known as Cugel the Clever for nothing?
It still won’t be 42-3 because our offense will be able to score. We’ll still get the ball back whenever Oregon kicks off to us, remember? Their defense isn’t that good this year, I don’t think.
California Golden Bears: 2nd place is nothing to sneeze at!
by atomsareenough on Oct 3, 2011 8:56 PM PDT up reply actions
does Oregon run long enough passing plays for one to get sufficient “pass rush” or is it all quick stuff? I think pressure comes with “great coverage” which we don’t currently have.
"We lose to Stanford in many sports, but if you want to make a Cal team quit, bring a weapon."
--Coach Clark
We usually only run deep routes off play action zone-read plays.
Life is about growth. People are not perfect when they're 21 years old. - Bill Walton
by NEP on Oct 3, 2011 2:58 PM PDT via iPhone app up reply actions
SBN community predictions went 3-2 last week (8-3 overall)
This week’s winners:
Cal (4.72%) at Oregon (95.28%)
Arizona (49.66%) at Oregon State (50.34%)
Arizona State (33.63%) at Utah (66.37%)
Colorado (2.75%) at Stanford (97.25%)
Washington State (30.97%) at UCLA (69.03%)
"Some people watch adult videos on their computer - I go to YouTube and watch Jahvid Best highlight clips. That’s what gets me going."- Jim Schwartz, Detroit Lions head coach
These were pre-season right?
My update would now be:
Cal (25%) at Oregon (75%)—-I believe Cal would win at least one out of four times playing them.
Arizona(80%) at OSU (20%)
ASU (70%) at UU(30%)
CU(1%) at Stanfurd (99%)—With the 1% chance being that Luck is out of the game in the first quarter along with half of the defense.
WSU at UCLA
Yes, they were preseason. I’d give Utah more of a chance against ASU, otherwise I generally agree with you. ASU is prone to bouts of ineptitude and we’ll probably see some of that on the road in Salt Lake City this weekend.
"Some people watch adult videos on their computer - I go to YouTube and watch Jahvid Best highlight clips. That’s what gets me going."- Jim Schwartz, Detroit Lions head coach
Good point on ASU, and I am not sold on them being better than simply “good”, but I watched the UW-Utah game and they were just plain beat off the ball. And their backup quarterback, poor guy, does not look like Pac12 material. So I think Utah is likely to lose pretty well because ASU has more horses. This being said, I’ve had to really downgrade my expectations of Utah as I thought more highly of them before they played USC and UW.
While we are still have some support that Arizona is a crappy team, no one at that point could foresee just how bad Oregon State would become. Still, I wouldn’t be shocked if Arizona somehow faceplants and loses this one.
"Some people watch adult videos on their computer - I go to YouTube and watch Jahvid Best highlight clips. That’s what gets me going."- Jim Schwartz, Detroit Lions head coach
Really nice piece on MJ
This is a really sweet piece on Marvin and how he has stepped up in life. I tell you, I truly don’t know how he does it, or how many young men could do what he does balancing football, school and family. Really proud of him, his family and Tedford.
http://www.calbears.com/sports/m-footbl/spec-rel/092811aac.html
Cal has not scored more than 17 points against USC since 2003. 2003!!! Will they break that lofty barrier this year?
I don’t see why not. Kiffin appears to be breaking out of the super-conservative play-calling from the first couple of games because SC almost has to score every time they’ve got the ball in order to offset the porous defense. They’re essentially just conceding passes under 10 yards to the opposition.
The emerging consensus over at CC is that the defensive schemes are essentially hanging the players out to dry, because these kids weren’t recruited as a result of being bad at high school football – but they can only account for so much.
Also, it would help if there was any kind of a running game, because on top of being gassed from constantly ceding yardage to keep opposition drives alive, the defense doesn’t even get a break from long drives on offense…
"When the seagulls follow the trawler, it's because they think sardines will be thrown into the sea"
Had brother in law over this weekend who is a season ticket holder for $C. He shares your concern about the team. We watched that game and I see that $C has a stud in Woods and Barkley, given time by a good O-Line, can hit him. No particular running game. And yes, defense is porous. But all this makes $C hard to figure because like UW they can score points on anybody, but cannot defend against a good offense.
I don’t see why not.
Only means we’re going to disappoint in some new, exotic fashion.
"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
Dare to dream!
"When the seagulls follow the trawler, it's because they think sardines will be thrown into the sea"
God invented gallows humor for a reason and I intend to make use of it until someone sounds the all-clear.
"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
God invented gallows humor for a reason
…except that the repeated invocation of DOOOOOOOOM isn’t remotely funny or even chuckle-inducing.
California Golden Bears: 2nd place is nothing to sneeze at!
by atomsareenough on Oct 3, 2011 8:59 PM PDT up reply actions
Everyone's a critic.
Point is I intend to avoid walking directly underneath the Acme Anvil dangled precariously from a frayed string above this game.
"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
But, but… in the cartoons, getting smashed by the anvil IS the funny part!!
California Golden Bears: 2nd place is nothing to sneeze at!
by atomsareenough on Oct 4, 2011 9:44 AM PDT up reply actions
Ack.
Players don’t recover energy based on quote-unquote “time of possession,” they recover energy based on the actual amount of real-world clock time that your offense has the ball. It’s not like the defense somehow recovers more in 40 seconds just because those 40 seconds happened to actually tick off the game clock.
Time of possession is a statistic that needs to die in a fire. What matters is the number of plays your team runs compared to the opponent (for which ToP is an unnecessary, shitty, and inaccurate proxy). Teams that win more have more time of possession because running the ball when you have a lead both kills the clock (which matters) and racks up ToP (which doesn’t), not because time of possession itself makes you win.
It’s the epitome of the correlation-causation fallacy.
"We don't want our people to be preoccupied with seminude, crazy men jumping up and down who are chasing an inflated object," said Sheik Mohamed Osman Arus, head of operations for the Hizbul Islam insurgent group.
Of Potential Note to Cal
Utah lost their quarterback to injury to a non-throwing arm injury, and from the initial reports (the arm kept falling out of the joint) it looks like he’ll be gone for a while. Most teams without their starting QB become far less scary.
I support the NBA player's union.
Lobbenstal is a senior with some talent, the Utah guy looks 5’6 and is a recent JC transfer who evidently cannot throw a forward pass.
Robert Woods is going to murder us.
Number one fan of Justin Bieber being the number one fan of the Dodgers, and not the [2010 World Series Champion] Giants.
Yes. As is Lee.
And Oregon St has James Rodgers. WSU has that Wilson guy. And Furd has Luck. ASU has Pflugrad.
Shit we’re fucked.
In other words, Go Bears!
Rodgers is gimpy, Pflugrad isn’t that good or that athletic, Wazzu has a ton of missing pieces. Furd is scary but we’re not really fucked.
California Golden Bears: 2nd place is nothing to sneeze at!
by atomsareenough on Oct 3, 2011 9:00 PM PDT up reply actions
Well, Rodgers may not be gimpy, but he’s not dominant again yet, and he has quarterback issues.
California Golden Bears: 2nd place is nothing to sneeze at!
by atomsareenough on Oct 3, 2011 9:01 PM PDT up reply actions
if Luck gets hurt
is Furd still scary?
"We lose to Stanford in many sports, but if you want to make a Cal team quit, bring a weapon."
--Coach Clark
No… I don’t know what their backup QB situation is, but I suspect even without Luck they’re still solid enough to put up a fight. They have some talented receivers, Stepfan Taylor is a solid RB, and they’re decent enough on defense even without Shane Skov… It’d be a lot more even without Luck, that’s for sure.
California Golden Bears: 2nd place is nothing to sneeze at!
by atomsareenough on Oct 4, 2011 9:45 AM PDT up reply actions
Did UCLA’s occasional imitation of a functional offense against Stanford plant seeds of worry in your mind?
Tedford’s tradition of losing in LA (2009 notwithstanding) puts the seeds of worry in my mind much more than the laughably pathetic uclol team. I mean, we’re undergoing a rebuild and have some questions and much room for improvement, but the LA Normal School is arguably the second worst team in the conference. Still, that doesn’t mean they won’t beat us in the Rose Bowl, because it wouldn’t surprise me much if they do.
That being said, the precocious young pups over at BN are still holding on to some dream of success:
I also saw a team that is very capable of winning the Pac-12 South this year: UCLA.
While at the same time wallowing in the belief that other programs are as impotent as theirs:
Cal is bad. WSU, CU are awful. Utah is bad and without their starting qb. Arizona is bad, and SC has look very shaky.
As I said, a loss in LA wouldn’t surprise me at all. But if that happens, I get the feeling it won’t be because of some mighty uclol performance as much as the usual reason we lose there: a brainfart pass by our qb during a game-winning drive; a miracle punt return by some Normal Schooler to nab a win; or a missed FG by Forza Italia.
Being an Old Blue means never accepting success.
same. we could easily lose in LA.
Number one fan of Justin Bieber being the number one fan of the Dodgers, and not the [2010 World Series Champion] Giants.
by Spazzy Mcgee on Oct 3, 2011 10:23 AM PDT up reply actions
I think a lot depends on our momentum going into that game (read: the next few weeks). A good showing (win or no win) vs Oregon and USC, coupled with a win vs Utah and it’s on like donkey kong. If we lose by a combined 100+ points in the next 3 weeks, then the “lost his team” meme will be back and anything can happen.
"We lose to Stanford in many sports, but if you want to make a Cal team quit, bring a weapon."
--Coach Clark
Tedford’s tradition of losing in LA (2009 notwithstanding) puts the seeds of worry in my mind much more than the laughably pathetic uclol team.
Tedford’s recent tradition of beating UCLA (including 2010 and 2009 and 2008) and their laughable patheticness makes me feel pretty good about our chances against them.
California Golden Bears: 2nd place is nothing to sneeze at!
by atomsareenough on Oct 3, 2011 9:04 PM PDT up reply actions
What chance do you give UW of knocking off Oregon and/or Stanford?
None. Neither us nor the Utes are that good.
Cal has not scored more than 17 points against USC since 2003. 2003!!! Will they break that lofty barrier this year? Yeah, we’ll score 18 points, but they’ll score at least 40
Did UCLA’s occasional imitation of a functional offense against Stanford plant seeds of worry in your mind?
The Cal-fan portion of my mind is a deep and dark abyss, from which even the brightest light struggles to find an orb of anything to reflect off of. However, it is warm and moist , and a haven for guano and those fuzzy shade-loving plants. Seeds of worry take root every September, grow out of control, and take over for several months until Tosh Lupoi comes in with his recruiting weed-whacker.
I always have seeds – of all types- but I predict we will beat the the powder blue out of their socks and wash them with golden bear-piss.
USC is ineligible, Arizona has no defense, Utah’s QB might be broken, and UCLA and Colorado are both sunk already. Should ASU book their Pac-12 championship tickets now?
I would if I wuz a sun-bunny fan
What would scare you more as an irrational, doom fearing Cal fan? If OSU came into the Cal game without a win, or with wins over Arizona and Washington State?
OSU without a win. Given our history with that team, and Mike Reilly is a better coach than their current record suggests, and the horrifc things that happen to a Beaver’s jaw when they have nothing to gnaw upon
Haven't read anyone else's answers yet
What chance do you give UW of knocking off Oregon and/or Stanford?
Probably around 40% for each of those. In other words, they’ve got a good shot at knocking off at least one of them. I had my doubts earlier, but I think even though their secondary is questionable, they’re fairly legit.
Do you agree that Utah is closer to the bottom of the Pac-12 than the top?
That’s probably a slight overreaction. They’re not the class of the conference, to be sure, but they’re solidly right in the middle of their division, I’d say. We all knew it would be a tough adjustment to have a serious opponent almost every week instead of playing the likes of New Mexico or Wyoming or whatever, so some struggles are to be expected while they make the shift, but I think they’re still better than UCLA, Oregon, the rapidly-improving Washington State, Arizona, and Colorado. That puts them solidly in the middle, I’d say.
I’ve probably asked this before, but might there be just a hint of a QB controversy as Jeff Tuel gets closer to returning to action?
Do you mean, does he get his job back immediately? If I’m Paul Wulff, I wouldn’t want to upset the apple cart when the team is doing things like going into Folsom Field and coming away with a W, so I’d have Tuel come along slowly and give him limited minutes even when it’s clear he’s healthy.
Last week I asked if there was a road win on Colorado’s remaining schedule. Now I have to ask: Is there a win period on Colorado’s remaining schedule?
Yes. They play UCLA and Oregon State this year, right?
Did UCLA’s occasional imitation of a functional offense against Stanford plant seeds of worry in your mind?
In a word… no.
Cal has not scored more than 17 points against USC since 2003. 2003!!! Will they break that lofty barrier this year?.
In a word… yes. We actually have an offense that can consistently put points on the board for a change, and USC is not deep.
What would scare you more as an irrational, doom fearing Cal fan? If OSU came into the Cal game without a win, or with wins over Arizona and Washington State?
I’m not an irrational, doom fearing Cal fan, because fuck that noise. Rationally, wins over Arizona and Wazzu would tell me they’re not quite as bad as they were at the beginning of the season. Winless would mean they’re very bad and Cal should have no business losing to them.
California Golden Bears: 2nd place is nothing to sneeze at!
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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 |
|
@
UCLA
|
Sat 10/29 | L 14 - 31 |
|
Washington St.
|
Sat 11/05 | W 30 - 7 |
|
Oregon St.
|
Sat 11/12 | W 23 - 6 |
|
@
Stanford
|
Sat 11/19 | L 28 - 31 |
|
@
Arizona St.
|
Fri 11/25 | W 47 - 38 |
|
@
Texas
|
Wed 12/28 | L 10 - 21 |
